The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-04-29

| The puncber. with n pair OF small IRON Vi
! brass n.allcts. tipped with rubber s'rihef
| these buttons alternately. and In so do'ht
| nerforates The oiled slip In such way ~
| IN reproduce on the tape the characters
| desired The tape is oiled so tnat the
/ holes may be clean cut. Nhen oo.'o,
| has been struck and the slip periora,cu'
n small spring wheel pressing aeaiiSI Wv
tame. perpendicular lines. represeting dots.
another nerforation. On the perforated
| tapc perpendicuiar lires representing DOTS
and Diagonal lines. dashes. have Deen
| made. Thus the letter a Is represented
| bv a dot and q dash. Il by dash ana
| three dots. c by two dots and space
| and one dot--the same as In the Morse
| aInhabef Other alphabets have peen
| tried and declared with great enthusiasm
TO be far superior TO the original 'eie-
graphic letters. but time proves an
things and Prof. Morse's conception mas
stood the test and comes 70 be the stah-
dard alphabet Of all practical telegraph
printing machines.
After the tape has gone through with
the operation Of having the message
punched through It is now ready LOT
transmission. IL Is placed In a small
groove OF an instrument attached 10 the
line and called transmitter. The tape
is pushed through the groove by small
wheels pressing upon II, and kept turn
ing by means OF a heavy weight Under
meath the machine. All this time two
small needles OF the finest steel, placed
in the transmltter directly under the
grooves, are moving in and out OF the
perforated holes Of the slip. thus alter
nately opening and closing the electric
circuit of the wire and thereby causing
characters, similar 10 those on the punch
r,11 Of a.
per tape in the receiving instrument at
the other end of the wire. The receiv-
er contains a roll OF blue tape, which.
while St rolls out. Is tapped by small
revolving wheel attached to an Ink vessel
on the receiver, and so the characters
are formed In ink on the slip. The action
OF this revolving wheel Is controlled by
the action OF the two steel needles at
the sending end Of the transmitter.
In conversation with an old-time opera
tor. who has mad considerable experience
with the Wheatstone system, reporter
was told OF the practical points of the APP
paratus. He said:
when the Wheatstone system first
came into use the rank and file Of tele-
graph operators thought their days OF
usefulness were numbered. During the
first weeks Of the trial Of the machine We
speak. attached to #, and were struck
with wonder and dismay at the speed
attained. We would see a message OF
thousand words on a small paper roll
placed on the machine, and in about
three minutes time the expert In charge
would notify us that ii was In New York
or Baltimore, as the case may be. The
working force was reduced considerably,
and we all began to consider the advisa-
biity of tackling pick and shovel,
when. all Of a sudden, complaints began to
pour into the office about delays and mis-
takes in messages. Upon tracing the
matter up we found that all the COM
plants were directly caused by the poor
work of the 'punchers' and copyists.
Then the officials became wary Of the
machine, and its usefulness took back
ward step. Now the machine is princi-
paly used on early press matter and
red messages. The former is a class Of
matter that is handed in. say about
o'clock in the evening, 10 be used by
the paper for which IL is intended the
next morning. IL that matter gets into
the editorial rooms by 10 o'clock there
is no kick, and as we have about four
or five hours to do the transmitting in,
we generally land it at its destination
on time. A red message is one that is
handed In during the day, TO be sent
during the night. the cost Of which is
only half-rate. Thousands of these mes
sages are collected each day, as it is
cheap way for 1.-THE business men to
transmit letters that are hardly valua-
BILE enough on which to pay full telegraph
tolls and yet important enough TO de-
mand faster transmission than the mails
afford. AS the 'punchers' have all day
in which to prepare these messages, and
the receivers all night to copy them, 1t
can be easily seen wherein lies the use
fulness of the Wheatstone idea. Only
one wire is required TO work set OF
machines, and, as many wires are Idle at
night their chief employment then takes
place. The 'punchers,' copyists, and ma
chine men are all under pay, comparing
them with operators. $50 and $50 being
about the highest salaries paid, while
the average IS about $35 or $40. In New
York the ladies have the call at the bus
mess, and the way they can punch
tape is a caution; as to copying we all
know what they can do with typewriter
The work is clean and the hours reason
able 1t has become a bushes by It
self, and the operators no longer rear
its inroads upon their ranks.
zone good feature in the Wheatstone
machine, and about the most commenda-
Bile from a commercial point Of view, is
that in case Of wires being broken or
crippled by storms, or other causes, mes
sages may be punched as usual, and the
punched slips allowed to accumulate
until such time as the wire is repaired.
when transmission is resumed at the
rate Of about $50 or 800 words minute,
according to the capacity Of the repaired
wire. 1t can be easily seen that at this
rate considerable lost time is regained.
In the case of Morse operator working
a repaired wire, he is making good time
If he can register a speed Of thirty words
q minute.
81 recall q humorous case wherein the
two systems were put to a test about the
time the Wheatstone first came into prom
inence. A newspaper correspondent. who
had graduated from the telegraph ranks,
wherein he had been one of the best
one day rushed into a Western Union
Office with a special which he particularly
wanted to get off promptly. The young
lady at the window received his message
with smile. and with additional sweet
ness added thereto, grasped a rubber
stamp, and with a flourish OF the arm
marked In letters Of red across the left
hand corner. 'Wheatstone.' Now the cor
respondent was thoroughly acquainted
with the system, and In a tone of disgust
protested against having his matter
punched At the time there was seated
behind the counter an exper, Wheatstone
opeartor. who took offense at the CORES
pondent's words. and blurted out: You
don't know what you are talking about.
The Wheatstone system will handle your
message in one-half the time 1t takes a
Morse operator
That's all rot. replied the cores
pendent. I'm a little stiff now. but I'll
bet you $40 can send that matter TO New
York and have 1t on my boss table be-