Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1885-07-11
CORRESPONDENCE
HOY MESSAGES ARE TRANSMIT
TED BY TELEGRAPH.
To the MINING JOURNAL.

ago the managers OF several lines
arranged for continuous circuit from
Boston to San Francisco and return,
which made line about six thousand
miles long. All arrangements having
been completed, the key of the instru-
ment on one side of the room was
struck by the operator and in exactly
three seconds the sounder on the opposite
side Of the room repeated the signal.
1t was tried again and again, each
time as in the first instance, the circuit
of six thousand miles was traversed in
three seconds of time"
In referring to this incident as fact
may be in error, as it was related to
me and has never to my knowledge
appeared in print, but as / wish to use
it merely as a foundation for what fol-
lows regarding the two theories of
telegraphic transmission of sound, it is
not necessary that its authenticity
should be established.
The former of these theories, in fact
either of them, is difficult of explana-
ton without the apparatus at hand
with which to illustrate, but a sufficient
ly clear conception may be had by
taking a pipe, say fifty feet in length,
with stop-cock at one end and an
automatic valve at the other. The
stop.cock will represent the key which
is manipulated by the operator; the
automatic valve the sounder, or re-
ceiving instrument. Bearing in mind
that the water, which we cause to flow
through this pipe at an exceedingly
high rate of speed, is so constituted
that once the stream is separated in the
pipe it will not run together again,
thus allowing the operator, by press
ing on the stop-cock for longer or
shorter period of time, to form the
spaces or dots and dashes that go to
make up the letters Of the alphabet,
these spaces or breaks in the stream,
in passing the automatic valve at the
terminal of the line, which the run
ming water has held up steadily, al
lows it to fall for a length of time ac-
cordingly as the operator has caused
them to be longer or shorter in length,
and the desired result, the transmits
sion of that which is Ineligible, is
obtained the same as in telegraphy.
The difference between this theory
and the one which l shall endeavor to
prove to be the more plausible of the two
that while using the same pipe and
valves to illustrate, instead of the water
being in motion it is perfectly still, and
the valve at the terminal is shut in
stead of open-shut, however, so that
pressure on the water in the pipe will
cause it to open for a longer or shorter
period according to the length of time
the pressure is continued, thus you
will see that but an instant of time is
required to raise the valve at the ter
minal of the pipe by the simple act OF
injecting more water into it at the
initial point, and as this pressure or
injection is continued for a longer or
shorter period of time the dots and
dashes that form the alphabet may
easily be formed, and as in the first
instance the signal will be repeated by
the raising of the valve for longer or
shorter period and the same result
obtained as in using electricity.
What wish to evolve from these two
theories is the fact Of the pouderabllity
of electricity Called an imponderable
substance) as illustrated in the second
theory, supported by the incident rela-
ted at the beginning of this article.
The first theory, which, by the way,
is thought by many to be the correct
one and which have inserted here in
contrast with the second, in my opinion
the only one that can claim to convey
ANYTHING like correct idea of electric
transmission, is not applicable to the
experiment of the continuous circuit
from the fact that it Is impossible to
conceive Of water az electricity travel
ing six thousand miles ia so short a
time as three seconds. But in the lat
ter it is perfectly so, for even if the
pipe we used in our illustration We're
ten thousand miles long, if it We're flled
with water, is it not perfectly plain
that should a certain quantity of water
be injected at one end precisely the
same quantity would instantaneously
be elected from the other, the same us
if the pipe were only ten inches long
instead of ten thousand miles
Applying this latter theory the ex-
pertinent of the six thousand mile cir
cult, is it not easy to conceive that the
wire beng filled with electricity, the
same as our pipe was filed with water
it requires but an instant to force out
the spaces which form the dots and
dashes at the terminal by injecting,
will, the aid of batteries more cleo
tricity at the initial point of the line 2
Or, in plain terms, the wire, being .tuU,
hut litt1a is raouired TO RIM If over