Mexico weekly ledger., 1884-02-21
4. READABLE INTERVIEW.
From the c alumbia Herald.

.
From the Columbia Herald.
The lively interest being taken by our
community in the Wire Fence Lock rem
ders the subject of patent rights or me-
chanical inventions especially entertaining
at this time. Few of our people fully re-
alize that one of our citizens is entitled to
rank among the foremost inventors of the
day. 1t is fact that n. S. S. Laws,
President of the University, is the discov-
erer of all imprcysd system of electric |
telegraphing tn in its value to science |
and to social business interests stands |
next to the original application of cleo
tricity by Morse. 1t has been generally |
known that DIR. Laws was the inventor of
an instrument for reporting the markets
of the gold and stock exchange, but few
realize its ingenuity or what an immense
value it has been to business.
In view of this fact Herald reporter
sought the Doctor this week for tie pur-
pose of getting from him some definite
account of its history and nature. Since
| his residence among US he has preserved
a modest reticence in regard to an
achievement in which most men would
take pardonable pride, and even now is
reluctant to talk about it, but the Herald
succeeded in securing rom him quite an
entertaining account # his own discoy-
cry, as well as the success that has at
tended several other famous inventions
"The public, Doctor" said the repor-
ter, "would be interested in brief his
tory and description of your invention,
the causes that led TO it, it's adaptation
to the purposes of business and to sue
cess which has attended it,
'iThe Device" was the answer, sis
simply a system of local reporting by
simultaneous telegraphing. mean by
that, it is system by which one man
touching key in given point can COM
municate the same message to an indef-
mite number of other points at the same
instant. While resident of New York
during the war and President of the Gold
Exchange, discovered great inconven-
ience and impeachment to business to be
, the transmission of the fluctuations OF
the markets from the gold and stock ex-
change rooms to different parts of the
, city. The markets were perpetually fuc-
tuating; indeed, they are like the ocean
never still, and an army of messenger
boys was kept running to and fro between
, the brokers' offices and the exchange
rooms, and even then SO rapid were tn.
fluctuations that before message coult
be conveyed from one point to the othe
8 the markets would probably have changed
8 This was not only great annoyance Il
n brokers and bankers, but to all branche
of business, for the price of gold affecte,
values of all kinds. Especially was thi
true of all imported articles, duties upol
which had to be paid in gold, and thei
pricesewere therefore constantly affecte,
by the geld market. 1t was evident tha
a system by which the gold and stocl
l markets could be con- 3ntly reported t.
: all parts of the city at &C same momen
h would prove a vas coIrenience
q 81 had motto that messages tele
eraehed from |. INT to another, as from
Wilmington to New York, could be take
OF at any of the intermediate stations
l. and did not see why the same system
l. could not be applied to cities. ! set t
J. work and after several years severe labo
# succeeded in producing an invention
which accomplished the object. de
- scription of it would be somewhat tech
'e nical for your columns, but the r. alt o
% it was simply that standing in t..e eol
n room single OPP tor telegraphed at tn
instant of their occurrence the fiuctua
), tions of the market simultaneously t
hundreds of points in the city. The dev
l. Ice hot only telegraphed the markets bu
J. printed them upon slips of paper SO as t
be easily read in every Office where an in
- Strument was located
"Did you extend tn, system to othe
- cities than New York;"
81 placed it in Philadelphia and III fiji
5o teen seconds from the recording of tn
market in the gold room in New Yor
~ they would be read all over Philadelphi.
W But they were sent 20 the latter over th
w regular wire of the telegraph company b
W an operator who sat near mine in tt
W gold room, and who transmitted them I
- our central office in Philadelphia whenc
~ they were distributed to all parts of til
city. The system has been subsequent
extended to all the principal cities of tt
country"
"Was not Edison, associated with yo
Z in the work."
V. "ies. He was my superintendent ar
e. I think 1 have right to the credit
t. having discovered the extraordinary e
MUS of the man. He is, sir, the on
, man living who is entitled to the nan
>" and fame Of great inventor. There
rs no doubt about his genius. He is alreat
Is The author of some l55 inventions. Blu
re poor fellow, he is a child in business ar
i'll the vast pecuniary benefits he might ha,
~, realized have been largely reaped
y shrewd and designing men,"
VI "Did your invention meet with inmt
diate favor?"
i "At first there was some hesitation
- accepting it, but soon it came into gel
'h eral use. The fact is hat its succe
r. was assured almost from the start.
ey supplied badly felt want, and when 9
ve invention does that there is no troub
ba about its success if judgment is shown
bringing it to the attention of the pull
Z" lie"
en- "Why did you dispose of it?''
C. "Well, l had an oppoi unity to do so
d. a figure that was suffic-nt to meet al
pecuniary ambitio~ I felt in the matte
D and the fact is referred to return
OF my studies as mole congenial to my tas
u and ambition than money getting"
ed "Who owns it now?"
n sit has gone into the hands of tt
Western Union Telegraph company wi
have undoubtedly made it source
nd great profit
% "Doctor, while we are upon the subje
of inventions, how many patents ha,
been issued in American"
ef HAbout 800 00O. The fact ;s that fb