Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1910-08-19
CLICK OF THE KEY
The Reading of Telegraph Mes
sages by Sound.
STORY OF THE FIRST TRIAL.

A Lack OF Tape Caused AIcnxo q. Cor
nell to Attempt Interpretstins the
Morse Code by Ear--The Discovery
That Abolished the Use of tho ape.
Ezra Cornell is known I'm history as
tue father of Cornell university. rs
one OF the men who helped TO build
the first telegraph line aud as an ar
dent organizer or telegraph systems In
the early days. being Instrumental I'm
the formation of the now famous
Western Union Telegraph company
His son. Alonzo Il. Cornell. became
ultimately vice president OF the West
ern Union and governor OF New York
state-high commercial and political
donors.
Yet he once confessed to me that he
felt be should be credited with the
additional honor OF having made the
discovery that telegraph messages
! could be read by ear, and he seemed
TO take more pride In bis part In bring.
Ing this about than be did in any OF
his other achievements.
Il was trained as a telegraph opera.
tor" said Mr. Cornell In telling me tho
story II suppose l took 10 telegraphy
naturally because OF my fathers deep
and large interests In the then new
mode of communication. Anyway.
learned the Morse key easily. and I
was. 10 fact. very fond Of telegra phing
from both the practical and the scien-
fife standpoints
'One afternoon. sometime In the err.
" f1fties. when I was stationed at Al
bany, y. Y. there was an unusual in
rush of newspaper dlspatcbes-I was
in charge of the press key-and in the
midst of the task of receiving them
found TO my CONSERVATION that I was
out Of tape Before taking my seat
before the key / had neglected to re-
plenish the tape reel.
There was a bountiful supply OF
tape in the cellar OF the building. but
IL was long trip there-there were
no elevators in those days-nnd / knew
that TO go there ! would waste pre-
cious time. And there were those anx-
ious newspaper men hanging over my
shoulder.
suddenly. as f1shed about mental
~ for the quickest way out of my
dilemma. this thought popped into nv
head: You don't need any tape. Half
the time you don't look at IL when the
dispatches are coming In, before you
write them out You trust to your
ears 20 tell what the instrument snys
Why not do so nowT Instantly I de-
termined 60 see whether or not I could
take the dispatches by sound alone.
Il put my fingers on the key and
broke In on New York. whence the
dispatches were coming. Send rather
slowly and very distinctly asked the
man at the other end OF the wire. he
at once began to do so-not without
some curiosity as to my reason,
found out later.
But ! didn't think of that at the
time. for I was glowing all over with
the knowledge that | could write out
the dispatches-and write them cor
rectly. for they made sense-by simply
listening TO the sounds that the key
made.
Thus / continued tnklng the dis
patches to the very end. Then the
New York operator called me- What |
are you doing up thereT he asked |
why did you want me TO send slowly |
and distinctlyr
II answered that I had said goodby |
TO the telegraph tape forever and told |
him OF the discovery I had made. He |
was immediately interested. Send |
me slowly and very distinctly fifteen |
or twenty words. and I'll see whether |
or not / can do the same thing he re-
quested.
Il did SO. full OF confidence. and q |
little later there came to me this mes
sage: I've done IL too. Some OF the
other boys say they can. predict /
fhnt within a month there won't be an
inch OF tape used IN the New York
Office
Years later" added Mr.. Cornell, I'll
was told that ahout the time that
discovered for myself q new and reyo-
lutionary method Of receiving teie-
graph messages the same method was
also discovered by an operator la the
main office In Pittsburg. have no
doubt that this Is true. Sooner or
later the discovery was bound TO he
made not only In one. but several
offices. But ! have always felt that III
was the first to make the discovery
and should be credited with IL I'm tele.