The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-03-09
A NEW TELEGRAPH LINE.

Three Thousand Words Sent to Cleveland
in Minute-Chicago geographically as
Near as PhiladeIphia-Music in the Air.
New York Sun.
great ticking of telegraph instruments
was heard at 40 Broadway yesterday after
noon. 1t was accompanied by musical
humming resembling the Vibrations of an
old-fashioned tuning-fork. The operators of
the new Postal Telegraph Company were ia
miliarizing themselves with their instru-
ments. Six of them were sending dispatches
to Cleveland sim ultaneouSlY over the same
wire. The musical vibrations were caused
by the use of the harmonic system of tee-
graphy, each dispatch being sent on dis
tinctve note or sound. The ticking of the
instruments was almost lost in the ticking
of dozen type-writers, manipulated by as
many charming young ladies. They were
deciphering long slips covered with the char
acters OF the Morse alphabet and printing the
dispatches received.
Nor were these the only tickings heard in
the room. Seven copper cylinders, about
two feet long, and of the diameter of stove
pipe were arranged against the south wall
A young lady sat near each cylinder ticking
the key of sounder. The sounder was con-
nected with pen which was fastened above
the revolving cylinder. At each tap of the
forefinger on the sounder the pen recorded
on the cylinder in red ink character of the
Morse alphabet Each cylinder will carry l. :
200 words. When message is recorded on the
cylinder the pen is withdrawn and an electric
stylus dropped on the cylinder at the begin
ming of the message in red ink. Steam power
is then applied. The cylinder revoives with
great rapidly, and in a minute the /, 200
characters appear on a telegraphic slip of
chemical paper al Cleveland. 800 miles away
The paper is wound in a roll the same as the
strip in a stock indicator, and is ground out
by hand in the same manner as an apple is
pared by machinery. There were seven of
these copper cylinders and they could all be
worked at once over the same wire. More
than that, each could drop its dispatch at
any station between here and Cleveland.
This is what is called the Lego Automatic
system of sending dispatches. The company
claim that by it they can transmit 5000
words per minute after the original dispatch
has been transferred to the cylinder in Morse
characters For instance, a dispatch contain
ing 5000 words is sent 10 the Office for trans
mission to a given point. 1t is cut into
seven parts, or takes" and distributed
among the operators, the same as a printer
distributes copy among his type-setters. Each
operator transfers his "ta-kc'' to a cylinder.
When this is done the seven cylinders are
set in notion and the 5000 words are trans
mitted simultaneously over the same wire
Thus the company has combined and per-
fected both the automatic and harmonic sys-
TENS of telegraphy, discarding entirely the
perforations that marked the introduction of
the automatic system 1t claims that it can
send eight and receive eight dispatches at the
same time over the same wire. BY the dis
tributions of its cylinders it claims
that it can send dispatches direct to their
destination from any city office without
transmitting them to a central station. BY
the use of the harmonic system the wires
cannot be tapped between the sending and
receiving stations Under the Lego system,
messages can be transmitted automatically
on single wire, received automatically at
the end of circuit, and retransmitted
automatically at the same speed over any
number of circuits, all from a single setting
on a cylinder.
The two wires in use between here and
Cleveland are steel, heavily insulated in cop
per. They each contain over 800 pounds of
copper to the mile. Each wire will sustain
a weight of $500 pounds. The poles are
thirty feet high, and of unusual size and
strength. There are forty of them to the
mile. 1t is claimed that the wires are of
such supreme conductivity that the electric
current on them will not be disturbed by
storms and atmospheric changes The re-
sistance of the electric current on these wires
is only 7-10 ohms. II is ayerred that this
brings Chicago, geographically, as near New
York as Philadelphia, and San Francisco as
near as Cleveland, compared with the best
wires now in use
The capital stock of the company is
S2l 100000. in 500 shares. It has issued