The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-10-09

elaborate telegraph systems and nat
urally were 10th to displace them at
once. But little by little, as the tele-
phone showed itself nearly indspen-
sable in the management of other en-
terprises ii found a place in the intri-
cate methods by which great trans
portation lines are governed. The
fact that the electrical impulse which
transmits the sound of the voice does
not interfere with the current which
carries the telegraph message makes
1t possible for railroads to use what
is described as a composite system,
telephone and telegraph Instruments
both employing the same wires OF
course, telephoning over iron wires
such as the telegraph uses is not so
satisfactory as it is on specially con-
structed lines of copper, such as are
employed by the Bell companies for
their service. so some of the great
railway systems, notably the Penn
sylvania and the Illinois Central, have
built regulation telephone lines and
the New York Central is now equip
ping itself with thousand mile pri-
vate line from New York to Chicago.
with private exchanges Ia Albany,
Syracuse and Buffalo.
Used by Many Railways.
The list of railways which now make
extensive use Of the telephone is a
long one. including practically all the
great systems of the United States. The
number of private branch exchanges
operated by transportation companies
runs into the hundreds and they con-
meet thousands of stations. In fact,
such has the demand for this sort of
service become that the Bell people
have devised special sets OF apparatus
ri tuf, tsT 10 ~.
voted exclusively to the railway bust
ness.
While the running of trains by tele-
phone on steam lines is still regarded
as more or less of an experiment. the
telephone has been used for number
of years in the operation of electric
roads, and a number Of ingenious
pieces of apparatus have been devised
to facilitate this application OF Prof.
Bells invention. Thus conductors have
been provided with portable instru-
ments which they can connect with the
wires when they want to talk with
headquarters for any reason. Again,
many cross-country trolley lines of up
to-date equipment have regular tele-
phone stations in weather-proof boxes
at every turnout where cars pass each
other so the dispatcher can keep con-
slant control Of all cars out on the
line and issue orders IN case OF an IN
terruption of traffic or other emergen-
cy. Mechanism has also been devised
by means of which the flashing of sig
nal lamps upon the trolley poles calls
the attention of conductors and noti-
fies them to communicate with the Of
fees of the company.
Phones I'm Passenger Cars.
Up to the present the efforts of rail-
way managers have been devoted
chiefly to making the telephone OF val
ne in the operation OF their roads, but
some experiments have been made with
a view to enabling passengers to talk
by wire while on their travels. Al
though no practicable means have yet
been found by which people on a NOV
ing train may communicate In this
way with those outside. trains have
been equipped with telephones, just as
hotels are, so that passengers in one
car may talk with those in another
without leaving their seats. and on the
electric road which climbs Mt. Tom in
the state of Massachusetts, the con-
ductor and motorman Of each car are