The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1888-05-31
THE CHRISTOPHER TELEGRAPH.
Making Messages Jump from Moving
Trains to the Wires Alongside.

Making Messages Jump from Moving
Trains to the Wires Alongside.
A reporter was comfortably seated in
the smoking car of an afternoon train on
the Lehigh Valley road, when his atten-
ton was attracted by peculiar sound
proceeding from one corner Of the car.
IL was interrupted Mt irregular short
| intervals. and had the sound been metal
lie it would undoubtedly have been recog-
nized as the "click" Of q telegraph instru-
! ment. But IL was not metallic; it was
more like mosquitoes ping" empha-
| sized and cut up into short fragments.
Upon looking around for the origin Of
this peculiar sound the reporter noticed a
young man occupying back seat.
Around his head passed q broad band
which fastened peculiar black affair
against his ear. A moment later the re-
porter was seated beside him and learning
about "telcgraphing by induction"
The operator held on his lap board
| about three feet long and two and half
feet wide. At one end of il was a pad of
message blanks. Near the center of the
board was the key, and on the right was
the induction coil" with a steel case.
When the reporter sat down, the opera
| tor was sending a message, and the vi
brations of the armature were what
caused the sound that had first attracted
attention.
"Why does your instrument sound so
| different from other oncsy" the reporter
asked when the message was ended"
"Oh, we make it sound that way so
that the Office operator can distinguish it
from the regular line. We can, by
changing the sounder, make it any note
that we please, but this is found very
satisfactory"
"Where is your line? Under the cars?'
ooh, no. That's it, out ON those poles,
beside the track"
"But how do you make connectionsl"
"We don't. That is, no direct con-
nection. We telegraph by induction.
This, " placing his hand on box about
the size of an ordinary valise, sis our bat
| terry. Wesend n current through the tin
roof of the car, and down to the ground
| through the axle box and wheels. Now,
there Is also current passing along the
line on the poles. The presence of one
Of these currents affects the other, and
when, by using the key, l break and
again make the current through the car
roof, it produces corresponding effect
upon the line current, and that effect is
felt in the Office. Now, some people
cant understand why this should work
at such great distance from the line
the same pole DO not affect each other
in the same way. But, reply, they do
| affect each other to q certain degree
| Often, when You are using the tele-
| phone, You can hear the conversation of
persons using wire near yours. The
only reason that it works better with
us is that we use different kind
Of electricity stronger current
if you willard our Instruments are
made especially TO be influenced by the
currents 50 affected. l can show you the
difference by taking something entirely
disconnected. Suppose you heat quart
of water to boiling point, you do not feel
the heat from it until your hand comes
almost in contact with il OF the vessel
that contains it. Now heat piece of
iron that hot and you can feel the heat
from it for some distance. Our current
differs from the ordinary current in q
similar way"
"What is the affair strapped to Your
ear!'
That is my telephone. We have to
use the telephone 10 receive the mes
sage, and have it strapped in place so
that both hands will be left free. AL
though our system has been working
beautifully upon this road ever since
last October, the company is constantly
experimenting, i'll order to improve
upon it if possible. OF course any
one could see after moment &
thought how many advantages, both to
the road and the passengers, arise from O
system of telegraphy by means of which
every two trains on division of the
road are in constant telegraphic com.
munication with each other and with the
train dispatcher. Why, just before oui
system was introduced on this road there
was an accident on the Pennsylvania road
that cost the company S25, 900 and the
lives of two employees. II resulted from,
the carelessncss of station operator, anC
could never have happened If both train.
had been in communication with the
dispatcher. OF course, too, this sys
TEN obviates the great loss of time en-
tailed upon the freight and gravel auC
construction trains by the old system.
"Then the advantages TO the passenger
are very great. Every trip numerou
passengers send messages by me. Som
of them are of such u nature that
would be quite serious matter for tn
sender to have to wait until the mex
stop to send them. OF course, on som
of the fast trains, that do not make an,
stop at all for hours, the importance
increased. Passengers may send mes
sages from the car to any point reache,
by the Western Union, and can similarl
receive messages from any such point
A lady was taken sick ON this train goin
out to Easton the other day. used m
instrument, and when the train stoppe
there was an ambulance and physical
waiting for her. We had hardly pulle
out of Newark yesterday when the con
ductor received message from lad
who had got off there, asking him {
look out for her satchel, which she ha
forgotten TO take with her."-New Yor
Sun.
l Tn In