The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-08-18
CLICK OF The KEY
! The Reading Of Telegraph Mes
sages by Sound.
STORY OF THE FIRST TRIAL.

STORY OF THE FIRST TRIAL,
A Lack of Tape Caused AIonzo 3. Cor
nell to Attempt lnterpretating the
Morse Code by Ear-The Discovery
That Abolished the Use of the I ape.
Ezra Cornell is known in history as
the father of Cornell university. as
one Of the men who helped 70 build
the first telegraph line and as IN ar
dent organizer of telegraph systems in
the early days. being instrumental In
the formation of the now famous
Western Union Telegraph company.
His son. Alonzo b. Cornell. became
ultimately vice president of the West
ern Union and governor Of New York
state-high commercial and political
honors.
Yet he once confessed to me that he
felt he 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 his part in bring
ing this about than he did in any of
his other achievements.
II was trained as telegraph opera
tor" said Mr.. Cornell In telling me the
story II 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 l
was. in fact. very fond Of telegraphlng
from both the practical and tue scien-
tiflc standpoints.
zone afternoon. sometime in the ear
~ flfties. when l was stationed ut Al
bany. n. Y, there was an unusual In
rush Of newspaper dispatches was
In charge Of the press key-and In the
midst OF rho task of receiving them i
found to my CONSERVATION that 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
1t was long trip there-there were
no elevators In those days-and knew
that to go there would waste pre-
cious time. And there were those anx-
ious newspaper men hanging over my
shoulder
Suddenly. as fished about mental
| " for the quickest way out Of my
dilemma. this thought popped into my
head: You don't need any tape. Halt
the time you don't look at 1t when the
| dispatches are coming in before yo,l
write them out You trust to your
ears to tell what the instrument says.
Why not do so now.' Instantly de
termined to see whether or not could
take the dispatches by sound nlone.
II 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 ut 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 was glowing all over with
| the knowledge that i 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 l continued taking the dis
patches to the very end. Then the
New York operator called me- What
are you doing up there? he asked
why did YOU want me to send slowly
and distinctly:
II answered that had said goodby
to the telegraph tape forever and tolt
him of the discovery had made. ut
was Immediately interested. 'Sent
me slowly and very distinctly fifteef
or twenty words. and I'll see whether
or not l can do the same thing he re
| quested.
Il did so, full of confidence. and 8
little later there came to me this mes
sage: I've done 1t too. Some of til,
other boys say they can. l predict
that within q month there won't be ar
inch of tape used in the New York
office
Years later" added Mr. Cornell. e
was told that about the time that
discovered for myself new and revo
lutionary method of receiving tele
graph messages the same method wa.
also discovered By an operator in tn,
main office in Pittsburg. have nj
doubt that this is true. Sooner Oh
later the discovery was bound to BIZ
made not only in one, but severa
! offices. But have always felt that
was the first to make the discovery
and should be credited with it in tele
graphic history. Boston Globe.