Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-08-11
Cable Messages.

Until the fore part of November the
French cable, having its terminus at
North Eastman, Mass. employed the.
flash system Of signaling. Now the
cable is worked duplex on the Storms
system. using an automatic recorder,
by which the messages are received in
ink on a narrow strip of paper.
By the system which has been dis
placed the messages were spelled out by
flashing a ray of light back and forth
across q standard line. the right and
left flashes corresponding with the dots
and dashes of the ordinary telegraph
alphabet. In this system the light is
flashed by reflection from an extremely
light mirror. which is turned to right
and left by the opposing influences of
positive and negative impulses. This
system has the advantage of being
operated with very slight electric i'm
pulses, but also the disadvantage OF
leaving no permanent record. To
secure the latter very important end
the recording instrument has been
adopted.
A recent visitor to Hearts Content
describes as follows the method of re-
OClVluS 1l1CSSuSCS iI tililu pOlllU. Liz
recorder is a horseshoe magnet, cleo.
trified by the usual circles of fine wire,
and attracting a small metallic coil.
The coil is hung between the magnetic
poles, and by a light lever and q thread
almost as fine as the strand Of cobwet
is connected with a delicate siphon hung
in i little reservoir of ink. The ink is
electrified, so as to produce a repulsion
of the particles, making it flow more
readily through the siphon, which out
side is about the size of q darning-
needle and the interior tube scarcely
larger than a hair. The lower end Of
the siphon rests against q paper tape
playingperpendicularly through rollers.
The whole machine is almost of gossa-
mer tineness and %hexibility, so as to
minimize the electric strain necessary
for working the cable.
| Let US imagine now that a coming
message has been signaled from far
across the ocean at Valentia. The
operator at first opens the simple ma
chinery that works the brass rollers.
On the center of the tape, as it passes
marks only a straight line. Suddenly
the line swerves to the right or left.
The message has started, and the end of
the siphon has begun its record.
Worked oy two keys, and positively and
negatively electrified, the coil swings
the siphon point now to n side, now
to the other, along the tape. Respon-
sive to the trained hand of the operator,
the filament of ink marks but one notch,
two notches, three notches; then sud-
denly it may be a high elevation or de-
preston, until the delicate line traced
on the tape looks like the tiny outline
of q mountain range.
But it is a range whose every hilltop,
peak and valley means IN alphabetical
symbol to the te~legrapher's eye. The
recorder is the invention OF the famous
electrician, Sir William Thompson.
How delicate an instrument it is may be
inferred from the fact that ten jars work
work 1900 miles of cable between Va
lentia and Hearts Content, while tWen-
ty-tive jars of the same electric power
would be needed to work $50 miles OF
land wire. In other words, the recorder
is more than twelve times rs efficient
for it's purpose as the ordinary Morse
instrument. The recorder traces its
characters on the tape about as fast as a
slow penman copies a letter. Besides
its delicacy of work, the recorder, as its
name imports, has the merit of leaving
the record of the message.-Jouamat oj
the Ts1e0r0Dh. ...