Evening journal., 1911-05-18
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
A Little Known Chapter In
the History Of Submarine
Telegraphy
By "HOIIand."

Yesterday told the story Of how
General Zachary Taylor unconsciously
made the revolver popular after its
inventor, Samuel Colt, had failed to in
duce the army and the public to look
kindly upon the new weapon. Colonel
Colt always gave "Old Rough and
Ready" full credit for making the re-
volver a commercial success, and TO
his intimate friends he sometimes de-
clared that II was General Taylor,
also, who perhaps kept him from being
known 10 fame as the inventor of the
transatlantic cable One of the friends
TO whom he thus expressed himself
was Marshall Jewell, who was a fellow
townsman OF Colts, In Grants cabinet
as Postmaster-General. before that,
Minister TO Russia and twice Gov
ernor Of Connecticut, and. like Colt,
for many years one of the leading
manufacturers Of Connecticut.
When the country was going wild
over the laying Of the first Atlantic
cable" said Governor Jewell. "and the
exchange of messages between Queen
Victoria and President Buchanan, Colt
told me that a number of years earlier
-at about the time when Professor
Morse was perfecting his telegraph
system-he conceived the idea that
IL would be possible to lay a telegraph
line upon the bed of river or along
the coast that would be successful, and
he furthermore was of the opinion
that there was nothing In science
which stood in the way of laying a
telegraph line upon the ocean bed
from continent to continent
Nov, Sam Colt was a man who,
when an idea occurred to him involv-
ing invention and experiment, never
let II lapse unless he had tested II and
found II wanting So he had a good
many talks with Professor Morse IN
the latter's little laboratory on the top
floor of a building facing Washington
Square, in New York and he learned
from Morse that the great obstacle
that stood In the way Of submarine
telegraph line was inability to secure
an insulating medium.
THAT statement was sufficient TO set
Sam Colt at work experimenting 70
see whether or not be could find some
inexpensive material that would serve
as an insulator to a telegraph wire
under water. He made a good many
experiments. Rubber was out Of the
question. Il was too costly. But 1t
occurred to him that cotton yarn was
cheap and that If he soaked the yarn in
beeswax, which is a non-conductor
and put il around a wire, protecting
the whole with asphsltum. and then
carried the wire thus insulated
through a lead pipe, he would over
come the difficulty
This scheme of insulation worked
perfectly in the laboratory; and Colt
procuring a wire long enough 20
stretch from Fire Island to what is
now Coney Island, N. y insulated itI
with his mixture. incased the whole
in lead pine and suhk II beneath the
waves. This was the first submarine
telegraph cable laid; so far as trans
/ mission Of electric signals was con
cerned It was successful, and Colt,
after the Morse telegraph had been
proved commercial success a year or
two later, determined to develop the
submarine cable commercially, first
! by laying short ocean cables. and then
a transatlantic one.
But, 'curiously enough as Sam
! Colt used TO put II 10 me. Just when he
was all but over the preliminary work,
/ General Zachary Taylor, then fghting
/ the MeXicans. sent in to him an order
| for a thousand revolvers-which Colt
had ceased to make a number of years
/ before because no one would buy the
weapon-and Colt. seeing a splendid
business chance in Taylors order, at
once set TO work TO iii il. the result
being that a large demand soon grew
up for the revolver. The meeting of
/ this demand occupied all of Colonel
Colts time and energy, and as he saw
a fortune rapidly growing out Of the
manufacture and sale Of the weapon,
he thought less and less of the sub
marine cable, finally dropping from
his mind all his old plans in-connec-
ton with It.
Perhaps. had he held TO those plans,
they might have been successful. sam
Colt TO the day Of his death always
held that they would have been sue
| cessful. and he likewise always be-
lieved that Cyrus w. Field got his first
idea Of submarine telegraphy from the
little cable that was laid by Colt in
New York harbor back in 1913"
Copyright. 1911, by z Edwards. All
rights reserved J
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards will tell OF
@The Famous Actor Who Proved His
Gratitude"