Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1894-1895, 1895-04-19
'PHONING WITHOUT A PHONE.
What Young Buffalo Electrician
Claims to Have Discovered.


chanics. and has invented. among 9th
er useful things. telephone transmit
ter of wonderful power which is likely
10 greatly increase the efficiency or
that most useful instrument and make
it more than ever available for long
distance work. The great power of the
instrument has been demonstrated III
Il curious way BY attaching his trans
mittcr 10 Il telegraph wire he can make
his voice heard distinctly by an opera
tor sitting beside his instrument. any
ordinary sounder, many miles distant.
This is q great wonder 10 telegraph
operators. and many Of them declare,
until they have heard the SOunder talk,
that such thing is impossible None
of them ever knew anything like it in
their experience. The discovery was
made entirely by accident. rs many
great discoveries have been. and the
process will doubtless be improved I'M
til it will be possible. by attaching Il
good receiver 10 the line. in the place Of
Il telegraph SOundnr. To fill large room
with the sounds of Il human voice
whose owner is many miles away at
the time
Several years ago n few young fell
lows in an uptown ncighbOrhoOd who
desired TO learn something OF telrgrl-
ply. and find amusement at the same
time, put in a small telcgraphic system
of wires and Instruments connecting
their several places of abode. They
did not dream TO what magnitude the
system would grow. The West Side
Private Telegraph Company to-day has
thirty or thirty-tive members, and
about thirty-fiye miles of wire, touch
ing nearly every street on the west
side of the city from Black Rock to
the Postal Telegraph office at the cor
Der of Main and Niagara streets. The
members intend that the company
SHALL become an Incorporated body. Its
lines are in splendid condition, and it
uses the regular standard wire, and
No. Q insulated wire where this is re-
quired to conform to the city ordinan-
ces. AS the line * connected with the
Postal Telegraph office, each member
of the company can sit in his own home
or office, wherever his instrument may
be, and transmit or receive messages
to or from any part of the United
States. The expense of maintaining
the system ii small. 1t is used TO Il con
siderable extent for commercial and
business purposes As well Us for amuSe-
ment. Indeed, it was on account of its
demonstrated usefulness for other pur-
poses than the use of learners that
this class of learners has been frozen
out of its membership. On election
night each member was able to get all
the election returns at his own home.
The wire is often used for a game Of
checkers between TWO players widely
separated.
One of the members of lie company
was sitting near his instrument at his
home the other day when he distinctly
heard the call: Hello. Hello two or
three times repeated. An investigation
convinced him that the calls could
have proceeded from no other source
than the sounder. Opening the key,
he began to inquire who had called,
and learned that young Wilhelm had
been calling through his transmitter,
which was attached to the wire, to Mr..
Woodruff, this way of communicating
by means of transmitters and receiv-
ers being an ordinary one since tele-
phones came into use. Hardly able TO
believe his senses, the man asked VIII
helm to sing n song. which he did, the
tones of his voice floating out into the
room easily through the little instru-
ment. Other persons have heard the
same phenomenon.
A reporter FOR the Courier visited the
residence on North Pearl street for the
purpose of hearing Il few songs modi-
fled somewhat by distance and by pas
sage through the little telegraph instru-
ment Six persons We're in the room
when the experiment was tried. VII
helm, a his home mile or more away,
sang THE Old Oaken Bucket" after
the Ball" Sweet Marie" America"
and "Old Black joe" The tune in
each instance was easily distinguished,
the singers voice were accurately re-
produced in the sOunder, whence they
floated out to the furthest corner of the
room. 1t was wonderful, and all pres
cnt were much amused as well as sur
prised. To get the best results in re-
ceiving in this way, the plate is adjust
ed close to the magnet OF the instru-
ment That is all that is rekq Tired 1t
should be mentioned that the opera
tors voice did not come in a direct
course to the house by any means, but
followed the system of wires for per-
haps fifteen miles before reaching
therc-Buffalo Courier.
Praise that Came Too Late.
A sermon in itself was preached late
lV in a story told by n Wpll-knOWu