The Washington herald., 1908-07-27
new RECORDS MADE
BY TELEGRAPHBRS
Remarkable Feat Of Opera
tor at Denver.
SENDS S,136 WORDS AN HOUR
Laffan Press Association Men show
what Experts Can Do Over Long
Distance-COnkIinE Sends 10000
Words in - Working Hours-Re-
ceiver Takes without .'BreakiBg."

The Democratic convention at Denver
saw other records broken besides that
for a political demonstration.
One record that was smashed was for
long distance teIegraphing The man who
broke this record was George W. COnk-
ling. chief operator Cor the Laffan Press
Association.
Working over a wire that stretched
more than half way across the continent.
about 2,5o0 miles. M Conkliug attained
the high speed Of 5.I55.20 words an hour.
OF 52-Z7 words 70 the minute. a record
which has never before been equaled
anywhere
Furthermore. Mr.. Conkling. in just
twenty-eight working hours. sent over
this wire 10 the New York Lahan Office
by the Morse system. and using the Phil
lips code. a total Of 721JJ words. an
average Of 2.5G7I4 an hour. or 53.45 words
a minute. Much Of this matter was sent
from seat IN front Of the speakers
stand in the convention hall while pande-
monium was being raised.
The Denver convention was the biggest
Job the telegraph business has had 70
tackle. probably since the telegraph was
invented. This was because Denver was
so far away from the large cities IN the
East 70 which so much Of the press mat
ter IS sent Il was q test not only Of
long-distauce wires, but Of the ability Of
the man at the key 10 convey words con
tiHuously at high speed across the des-
erts, the plains. the rivers, and the noun
tions-
WIrc n Duplex Circuit
The wire worked by NIr- C0nki1g was
a duplex circuit II really was four
wires joined together by the Western
Union Company for this emergency Il
ran from Denver 10 Kansas CITY. thence
&c s. Louis. thence TO Pittsburg. and
thence to New York. As everybody
knows. it IS impossible 70 transmit
sounds over such a distance without the
. aid OF repeaters. which are nothing more
I than automatic relays These were at
! Kansas City. -. Louis and PI-tsburE.
Il would probably have been lupOssi-
. bic 10 make any such record over a wire
OF this length had not the utmost care
i been tskeu IN watching the wire at the
. three relay points At zach ~ these men
We're stationed al the direction Of NIr.
I CouklIuE % ''reEne" the wire. as the
/ operators say. Their duty was 20 keep
I re7dJusting the repeaters and make sure
that the circuit was just right. IN spite
. Of weather conditions and other things.
Long wires Difficult.
T. is a great deal more difficult 90 send
over wire 2.e51 miles in length than
. over one running. say, from New York 20
Albany in the former case It IS ueces-
/ sary. as the telegraph men say. 90 over
3 come the swing Of the wire-tEat is,
/ 20 overcome the tendency a wl-e has 20
{ miss the clicks at the receiving end To
! send an average of $50 words an hour
I il IS absolutely necessary that every let
( ter should be distinct. otherwise the man
/ receiving VIII have 10 break IN and have
( e repeated The man al the receiving
end Of the wire from peuver-H. r. Clark
did not break in on Mr.. CoukIug once
/ IN three hours. record in Itself.
! IN the convention hall SIr CorkIi1c
was not permitted 20 use the ordinary
/ sounder. Instead OF the usual Instrument
with It's loud ticks that are 50 familiar
3 Il was necessary 10 use what is known As
/ n secret sOunder- This resembles a watch
and IS worn strapped 20 the operators s
| lear. with ticks not much louder than the
ticks Of a watch. Two Of these were re-
quired for the duplex circuit. ore Strapped
on the ea- and one held IN the hand the
latter being for ueSs1 EeS coming from
New York. Working with such instru-
ments IN place where I1.000 persons are
yelling al the same time occasionally.
I with the band helping along not very far
away. and the crash Of the chairman :
EaveI sounding n your ears. f. was not
an easy job 10 keep up. even with The
usual speed
Long Session Work
{ In the long session OF Thursday night.
at which Bryan was nominated az 3.5
a. m, Denver time. words were flashed
I from Denver right into The LaFan office.
IN New York. at the rate Of ffty-tvyo a
minute and were taken by 8Ir. Clark on
a typewriter without a break. the ticks
Of the instrument in the Office being as
distinct az II the wire ran 10 HarIem. in
stead OF 70 the Rockies. These ticks told
in words something about the noise and
confusion going on IN the convention
hall, which was making this such a re-
markabIa performance as viewed BY
teleg-aphers- Besides being a record for
speed. it was also one for endurance
as we'll
On July :. the first day Of the co1veu-
ton. Mr. Conkling sent 14-50 words IN 5
hours and 3 minutes. at average Of . 139
words an hour On July he increased
the average 70 2949 words an hour. send
ing 500 words in hours and - minutes.
and on the day following the record was
5. 30 words in l hour and 50 minutes. or
& 15s words an hour
Record on Last Day
The last day Of the convention AR.
ConkIing sent 1870 words in hours and
% minutes. or S.111 words in an hour.
which was only a shade under the record
Of the previous day
Not only IS this put down as a record
as far as long distance work goes. but
there is nothing in the archives TO show
that It has even been done over short
lines. BY such work It was possible for
the L.aIan service TO overcome much Of
the disadvantage arising from the two
hours difference in time. which all the
newspapers in the East had TO contend
with IN trying to present complete ac-
counts Of a convention that was being
held right underneath the Rockies.
Mr. Conkling has been in several tour-
naments. In 1893 he Won a silver loving
cup as the most perfect sender with a
Morse key. Formerly he worked a wire
famous for its fast service between New