The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-05-18
WONDERFUL.


Nv" ''"Soss IN "aktnS the Lightning
speak the Language of Man with Alno,
the Swiftness of Thought
Among the various telegraph enterprise
which have arisen within the past few year
to compete for the business 9th country
the most distinctiyely Bostonisn, and ON
whose progress has been very rapid An,
satisfactory, is the American Rapid Tele
graph company, of which Mr.. J. W, Con
verse ispresident and Mr.. G. c. Converse |
treasurer, with general offices at LIS Devon
shire street. Regarding the present condi
ton and the plans OF this company, Treas
urer Converse stated to an Adye rtiser repre
sentative that the company has now line,
| extending from Boston to Washington iii
Ct, via New York, Philadelphia and Bsltl
more; from New York "A lin
runs up the Hudson river to All
bany, thence west via Schenectady an,
Syracuse te Buffalo, thence through the oi
reg ons TO Pittsburg; thence via Harrisburg
TO Philadelphia, completing wide circuit
From Newcastle a line branches OIL /,
Cleveland over the wires OF the ConnoItor
Valley railro ID, which have been acquired
by this company. This railroad line ha,
bee in bad shape, but is now being rebuilt
The American Rapid has eight gangs OF
ren out on various portions of its lines
stiinging additional wires and putting the
lines in first class shape Daring the past
winter and spring business has been so
heavy that 1t has frequently been necessary
to re'ise messages through lack Of wires to
transmit them. The company has 2l( }
miles of poles and II, 900 miles of wire in
operation, and when 1t is considered that by
the automatic system which this company
employs, one wire can transmit from GO to
lOO words per minute between this city and
New \ ork, Tor hours continuously, not as
an experiment, but in actual business
operation, it will be seen that its facilities
are equal to those OF a company working by
the Old system, with many times more
mileage.
The American Rapid company, Mr.. Com
verse said is now stringing altogether No,
u iron wire, the heaviest ordinarily EN-
ployed, though No. is occasionally used
Tor short distances iii the cities. A year or
two ago the company had contract with
manufacturing concern for u quantity OF
compound wire, steel core and copper out.
side, 200 pounds each to the mile, but this
proving unsatisfactory, the telegraph CON-
pany paid handsome sum to be released
wire, Some of the compound wire tur.
nished was undoubtedly OF bad quality,
samples shown the writer by Mr.. Converse
having bad breaks in the copper covering
where the wire Ind been bent, and in each
place where the break occurred. the water
entering had set up a galvanic action in the
two metals which had fairly eaten up the
steel wire, and caused the copper to peel
ana strip OIL 1t in long sections. Besides II
was found necessary to protect each Joint
or coupling OF the wires with "a brass sleeve,
which had to be very carefully soldered TO
prevent waiter getting at the ends OF the
wires and causing galvanic action. SINH.
lar sleeves had to be applied at each point
where the wires were liable to hit any hard
substance, and wherever they passed over
insuIators, AS the swaying and drawing
OF the wires would surely cut the copper
and expose the steel.
The company is working It's rapid
automatic system through to Washington,
and 1t is proving very satisfactory, said Mr.
Converse. II is also negotiating with sew
eral parties VINO desire TO put in additional
capital Tor the extension of the lines to Chi
cago and st. Louis, and to complete wide
circuit via several principal cities, back to
Cleveland. into which city the company
gains entrance by means OF the railroad
wires already mentioned. In speaking OF
the growth of the telegraph business. Mr.
Converse showed figures indicating very
large and rapidly increasing traffic Tor his
company, and SAID that with the increase OF
the publ'c demand for more telegraphic ia.
cilities, some rapid automatic system is I'm.
pcratively required 10 prevent the multi.
plcation of wires which is already a crying
evil in all great cities. and is fast becoming
subject for municipal action Boston
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