The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1904-12-23


It in Forts Along the Coast.
The national government has re-
Gently installed in the forts along the
coast new kind of telegraph, which
is valuable for its accuracy and Sc
crecy. 1t needs no telegraph opera
tor no Morse code, and is not liable
to any tapping of the wire, says
Priscilla Leonard, in the Youths
Companion.
1t preserves the message at both
ends Of the wire, in autograph, for
filing and reference and it will trans
NIT shorthand, diagrams, sketches,
and even Chinese or hieroglyphics,
as readily as ordinary words. 1t is,
called the telautograph, from the
Greek words tele, at distance; au-
tos, ones self, and grapno, to write;
and it's name expresses just what it
is-an instrument to enable one to
write, even at a distance, in ones own
handwriting.
The telautograph looks very like
wall-telephone, but instead of mouth
piece and receiver, it has an endless
sheet of paper, passing over rollers,
and across an open space on the pro
jecting desk, where a pencil is held
in place by two diagonal levers.
To use the instrument, the writer
rings once, pulls out a fever at the
side, takes up the pencil, and writes
the message desired on the paper, the
rollers taking the sheet onward as it
fills up, line after line.
Metal clamp slides hold the paper
in plac9 as the pencil travels over it.
When the message is written, the
writer rings twice, and the thing is
done.
The receiving te1autograph instru-
ment may be across the room, or on
the next floor, or four hundred miles
AWAIT makes no difference. AS
the bell rings, it sets to work in uni
son with the transmitting power,
whether anybody is near it or not
It's twin endless sheet It paper is in
an upright box, not in a desk, but the
rollers, ct Cetera, are the same as in
the transmitting instrument; and as
the writer's hand, far away, moves
the pencil across the paper, self
feeding pen, similarly attached to
diagonal levers, reproduces each mo-
tion exactly here, as if guided by an
invisible hand.
There is something distinctly weird
and creepy in the sight to the on
locker who watches this pen gliding,
without human touch, over the sheet,
while a well-known handwriting
stands out, word after word, in it's
swift, silent track.
A sum is set down, figure by figure,
and worked out, sketch made, in
the same wonderful way. Then the
pen stops, the bell rings twice, and
the message is done, and the paper
rolls itself in place ready for the next
call. The receiving instrument may
be left in locked room all day, but
when the owner comes back, he will
find all the messages received in their
order, accurately in autograph per
feet record, authoritative and secret.
The telautograph is especially use
full to bank officers and their ques-
toners.
When a merchant asks the teller or
cashier the amount of his balance,
he naturally does not want the ans
wer given so every one around can
hear it.
In one Boston bank the telauto-
graph relieves this embarrassment.
The teller writes the question, which
is reproduced in the bookkeeper's Of
fee. The bookkeeper writes the an
swer, the teller tears off the slip after
it has passed beyond the rollers, and
hands it to the inquirer, who thus mas
a written and secret record of his
balance.