New-York tribune., 1908-12-14
TELEGR4PHTC SPEED.

4 few weeks ago. in ddreSS advocating a
. reduction of the submarine cable rates between
England and America. Mr.. Henniker Heaton
made passing ausion to an existing system
which renders ii possible to send forty thousand
words or more an hour over single wire. 4
representative of the inventors of the apparatus
( referred to supplies in The London Times" of
December some interesting information con-
/ cerning ii, though il not altogether unknown
before. The correspondent says that il has not
yet been claimed that the invention is suited to
cable service, though the work Of adaptation
may he performed at no distant date. For the
assertion that over a combination Of land wires
fully one thousand miles in length fortysix
thousand words have been transmitted in an
hour he gives the French government as the
authority although. the apparatus is not in
regular use. it may be assumed that the record
made in tests by the French PostOtfice De
parIment.
From other sources it is learned that the sys-
TEN mentioned by Mr.. Heaton originated with
two Hungarians. Pollak and Virag Ingenious
mechanism IS employed by them at both ends Of
the line Into the transmtter is fed strip OF
paper in which holes have previously been
punched. For this preparatory work something
like a typewriter is employed. The receiving
apparatus moves slender pencil Of light so as
10 write the message on another strip of paper
this second tape having been treated with photo
graph" chemicals. When the operation Of send
/ ing ceases. the paper which the message ha 5
/ been received is immersed in suitable solutions
Ia develop" and fix the writing The strip is
then dried and cut in pieces for delivery
For several parts Of the work there are well
/ established precedents. In the Wheatstone sys-
/ tenn of machine teegraphy. for instance use IS
made Of punched strip. though the form of the
/ holes and the method Of perfora ton doubtless
/ differ from those of Poak and Virag The
automatic control Of a pen by n distant operator
| is beautifully exhibited by Cray's telautograph.
an American invention whose convenience is now
/ coming 10 be widely recognized. Registering
I photOgraphicalIv with beam of light reflected
! from tiny mirror is an even older pra ctfce.
one Of ies most valuable applications being made
| in ohservatOrieS which measure the oscillations
of the magnetic needle. It is chiefly in the speed
with which these various methods are utilized
/ that the achievement Of the Hungarian electri-
/ clans seems incredible.
/ Even for use on land. it remains to be shown
/ how reliable the Pollak-Vrag system is If aav
! part of the mechanism is liable to get ont of
/ order, or if perfect cooperation between trans
! mitter and receiver is not assured high speed
/ alone would not count for much. 1t does lot
!. yet appear how large an investment the equip
ment of two stations demands Without infor-
ma ton on that point its economy cannot be com
/ pared with that of other machine systems Very
Ikc!E 100. II II should ever he adopted, either by
/ a telegraph company or any government which
conducts a telegraph service lis use would be
/ limited 10 somewhat long dispatches like those
intended for the press. The preparation for
sending and the chemical treatment of the mes
sage before delivery would involve too much
delay for short messages.
Though there is little prospect that the PoIIak-
Nirag apparatus can be employed by the cable
companies. they may find other reasons for
making concessions to the public Marcon be
lieves that some Of the machine systems of trans
mission can he applied to wireless telegraphy
} If his opinion is well grounded there is n chance
/ that competition with the cables may become
much more formida BILE than il now Is