Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-03-31
THE NEW POSTAL TELEGRAPH.

LII 4 Ne " POSI-4L TELEGR1PH.
Since the day that Prof. Morse trans
mitted his first message by magnetic tele-
graph between Washington and Baltimore,
there has been no invention that has proven
of so much value to the world, and no
scientific fundamentally has made
such strides of advancement. 1t very
nearly takes ones breath away to try to
fancy what a world this would be without
the telegraph. Should the sun cease to
send us light the deprivation would not be
much greater than the total loss of the
Geographic art.
But there is no danger that the art will
be LOST. On the other hand it is being
constantly improved. The most impor-
tant advancement in this scientific art is
the introduction of the new automatic and
harmonic system by the Postal Telegraph
company. This company now have lines
extending from New York city to Cleve-
land, Ohio, and in the course of a short
time Chicago will be taken into the circuit.
The controlling spirits in this new enter
prise are George D. Roberts, (who has in
vested half million dollars in the enter
PRISE and Henry Cummings
and Prof. Elisha Gray of
Boston. 4 number of Boston capitalists
have furnished liberal support, and there
| is no lack Of money to make'the enterprise
as great a success, as its scientific capabil-
tiles afford the full assurance. The COM
pany are the owners of two patents, the
Leggo automatic and the Gray harmonic
| systems. by means of which, and a COM
pound wire It is possible to send messages
both ways at the same time, and at the rate
of two thousand words in sixty seconds OF
time. The experimental tests of the
system on the line between New York
and Cleveland, have been attended with re-
suits that have astonished every one except
those in the secret of the process.
| The new compound wire, it is SAID
| promises to make a revolution in teleg.
raphy. The iron wire is too liable to be
Influenced by storms and other atmos-
pheric causes, and copper, such as is used
for electric light purposes is too apt to sag
and thus endanger buildings and interrupt
the current. TIE new compound wire con-
sists of a core of steel wire able
to resist great tensile strain
and is covered with copper, which,
next to silver is the best conductor. This
wire is one-third cheaper than an iron
wire Of equal conductiv1ty, and its low
resistance admits of the use of batteries
of only few cells.
A couple of years ago James R. Keene
had the control of these wonderful patents
and the project, but hostile electricians
made him think that the best thing he
could do was to drop it, and he did So
Mr.. Roberts had the pluck and
enterprise to take hold of it, and
though the undertaking is in its infancy i!
is the greatest success of the period. A
capability of the system is method by
which private and confidential messages
may be transmitted by commercial and
financial firms without the knowledge or
intervention of the operators and
employees of the telegraph company.
In addition to their system of
telegraphy, the projectors of this
enterprise promise postal stamp system,
such as is in use in England, and cheap
uniform rates. So the world grows and
| its facilities enlarge. The inventive genius
of man has no limitation.