Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1893-07-28
AN INTRICATE DEVICE
A SYSTEM OF SECRET TEL rrRApu
CALL FOR RAILROADS.

An Invention That Insures Certain
Amount Of Secrecy Along the Line of -,
Railroad Where There Are Many sta-
lions With Operators at Zach.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad COM
/ pqny has adopted an ingenious coptriv-
ance for use in the telegraph depart-
ment, and workmen under the direction
Of Superintendent Charles seldom have
put III little plant in the basement of
Camden station, where the men empIoved
at headquarters can become familiar with
its use. There are along the various
lines OF the great Baltimore and Ohio
system scores Of Offices where the aren't
is also the telegraph operator. His du.
ties as agent frequently call him SO far
away from his instrument that it is i'm
possible under the present system TO
make him hear this call when it is de.
sired to communicate with him.
/ The new device is So arranged that in
| al Offices where these circumstances ex-
st bell will be placed, and the operator
1t terminal or division headquarters can
call the operator wanted without in
forming any other Office on the line, no
matter how many offices there may be
which have these bells in them. As tel
egraph lines are operated at present. if.
for example, the Baltimore office desires
to call the Wheeling office, nearly 400
miles away, the call passes through every
intermediate Office, but under the new
system the turning Of a switch will cut
off all the Offices except the one wanted
The system will also be applied to
those Offices where the amount Of bust
ness done at night is not sufficient to jus
tify the employment Of night operator,
and where the day operator resides in
the depot building, there being instances
when it is desirable from various causes
to communicate with the operator after
the close Of the regular business hours.
The invention is the result of over 20
years Of experimenting, and the comb1-
nation Of more than 90 patents.
The coutrIyance is the New York cleo
trio secret service system. The trans
mitter at the central point is operated by
an ordinary telegraph key, This trans
mitter can send out any combination Of
dots, dashes and spaces. At each station
there are instruments SO arranged that
they will respond only to the particular
combination for which they are ar
ranged.
When the operator at the central sta
ton desires to call up a station along tho
line, he places the key where it will make
the necessary combination that cuts out
all other stations but the one he wants.
This causes Il bell at the station hewants
to ring, and at the same time operates a
magnet which causes an answering sig
nal to sound in the central station. He
thus knows that his call was audible at
the station he desires to communicate
with. The bell at this station will con-
Time to ring until the operator answers,
and if no answer is made the bel will
ring all day.
The system may be likened in some re
spects to the system Of the combination
lock. For instance, if to unlock door
having combination lock it be neces-
sary to turn three points in one direction,
two points in the opposite direction and
one point in the first direction certain
bolts must fall in certain positions. If
these turns be made on another lock haV-
ing a different combination, they will
have no effect
In like manner, when certain combl-
nation is mag at the central station that
corresponds with the combination OF