The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-23
NEW INVENTION TESTED.
1t VIII Send and Print Four Tele-
grnphic Messages at Once.

st. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The printing telegraph instrument, a new
invention, which will transmit and print
messages at the rate of 800 words a minute
and do several other wonderful things, will
be tested some time this week by DR.. Harry
A. Rowland at Johns Hopkins University.
The instrument will endeaVor to send four
messages at the same time to Pittsburg,
ana to receive at the same time four mes
sages sent from Pttsburg to Baltimore.
The essential advantages of this instru-
ment over the instrument now in use are
that 1t enables several messages to be sent
and received together, and at the same time,
from the same or separate points over the
same wire; that it makes it impossible to
tap wire and catch any one or more
of the passing messages, and that 1t will
not be affected by the weather. With all
these advantages, the expense of the new
Instrument will rot be great.
DR.. Rowland expects to have his arrange
ments for patent completed by next
spring.
A model instrument is now in operation
IN the Johns Hopkins physical laboratory.
Notwithstanding the incompeteness Of
some OF the details the little machine al
ready performs it's work successfully
The operation of the instrument may be
most readily understood by beginning with
a consideration of the part of the mechan-
ism situated at the sending station. The
sending instruments are fitted with key
boards, like typewriters. Their number is
the same as that OF the messages 1t may
be desired to send simultaneously. Eight
is the regular number of messages that the
instrument is designed to handle at once,
but ten could be taken without special in
convenience. Each keyboard must have a
person to operate it; the economy in labor is
experienced at the receiving end of the
line. STILL considering the sending in
strument, and supposing all eight of the
keyboards-it matters not how widely sep
arated-to be in use, the six operators rat
tie ahead with their messages as rapidly
as they choose and without regard to one
another; 1t would seem, as though the
eight dispatches switched on to a single
wire, would produce hopeless confusion but
one OF the devices of DIR. Rowland's in
struments adjusts the words in such way
that the separate letters of the respective
messages cannot start on the main wire out
of its regular turn.
For example suppose the first words of
six sentences, started simultaneously to be-
''Yonkers, league and Armenian Ha'Ni the
w, T, j, Y, l., A" III, h, a, c, e, r." etc,
the order of rotation being constantly pre-
served
So long as the message-sending capacity
of the instrument is not exceeded, it makes
no difference whether the messages all be
sent in one direction, or part of them in
adJustor will accomplish its work as well
with four messages going north and four
coming south, or one going north and five
coming south, as it will with the whole
group of the messages proceeding in the
same direction. The result is made posi-
HE by the nature of the alternating current
Al tbo roooi1,;oor 81 = 49,, 80 ~ Otle'
ceiver performs its work without human aid
The eight messages are automatically sep
These print out the messages as fast as
received. At present DR.. Rowland's nstru-
ments are fitted to print ribbons of paper
such as used in the familiar ticker" but
his perfected machine will print the mes
sages out on sheets of paper Of any desirable
shape and size. Hitherto there has never
been successful attempt to attain this re-
suit.
Absolutely the only attention necessary at
the receiving station is to supply the instru-
ment with paper and take away the printed
sheets.
1t is obvious that an adoption of the sys-
tenn would reduce the number of necessary
operators of a line by just one-half for
the Morse system, now in use In this coun-
try, demands an operator to receive as
well as one to send the message The rner-
camille advantages to be gained by the use
of such system would be vast In news
paper office, for example. the value of the
time saved on such an occasion as an cleo
ton night would be almost beyond CAL
culation. From each of the papers wires
ten sets of returns, from entirely separate
points, could be received at once. Then
the messages, as soon as received, would
be printed out, ready to be edited and put
in type. The delay now caused by the neces-
sity of writing out the messages as they
are received would be eliminated