The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-07-30
7YPEWRI7ING BY Wire
Words Telegraphed at the Rate of
Over One Hundred a Minute.
New Automatic Device which over
comes Present Human Limitations
-fiffs-three Words Minute tho
Maximum by the Morse Alphabet
Posssl cities of the Invention.


the inventor. one of the telegraph COM
pznies has just obtained control OF a new
device for the mechanical transmission OF
telegraphic messages which 1t is expected
will accomplish revolution similar to that
brought about in typesetting by the de-
velopment 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 cs
transmitting about sixty words minute.
Using full text, that is, spelling everything
out, operators have transmitted In the
Morse alphabet ifty-three words a min
ute; using the Phillips code, which is an
abbreviation of words, the average speed
on good wire with expert operators is
about sixty-five to seventy words per min
ute. The conductor can convey much more
than this number of words and the trouble
has been in the physical limitations 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 completed by Donald
murray, an Australian inventor is con-
sidered by far the most promising
cesstully, to accomplish the transmission
OF messages from a typewriter at one
terminal which controlled a second type
writer at the other terminal In this way
1t has been possible to reproduce in print
az the second terminal the message printed
at the first. The device appears moro
effective than it really is. Its a COM
paratiVely simple matter to make one type
writer control another by electricity" said
noted expert yesterday. but for releg-
raphy the device SO far has been a failure
Patent offices are full OF these devices,
Interesting enough as curiosfties, but they
90 not give any greater speed than the
Morse key, and they are, therefore, fall
ures. The typewriter, in theory, can run
on a minimum of one hundred words; but
in writing messages with the needed care.
experience reduces this figure to about
forty words at the utmost. We have
enough of those affairs; we want come
thing different"
Something different is supplied by Mr..
Murray's invention. By this system. the
message is produced on a narrow paper
ribbon by means of peFfcrations, which
correspond TO the Morse alphabet of dots
and dashes. is then transmitted to the re-
ceiving station. automatically, is there re-
produced on a second tape, and from that
tape is printed in type by an automatic
typewriter. at the rate OF ia words
minute, the highest speed yet attained by
any automatic device This speed has
many times been attained by Mr.. Murray
over a circuit of 3Ss miles, to Albany and
back to New York, while over the line to
Chicago, distance of nearly 1000 miles,
speed of 103 words has been obtained
This new apparatus, which is now in
stalled in Mr. Murray's office. is like many
re m lrl al inv
pearance, and while its operation involves
technical principles difficult for the layman
to grasp, its outward operation is readily
understood
As the first step. the inventor devised a
system OF perforations for the paper tape,
to represent the alphabet. The tape used is
half an inch wide. and has in the middle a
line Of circular holes by which it is kept
in place on the transmitting and recording
machine. In preparing the message at the
sending station, this tape is run through
a perforating machine manipulated by keyo
like q typewriter, which in the space OF
about fiys-eighths of an inch occupied by
each letter on the tape makes the neces-
sary holes. The tape containing the mes
sage thus indicated is then put into a
Wheatstone transmttter This is a small
instrument whose Mechanism is driven by
a small electric motor kept running at i
uniform rate by an electric vibrator, 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 tape, and trans,
init electrical impulses to the receiving
station.
The receiving instrument, which is an
invention of Mr.. Murray's, is run by clock
work. Il receives the electrical impulses
determined by the perforated tape in the
sending instrument, and on tape Just
like that used at the sending station ye-
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
Cf the whole invention. The tape Is kept
in place by running over a small wheel
provided with metal points which fit nto
the central line Of tape perforations.
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
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 type
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 typs-bars hammeriug out the mes
sage 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 hrst that this apparatus still de-
ponds upon the human operator. but in fact
that is not TO any important extent the
case. In using the Morse key, message
of, say 500 words occupies an instrument
for thirty minutes. But by the new system
this message can be divided among several
operators at the perfordtinS machines,
which work far more rapidly than the
Morse key, and the several strips of per-
forated tape are then run into the Wheat
stone -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 sending machines
their messages over one wire
at the rate of over loo
words a minute Mr. Murray expects
to obtain quadruplex tr,nsmis-
sion, which will secure the sending. t,ceiv-
ing, and prin' .ng in type of telegraphic
matter at the rate of nearly 500 words a
minute. and this over a single vile.
Aside from its value in the Geographic
device, the perforated tapa is thought 10
have n future in connection with typeset-
ting. As every one knows, the linotype
machines now used in newspaper offices
are operated by keyboard similar to that
of a typewriter. BY the use of the auto
matte controller applied to the linotype
the message contained in the perforated
type can be printed automatically by the
machine. at a much higher speed
than is now possible. A further advantage
Is that by printing the message on the
automatic typewriter. copy is produced
which may be cut down in the newspaper
erttida nv