Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-03-15
The Growth OF the Business in Bichmon'-
How tho Place Il Equipprd-ih'
New Duiiding-Personal.

this important artery or traue; coInlis,,ass
and intelligence. Then 1t IS that dal Au tho
is upon the face of the land, ana ~. tho
mighty import of the command, xi gs
there be light and there was light" Is i,,
appreciated by the comparison OF ns ;tb
with darkness, and bright intelligence "iSA
black and dull ignorance,
MoraliZing thus DISPATCH reporter W.
terday visited the Western Union teiH-
graph Office 20 acqua Mt himself, IL ondy
specifically, with the working OF the ki0"'
telegraph centre in our midst.
THIRrY-FIvE wsTRUMENT5.
Upon entering the Superintendent >
| office. which Is on the upper noor VI vi
krjlding on the corner of Thirteenth anu
| Man streets, one is met with the ciicA o os
thirty-a SO instruments, reminding nm Vi
q miniature battle in progress IN tne us
lance between Liliputlan forces ari rs. 1
with tho smallest kind of muskets. Inc
ticking is the rattle of their miniature mus,
| kerry and is TO be compared tothe sou y
| of modern small firearms as Springnelu
musketry is to the resoundlng ana rsNeI-
| beratIng roar Of artillery.
Mr.. +. b. Cudlipp, chief operator, was
| first met He was sorry TO say 70 ms
would-be interviewer that he was SOME
what lin n swivet." incidental TO moving
| his Office from its old home TO new one
| ufTOHS lIlt HtIttht anu llAub iA' \
posed under the circumstances he wouiiu
| be If fire had taken place. but at tne
same time he would attempt TO answer
any questions put TO him.
SMALL BEGINNING.
Continuing hes said: This business, IKE
most every other enterprise in this country,
| had small beginning, notwithstanding It's
present appalling and colossal proportions
and telegraphy, like all other great dls.
coverIes, in the commencement was met
with contumely and contempt. Its pro-
moters were ridiculed as lunatlcs. In GER
| tam parts of the country the lntroduc-
| tion Of telegraph-wires was reslsteu 10y
| the populace almost TO the e1teh'
of a popular outbreak. For sehe-
raj wears its prscticabllity was DIS
cussed in scientific Journals and many
urged from a scientific standpoint that Jus
use would, like the destruction OF the tor-
est. interfere with the rainfall-ln TACT, SO
much lessen it as 70 produce long droughts
with no end OF disease and pestilence.
This prejudice had to be fought against
| and destroyed. but the utility of the tele-
| graph was soon appreciated and the sense
less opposition to 1t ceased.
HISTORY OF TEE OFFICE.
~ have now been in this Office" contin-
| ned Mr.. Cudlipp, about twenty years. Be
fore and during the war Mr. j. Il. Dowell
was the superintendent, and J. belieVe ne
| had charge of all the telegraph business OF
the Southern COnfederacy. Mr.. Doweu IN
tho conmencementTan the office with only
ono man and one wire. As well as L re-
member he died about 1872 he was sue.
ceeded by Mr.. r. Nj. ]. Painter.
| AT the consolidation Of the American
| Union and the Western Union Mr: Hates
who succeeded him, resigned, and Mr.. j.
| b. Tree, the present superintendent, was
| appointed The other officials here are
| Messrs. w. A. DabneY, manager; l an
chief operator; w. 7. Cline, night CLERK
| O. McCullen, assistant chlet. MI IL. N
! Dennis is one of the oldest operators IL
| fine Office. having served continuous
| lv for fifteen years. Operators hard
| ~ ever stay in an Office q Longer
period than five or six years. Mr.. A. Nj
| Pennock is the quadrupleX repeater chief
| Among the first operators employed, hui
who are now gone. were Joseph enc
| George McGovern, brothers. They were
! literally raised under MIR. DowelPs SUI
| perintendency. Richmond telegraph mer
| are scattered all over the country. The
first Office was at No. 1910 Main street, the
store now occupied by nj. 5. Block.
THE FIRST REMOVAL.
1--WE moved to our present. building al
| the consolidation of the two telegraphlt
companies III the latter part of 1882. Wher
| came here the force of the Office hac
| been increased TO Six operators. There
are now twenty-nlne gentlemen ana tWC
ladies employed in the operators room
and tbirty-fiye boys deliver the messages
There is a great deal of foreign bushes:
| that masses through here, particularly Gu.
ban and Spanish. There is what we cal
the Cuban quadruplex circuit. between
| New York and Jacksonville, with repeat
ers at Richmond. and this is the longes
quadruplex circuit in the world, being
900 miles.
ONE THOUSAND MESSAGES DAILY
"Oyerthis circuit one thousand message
ara transmitted daily. 1t is all in thu
Spanish language. A great deal OF TIN
business is destined for points in Europe
and IL is relayed at New York CITY,. 1 cal
remember when all the business OF Rich
mond and Norfolk with northern point
was done on a single wire. Now Ricnmon!
requires q quadruplex circuit each viii
New York. Baltimore, and Washington
This is equivalent to four single wires TO
each. Norfolk requires duplex clrcul
with New York. We have duplex circuit
with railroads and business-houses.
TRANSMITTING THE TINE SIGNALS.
Zone Of tho interesting features of tele
graphy is transmitting the time-slgnals
This is done By connecting the Western
Union Office wires with a large clock II
the observatory at Washington city. A
noon each day the correct time Is trans
mitted to all parts of the United States b.
means of an automatic arrangement b.
which the clocks all over the country ar
act 10 agree with the observatory time-keep
or. These signals are made three minute
before II o'clock. Each vibration OF the pen
dulum OF the observatory clock sends on
to the wire the tick as made. The twenty
ninth second IS always designedly mlssei
or skipped, as are also the last five second 81,
of each minute until IL o'clock. Thl
makes difference of fifty-nine minute
and fifty seconds. The last ten second
before noon are also skipped. Exactly a
| noon another tick is sent out, and TO tina
tick clocks are set. This transmits tina
time TO twelve circuits leading out froL
Richmond which includes the railroad
and is for southern points. IL is also sen
on circuit connected with the jewellers
the city for their regulators
THE EMPLOYMENT OF LADIES.
I'm regard to the employment of ladie
in the Office, this was never done betor
the strike Of the telegraph operators som
years ago. BY the way, the first messag
| ever sent over the wires was Dy lauy-
friend of Professor Morse. The messag
consisted of the four words What hat
God wrought" The morale of the ono
here was never bad, but the introductio
of ladies into the operating-room nj
added greatly to the dignity and decorul
of this department.
DUPLKx AND oUADRUpLEx SYSTEM.
ION q duplex-wire one message can {
sent in each direction at the same time
one wire. On quadruplex this capaclt
is doubled, and two messages can be sen
in each direction on the same wiz,
By means of the Wheatstone Automati
telegraph one hundred and fifty wore
are readily transmitted per minute. Me
sages are perforated and come out or II
end of the line IN Morse characters an
i are translated by typcwriters. This great
: facilitates business. Another interesfin
method of rapid transmission is by IL
medium Of the George III. Phelps electro
: motor telegraph instrument. There a.
} improvements every year In the minor q
? tails of telegrAphy, but the business no
is well nigh perfect"
LOCATING DfsrUEBkNcEs.
In answer to an inquiry about locatsn
! disturbances. Mr.. Cline, who volunteers
10 relieve his chief, who vas called 70
\ distant part Of the room, stated that tnel
8 was an instrument called the gslvanom
ter, similar to q compass, consisting OF