Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-04-26
AN INTRICATE DEVICE
A SYSTEM OF SECRET TELEGRAPH
 CALL FOR RAILROADS.

An Invention That Insures Certain l Amount of Secrecy Along the Line of a Railroad whero There Are Many Sta
 tions With Operators at Each.
 The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad com
 pany has adopted an ingenious contriv-
 Gnce for use in tho telegraph depart
 ment, and workmen under the direction
 of Superintendent Charles Seldom have
 put in little plant i'll the basement of
 Camden station, where the men employed
 at headquarters can become familiar with
 its use. There are along the various
 lines of tho great Baltimore and Ohio
 system scores of offices where the agent
 is also the telegraph operator. His du-
 ties as agent frequently call him 50 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
 all offices where these circumstances eN- 1 ist bell will be placed, and the operator
 at 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. tho 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 Tho will nlcA hn a1Tl1pI fO | those offices where tie amount of busi-
 ness done at night is not sufficient to jus | tify the employment of a night operator,
 and where the day operator resides ill
 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 combl-
 nation of more than 20 patents.
 The contrivarce is the New | orll cleo | tric secret service system The trans
 hitter at the central point is operated by
 an ordinary telegraph key. This trans
 hitter can send out any combination of | dots, dashcs 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 tion desires to call up q station along the 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 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-
 tinue to ring until tho operator answers, and if no answer is made the bell will
 ring all day.
 The system may be ilened i'll some re- spects to the system of the combination lock. For instance, if 10 unlock door having a 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 i'll certain positions. If these turns be made on another lock hay ing a different combination. they will have no effect.
 In like manEcr, when q certain cOmbi-
 nation is made at the central station that corresponds with the combination of a | certain station along the line, the obstruc tions fall and the electric current is | closed between that station and the cen tral station, while tho obstruction to the
 closing of the circuit with all the other
 stations still remains.
 The transmitter Is composed of rub Der tube about the size of an ordinary lead pencil, which serves as an axis for | 20 or 30 small metallic wheels which are fastened to it. A metal finger projects over each wheel. Each wheel is provided
 with teeth, but no two wheels have the
 same number of teeth. When it is de- sired to call certain station, the lley-is | placed at the proper point, which causes the axis to turn and the metal finger to | fall upon the wheel which has the num- Der of teeth corresponding with the num- Der of dots in the combination of the sta | ton.
 As the wheel revolvcs its teeth strike at given times the metal finger. This
 causes the making of the combination, ! and the two stations are i'll communica-
 tion. The station can be called and the return signal received in 10 seconds.
 This system can be used to great advan- tage in the railroad signal service, in the telephone service and in the lighting and putting out of electric ights.-Balti-
 more American.