Los Angeles herald., 1910-02-26
Growth of the Telephone
Bv Frederic j. HaSkin

fish coming when they are still some
The telephone companies of the Unit
ed states are lending ther ald toward
the prevention of fires and the repres-
sion of crime In all cities hey transmit
messages free to fire alarm anu Pii Po,ioe
stations. In Chicago the call for police
is Main 13, and it was used 62,OO5 times
n 1000. THE fire alarm call, Main 0, was
used SS25 times American telephone
comnanies could we'll initiate a Copen-
ha Gen company, which installed phono-
graphs in its central office. whenever
an irate subscriber abused an operator
over the wire she simply switched ms
voice into the photograph. II he were
at fault he was summoned to the office
and asked to listen to himself talk.
AS an abuse-repressor it has proved
great success.
Selling time service as by-product
of the BUSINESS is one OF the latesl
wrinkles in telephones. For many years
the western Union has sold standard
time service, though it never has
pushed the idea. Now comes a MIS-
souri man with a master-clock In the
telephone office, with which clocks in
the homes and offices of subscribers
/ are connected. Where the experiment
has been tried 1t has proved satisfac-
tory. and it is not improbable that
hustling telephone companies every
where will adopt the idea
Telephones are now sometimes at
| tached to BARRIERS chairs. A New
Jersey barber installed several in his
shop. and his patronage has increased
because of it. In this way the busy
man can keep in touch with his once
while beng shaved or having hair
cut.
to1ay111OY1a which
seems to be the acme of convenience.
The transmitter and receiver are made
into one piece in such a way that when
the subscriber holds the receiver to
his ear, the transmitter Is in the cor
rect position before his mouth. Thus
one hand is always free and both trans
mitter and receiver can be moved as
far as the cord will permit.
A Philadelphia inventor has brought
out a fire-hose telephone. 1t consists
of a wire connection woven through the
lengths of the hose and a small port
| able telephone attached to each end of
| the line of hose. In this way the fire
men may talk with the chief and get
orders even when the latter is block
| or more away from the fire. whenever
the hose sections are put together the
wire connection is made automatically.
| Thomas Thorne Baker, in charge of
| the London Daily Mail, has perfected
a new Photographic transmitting device
| which he calls the telectograph. 1t is
being used between the London and
| Manchester offices of the Mail especial
| ly for the transmission of pictures from
the London office to the Manchester
office, where they appear simultaneous
| ly with their publication in London.
| From four to five hours are saved over
| f,.oY hNt mail If takes
hour to transmit a picture.
The illustration is first photographed
| through q screen ruled like a checker
board with seventy-flve lines each way
| to the inch. By chemical treatment
the developed plate is made to con-
| tain little fish-glue dots, one dot for
each mesh in the screen. AS the nee
| die, corresponding to the needle of a
phonograph, passes over the plate
| these glue dots alternately make and
break the circuit, and corresponding
| impulses are sent over the wires. AT
| the other end of the line a needle acts
| in the same manner on paper so sensi-
tized that the little impulses of cleo
| tricity make black mark at each
| mesh, corresponding in intensity with
the degree of the impulses. Consequent
ly, when the reproducing needle has
followed the sending needle through
all of the little meshes on the sending
plate, an exact reproduction of the
original with all its gradationS of
light and shade is the result. A line
between London and Paris is being
planned and will soon be in operation.
The very newest thing in electrical
circles is Farming by Wireless" At
the recent Hobby Night of the National
Press club in Washington, Prof. Willis
Moore stated that the highly electrified
| northwest wind is the source of Ameri
cas- remarkable energy, and, in keeping
with this idea, some English scientists
are making experimental efforts to
| transfer the energy of the atmosphere
to products of the soil. They rugged up
an oil engine and dynamo and covered
some twelve acres of land with series
of parallel wire lines not so high as
telegraph lines, but still high enough
| to be out of the way of farm opera
| tions. Through these wires electrical
currents are sent over the growing
crops with remarkable results. Anyone
walking below the wires can feel the
effect on the hair of the head as of a
cobweb on the face. At dusk, just be-
| fore the power is cut off, there is
plow visible wherever a leakage of
| current occurs. The current is turned
on several hours each day, and the
| photographs of crops grown under
such stimulations show that by this
| means production may be increased
| by one-half.
week we saved "a little money Now