The record-union., 1896-08-10
A NEWS INVENTION.

The advance Of invention in the mat
ter Of rapid transmission of news is
something scarcely eQualed in any
other branch of inventive art. At pres
ent the news printed in the Record
Union" each morning is received over
a wire running direct into this office,
and operating telegraphic instruments
in the news room. AT the points of
dispatch there sit operators who are
simply senders, while at the point of
delivery. as in the Record Union"
office, there is a telegraphic operator
who is a receiver and is also a skilled
typewriter. The words of the news dis
patch come to him through the Sound
err in a signal code that consists Of
arbitrary authorizations in great num-
Der, with which he is perfectly familiar,
but which ordinary readers would find
1t exceedingly difficult to translate into
the words as written out. AS the
signals or long short hand" words are
ticked off upon the sounder, the re-
ceiver sitting before his typewriting
machine, writes out the news dispatch
in full, which thus goes to the tele-
graphic editor ready for editing and
preparation for the composing-room.
Now comes Leo Karum with an in
vention called the ''Zerograph," by
which he proposes to eliminate the tel
I,fa nd he
dispatch delivered directly to the tel
egraphic editor. The machine is now
under test in the British Postoffice De-
partment, and it is said has fully met
the hopes entertained regarding It.
In BLACK and White" a London
magazine, the inventor thus speaks Of
the device. which is practically a type
writer, the keyboard of which aotuates
typebars long distance away:
1t is a telegraphic instrument that
instead of printing dots and dashes on
strip Of paper, typewrites a message
on sheet Of letter paper at both ends
of the wire simultaneously. The two
machines are identical in every respect,
and can be used indifferently as trans
nitterS or receivers. The op-
orator depresses the keys. as in ordi-
nary typewriting, and this causes a
current from a local battery to dis
engage a balanced pendulum in both
machines. There are thirty-six signs
for letters, numerals and spaces. You
observe this circular framework, con-
sisting of thirty-six upright bars? The
fa1 hot =
half a second for the pendulum to
travel from end to end of this frame
work, and fractions of half second
down to a thirty-sixth) for It to move
between various intervening bars.
Now, the letter or numeral printed will
depend upon the space moved by this
pendulum; in other words, upon the
length of time which elapses between
two successive electrical impulses.
There are various automatic devices
for moving the paper, adjusting the
alignment linking the letters, and SO on.
The fundamental principles whereon
the machine Is worked is the absolute
synchronism between the two instru-
ments But for this absolute synchron-
ism-isochronism is the precise term
1t would be impossible to produce the
same symbols at both ends, because
the difference between one sign and
another resolves itself into minute
difference of time.
In answer to a question regarding
the advantages of his invention over
existing forms of printing telegraph,
the inventor said:
/ My invention has certain advantages.
It prints on an ordinary sheet Of paper