The Savannah morning news., 1900-08-05
TYPEWRITING BY WIRE.
WORDS TELEGRAPHED AT RATE OF
ia 4 MINUTE.

c"mes Present human LtmttR-
tions-only 53 Words Minute
Transmiss:bIe by the Morse Alpha
bet-PossibiIittes of the Invention
In Connection With Newspaper
TypesetTinG Machines.
From the New York Post.
BY the tranfer Of three patents from the
Inventor, the Postal Telegraph Company
has just obtained control of a new device
for the mechanical transmission of tele-
graphic messages which 1t is expected
VIII accomplish revolution similar to
that brought about in typesetting by the
development of the linotype machine.
1t must be understood that the Morse
telegraph key which has served the world
for more than forty years, is capable Of
transmitting about sixty words minute
Using fun text, that is, spelling everything
out, operators have transmit el in the
Morse alphabet ffty-three Molds "a min
ute; using the Phillips code, which is an
aobreviation of words, the average speed
on good wire with expert operators is
about sixty-fve to seventy words per
minute. The conductor can convey much
more than this number of words. and the
trouble has been in the physical limlta-
lions OF The human operator. How to
get rid of this human limitation has been
the study of many inventors. and among
all the devices suggested that just com
pleted for the Postal Telegraph Company
by Donald Murray, an Australian inven-
tor is considered by far the most promls-
Ing.
Many attempts have been made. and
successfully. TO accomplish the transmits
sion or message from a typewriter at one
terminal which controlled a second tyne
writer at the other terminal. In this way
1t has been possible to reproduce in print
at the second terminal the message
printed at the firt. The device appears
more effective than It really is ITS a
comparatively easy matter to make one
typewriter control another by electricity"
said noted expert to-day, but for tel
egraphy the device so far has been fail
ure. Patent offices are full of these de-
vices. interesting enough as curiosIties
put they do not give any greater speed
tnan the Morse key. and they are there
fore, failures. The typewriter. In theory
can run off a minimum of one hundred
words; but in writing messages with the
needed care, experience reduces this fig
ure to about forty words at the utmost.
we have enough of those affairs. we want
something different"
something different is supplied bv Mr.
Murray's invention. BY this system the
message Is produced on narrow paner
rioooh oy means of perfora lions which
correspond to the Morse alphabet of dots
ana uashes. is then transmitted 10 the re-
ceNlhg station, automatically, is there
reproduced on second tape. and from
that tape is printed in type by an auto
matte typewriter, at the rate of ia words
minute, the highest speed vet attained
oy any automatic device. This speed has
many times been attained by Mr. Murray
on the Postal wires over circuit of 2Ss
miles. to Albany and back, while over ,hc
line 20 Chicago, distance of nearly 1000
miles a speed of 1903 words has been oh
tanned W.
rms new apparatus, which is now in
stalled In Mr.. Murrays office, is like many
remarkable inventions, very simpIe in an
pearance. and while lbs opera ton involves
technical principles difficult for the Law
man 10 grasp, its outward operation is
readily understood
AS hrst step. the inventor devised a
system OF perforntions for the paper tame
to represent the alphabet The taue used
rs half an inch wide. and has in the mid
die line of circular holes by which IL
Is Kept In place on the transmitting and
recording machines. In preparing che mes
sage at the sending station, this tape is
run through performing machine ma
nipulated by keys like a typewriter which
IN the space of about f1ve-eighths OF an
inch occupied by each letter on the tame
makes the necessary holes, The tape con-
tanning the message thus indicated is then
put into q Wheatstone- tFahsfnitter-
xxyhc
driven by small electric motor kept run
ming at uniform rate by an electric vi
orator. which serves the same purpose as
the governor on a steam engine In the
transmitter, a number OF minute needles
slip through the perforations in the tame
and transmit electrical impulses to the
receiving station.
The receiving instrument, which is an
invention of Mr. Murray's is run by clock
work II receives the electrical impulses
determined by the perforated tape in the
sending instrument. and on a tape iust
like that used at the sending station re-
produces the perforations representing the
letters OF the message. The receiving tape
is then put into an automatic typewriter
which Is one of the most Interesting parts
OF the whole invention. The tape Is kept
In place by running over a small wheel
provided with metal points which fit into
the central line of taDe perforatons
Against this tape press five slender rods
which control the operations of the ma
chine. AS the tape passes these points.
some of them slip into the perforations
representing each letter. The points which
do not enter the tape perforations release
the particular key in the typewriter which
will print the proper letter. The tyre
writer itself is operated by hand crank
and In this way the message is printed
fairly on a sheet, the tape running
through the machine, with a steady burr
and click, and the type-bars hammering
out the message at a rate exceeding that
of manual operation.
Speed in the actual transmission over
the wire is of the utmost importance II
might seem at first that this apparatus
still depends upon the human operator.
but in fact that is not 10 any important
extent the case. In using the Morse key.
a message Of, say, 80 words occupies an
instrument for thirty minutes. But by the
new system this message can be divided
among several operators at the perforat-
ing machines, which work far more rap
idly than the Morse key, and the several
strips of perforated tape are then run
into the Wheatstone transmitter in the
proper order, and the message goes over
the wire IN about eight minutes, as
against half an hour.
Duplex transmission by this method has
been accomplished, two sendingana-
chimes transmitting their messages over
one wire simultaneously at the rate of
over one hundred words
Mr. Murray expects 20
al IN ~. In,