The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-17
~ ELEGRAPHY and telephony arc lSp constantly advancing, though to
 those not actually acquainted

9 constantly advancing though to
 those not actually acquainted with the subject the progress may seem trfling and Insignificant. The wiring of pictures and photographs, which to the lay mind seems more wonderful than the telegraph and telephone. has come much later, but it has come to stay and the advancement of this new electrical science has been in reality very rapid.
 It is over eighteen months ago that the first photograph was wired from Berlin to Paris by means of the instruments in- vehted by Prof. Korn of Munich, and a few days later telegraphed portrait or King Edward was received from Paris in London in the offices of the Daily Mirror, where the apparatus has been rapidly installed.
 Following that event a regular com- munication was kept up between Paris and London and the British public be- came quite familiar with the character like photograph record.
 The necessity for sending very simple subject such as a portrait was, however, a serious hindrance to the system and the development of Prof Korn's telauto- eraph-an instrument for telegraphing complicated subjects such as landscapes, etc, was eagerly awaited.
 It is the telautograph which is now at work with such success, and although there are many defects to be yet over come the new system is so full of prom ise that we may now confidently look forward to genuine and rapid progress.
 The workings of the instrument which transmits pictures by wire is exceedingly simple and straightforward-it is the deli cacy of adjustment required that de- mands so much care and attention.
 Imagine photograph broken up into lines of varying thickness, so that sey- eral thick parallel lines form a dark portion, while thin lines for the light portions, the various tones being de- pendent on the thickness of the compon- ent lines. Now. 1t is possible to print such a photograph or picture upon thin sheet of copper the lines consisting of gum or glue. Such picture is att tached to metal cylinder. which revolves in spiral fashion in the instrument, just like ap monograph record.
 small metal needle or style presses on the cylinder, and thus comes into contact with each tiny section one by one as the picture revolves and travels for ward beneath it.
 An electric current is lead through the cylinder, via the needle into the telegraph lines connecting the transmitter with the receiving apparatus. The passage of the current is intercepted by the gum lines, for periods depending on their thickness and thus the flow of the electricity is constantly being interrupted.
 Howl is this interrupted c6rent made to reproduce picture at the other end of the line? Once again. the system is remarkably simple
 A powerful beam of light from lamp is concentrated on a small spot of sensi- tive photograph film which is attached to a drum that revolves spirally in a dark box in exactly the same manner and at the same rate as the transmitting cylin- der.
 A small electric shutter is placed in the path of the light and intercepts it so that it cannot reach the sensitive film. But every time the. electric current flows-i. e., when the metal needle is in contact with the copper picture and not separated from it by one of the gum lines-the shutter rises and allows the light to pass.
 These intermittent exposures depend for their duration upon the width of the gum lines in the pictures being telegraphed and hence on developing the film a reproduce tion of the pictures is obtained.
 It is when we learn that the electric shutter Is only about a wo-thousandth of an inch in size and is attached to silver wires a thousandth of an inch in thick ness that we begin to realize what deli cacy is required in the carrying out of the work. This minute shutter moves be-