The Savannah morning news., 1902-08-10
HOW THE TELEGRAPH
BECAME THE RAILROADS
MOST USEFUL SERVANT.
First the Wire Was Uncertain Sometimes Its En-
pIoyment Caused Accidents, Preventing Them
Copyright, 1902, by Walter Morris.


be notified. In all such cases it is the
use of the telegraph, alone, that en-
ables the business of the road to go
on safely and without interruption.
Before the double order" system
each conductor to be instructed re-
celVed an individual message from the
train dispatcher. Sometimes. the mes
sage was very full, telling him of the
movements of other trains as we'll as
directing his own; sometimes its mea-
gerness was extreme, all explanatory
clauses being rigidly left out So I'M
skillfully We're the messages often
worded that, as Mr.. Laying remembers,
large portion had to be interpreted
for the conductors before they would
consent to go ahead.
Nowadays, under the double order
system, when messages are to be sent
directing conductors of two trains,
both men receive the same message.
And this is how the thing is done:
Copy"
From the wire reports which he is
constantly receiving the dispatcher
knows at $40 a. m, say, that Train
Number One (east-bound), which
should be at Station Q at 10 o'clock to
meet and pass Train Number Two
at the moment is approaching Station
U. Train Number Two, on time, is ap-
preaching Station o. The dispatcher
calls up the operators at Stations o
and .. directing them that there will
be orders for the conductors of the
two trains, Number One at u and
, Number Two at o. Then he sends the
one word, Copy" following it with an
order reading something like this, if
there are no serious complications:
Trains Number One and Two will
meet at S. In the absence of further
orders, Number One will wait there
until the arrival of Number Two"
This message is given in duplicate to
both conductors. who are signalled that
orders are awaiting them as they pull
in at Stations U and o. Before either
can then proceed he must notify the
dispatcher that it has been received
and understood. Such an order would
be extremely simple, but whether sim
pie or complicated, the aim is to make
all orders direct and understandable
Sometimes even now, there are mis-
understood orders. though forgotten or
ders are more frequent, but such cases
are comparatively rare, and it is hard
to see how a better system could be
devised.
The "Circuit Breaker"
To Mr.. Laying also are the railroad
and Geographic world is indebted for
the Circuit breaker" 1t was some
time after the success of the telegraph
as an adjunct of railroading had been
conceded all round before the wire was
used by trainmen to telegraph news of
accidents from points between stations
Till then it was the custom, when
there was an accident between sta
tiOns, to send a train hand back to
the nearest station, and he would tele-
graph the news from there to the SUI
perintendent'S office.
But some one thought it feasible to
carry telegraphic instruments on the
trains so that in case of accident the
line could be cut and the news wired
promptly This plan worked admira-
bly,, but it had the drawback that cut
ting the wire interrupted the regular
transmission of messages, thus de-
ranging the business of the railroad
and stopping all commercial telegraph
ing, if there were but one wire, until
linemen could be sent for and the wire
mended Sometimes this might not
be possible, especially in the early
days, for hours, and the resulting loss,
confusion and delay from intercepted
messages became a serious matter.
The Circuit breaker which young
Laying invented to overcome all this
is as simple as his double orders" 1t
is merely a sort of double clamp not
larger than a pocket knife, which is
fastened to the wire that it is be cut,
in such way that it may be screwed
between the two ends of the clamp. BY
this device the wire may be tapped
without interrupting the regular flow
of kilograms at all, except for the
brief time required to wire news of
the accident to the Super" By a
simple device on the side, the clamp it
self, which holds the severed wire ends
together and prevents them from fall
ing to the ground, furnishes the path
over which the electric fluid travels
past the point of cutting after the
message for which the wire was cut
has been sent.
MIR. Laying might have increased his
wealth a lot through this device had
he wished, since it is now in uni
versal use by the railroads, but he
took out no patent and has
been quite content with the
knowledge that his ingenuity
"Stringing Time Tables"
The third simplification of railroad
operation due to Mr.. Laying is the use
of threads, pegs and a big board, rep
resenting a railroad line, or division
thereof, in time table making.
In the early days, when there were
only two or three trains a day each
way to be got over any railroad, the
making of the time table was sim
plicity itself, but as railroad business
grew, the practical men who had to
blaze the way in all executive railroad
matters were much puzzled for a SIM
pie time table making scheme. No one
knows who thought of the use of
"cross section paper" the vertical lines
standing for hours and minutes and
the horizontal ones for the stations
and sidings on the road, while the
trains were represented by lines run
ming diagonally. At all events, this
method was in use in the sos, and
George W. Fulton, superintendent of
the Steubenville and Indiana Railroad
now a part of the Panhandle system,
taught it's mysteries to young Laying.
To him the principle seemed the sim
plest that could be devised, but the
method was slow and cumbersome, the
diagonal lines for the trains having
to be drawn in. Often these lines had
to be drawn, erased and redrawn, re-
peatedly, before they were got INFO
perfect shape, and thus the making oe
a time table was an exceedingly slow
lob. one day the young man had
bright idea. which he at once carried
into execution by having a big, smooth
board made which he fastened upon
the wall. Then he divided
the board vertically with hori-
live ,-ofA ant IN