The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1910-08-09
CLICK OF The KEY
The Reading Of Telegraph Mes
sages by Sound.
STORY OF THE FIRST TRIAL

A Lack Of Tape Caused Alonzo 3. Cor
nell to Attempt lnterpretatins th'
Morse Code by Ear-Ths Discovery
That Abolished tho Use Of the ape.
Ezra Cornell Is known IN history as
the father Of Cornell university, as
one Of the men who helped 70 builo
the frst telegraph line and as an ar
dent organizer OF telegraph systems IN
the early days, being instrumental IN
the formation Of the now famous
Wes.ern Union Telegraph company
His sen. Alonzo II. Cornell, became
ultimately vice president Of the West.
ern Union and governor Of New York
state-high commercial and political
hon0rs.
Yet be 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 be seemed
TO take more pride In his part IN bring.
ing this about than he did in any Of
his other achievements.
II was trained as a telegraph opera
tor" said Mr.. Cornell IN telling me the
story. Il suppose took to telegraphy
naturally because OF my fathers deep
and large interests In the then new
mode OF communication. Anyway, /
learned the Morse key easily, and ]
was. ia fact, very fond Of telegraphlng
from both the practical and the scien.
tihc standpoints.
zone afternoon, sometime In the ear
" fifties. when / was stationed at Al
bany. n. ". there was an unusual In
rush Of newspaper dispatches-I was
In charge OF the press key-and in the
midst OF the task Of receiving them
found to my CONSERVATION that was
out Of tape, Before taking my seat
before the key I had neglected to re-
plenlsh the tape reel
There was a bountiful supply Of
tape In the cellar Of the building, but
II was a long trip there-there were
no elevators In those days-and ] knew
that TO go there / would waste pre-
clous time. And there were those anx-
lous newspaper men hanging over my
shoulder
Suddenly, as l fshed about mental
" for the quickest way out Of my
dilemma. this thought popped into my
head: You don't need any tape. Half
the time you don't look at It when the
dispatches are coming in before you
write them out You trust to your
ears to tell what the instrument says.
Why not do so nowf Instantly ] de-
termined TO 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 sc 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 taking the dis
patches 10 the very end. Then the
New York operator called me. What
are you doing up theref he asked.
why did you want me to send slowly
and dlstinctlyg
Il answered that had said goodby
to the telegraph tape forever and told
him Of the discovery | had made lie
was Immediately interested. Send
me slowly and very distinctly fifteen
or twenty words, and III see whether
or not | can do the same thing he re-
quested.
II did so, full Of confidence, and a
little later there came TO me this mes
sage; i've done 1t too. Some Of the
other boys say they can. Ipredict
that within a month there won't be an
inch OF tape used in the New York
office,
Years later" added Mr.. Cornell, II
was told that about the time that !
discovered for myself new and reyo-
lutionary method of receiving tele-
graph messages the same method was
also discovered BY an operator in the
main Office in Pittsburg. have no
doubt that this Is true. Sooner or
later the discovery was bound to be
made not only in one. but several
offices, But I have always felt that ]
was The first to make the discovery
and should be credited with 1t in tele-
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