Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-07-20
SENT BY MACHINE.
Much Of Journals Telegraph
News Transmitted That Way"
Wonderful New Machine Increase
Capacity Of Wires.
"nat 1t Is Like and How 1t Is Operated.

Z
century and the beginning Of the TWEEN
tleth, probably no class of men have
been called upon to exert themselves
10 greater extent than the press
operators" the men who transmit news
lioiii one end of the world to the other
ny electric flashes, controlled light
iiiiis' the men who have brought Eu-
rope INTO Americans door yard and
MADE Maine and California next door
neighbors.
might be well to explain at this
Time That the press operator of today
repre the highest degree of efiici-
ency known among the many thou
sahds OF telegraph operators. They
must be rapid accurate tireless, and
must place before the newspapers on
thelr circuits the largest amount of
news IN the shortest possible time.
steadily for years, the demand for
more results has been made, until at
'he present time nearly double the
amount OF work is accomplished in a
DAY OF seven or eight hours as was
dohe ten years ago.
The first device brought to the aid of
the operators in attaining greater
speed was the typewriter, which re-
placed the old styles, the pen and the
pencil. With the introduction of the
typewriter, and as the men became
prohclent in its use, 1t was found that
While the man at the receiving" end
Of the wire was accomplishing more
than ever before he was doing it with
less effort; in fact he was taking 1t
easy, or, AS the operator would tell you
lying back and waiting for it." In the
meantime the transmitting operator
was working at top speed. Evidently
the trouble there. Finally it dawned
upon the progressive one that the old
method had been outgrown-the rush
and Whirl of the newer years called for
system that would give more speed
than the old system of spelling out
each word in full.
AS result the Phillips code was
born. At first this code in reality was
merely an abhreviation of the smaller
and more simple words, but it
gradually was added to and perfected
until now in many instances a series
of letters flashed over the Wire when
transcribed by the receiving operator
on his typewriter will appear as a
in common use has been included in
the code book until the mixed up
tumble of letters and characters which
come flashing over the wires if re-
reduced to writing by the operator just
as they came would mean nothing
whatever to the newspaper reader.
1t is not done in that way, however
Those letters and signs are perfectly
Ineligible to the man who has studied
them for years, and as they come to
him in a rapid series of dots and
dashes they are transcribed on the
typewriter, every word accurately
spelled. every sentence properly
punctuated. For instance, the char
aCterS in a certain case which come
over the wire may be as follows:
"Wn-1 Prans:" and then a half dozen
names. The receiving operator will
write: washington, July 1.-The
president TODAY sent the following
nominations to the senate:" Then the
names as sent in full will be added.
Again, one of our country cousins
may go down to the city and carefully
blow out the gas before retiring.
Shortly after the body of our late la
mented relative has been found the
next day the telegraph wire will an
nounce something like this: IN. vi
George F. Blank of Cross Cut Corners,
Maine, jay. Aged so The next morn
Ing We will read in our family paper
an item like this: New York, July
15-George F.. Blank of Cross Cut
Corner. Maine. committed suicide last
night by blowing out the gas. lie was
thirty years DID,"
AS result of the typewriter and the
code and the high speed with which
they are used, the capacity of a tele-
graph Wire has been more than
double. But at the same time it has
reached a point where the transmit
ting operator who jerks the dots and
dashes from a little brass key, and the
man who transcribes from dots and
dashes and code to Ineligible English,
are working at the highest nervous
tension. They are unable to do more
and yet the demand continues to in
crease as steadily as before.
The same ingenuity which supplied
first the typewriter and then the code
again has come to the rescue, this time
with the most ingenious device of its
kind. 1T is a mechanical transmitter
that will do it's work, a machine which,
in the hands of a slsillful operator,
will send perfect Morse characters just
as rapidly as the human ear can read
them, and even faster for that matter
The new machine, a combined type
write and telegraph instrument,
known as the Yetman Telegraph
Transmitting Typewriter, was designed
for the purpose of providing perfect
transmission of the Morse characters
by telegraph. Already it is in use on
the heavy press wires running into
New England, and much of the Ken
nebec Journals Geographic news is
handled in this way.
The yetman as it is commonly called.
is nearly automatic in its operation.
only requiring human skill, acquired
by constant practice, to make the send
ing absolutely perfect.
The typewriter section and all me-
chanical parts of the machine are as
near perfect as the best machinists
can make them. The machine is
highly finished in nickle and enamel
and present q handsome appearance,
en,bodies all the modern improve
ments, such as visible writing, mar
ginaI adjustments. single double and
triple suacing, ball bearing carria ges