The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-01-12
philadelphia North American.)

t"l'nlIadelpnl Norm AmeTlCan.)
White haired as he is we'll entitled
I" he from his 60 years Of active ex-
p%erience on this earth. Theodore n.
Vail still expects to see the time when
wire messages will he go cheap that
people will forget about the mails for
letters.
He ought to know what he is talk
ing about because he became head OF
the American Telephone and Tele-
graph company in 1907 and last year
was elected president of the Western
Union. And hut recently II was that
he announced that contracts had been
signed by which telephone wires would
be used for telegraph messages and
vice versa.
This. of course. would tremendous
ly increase the earnings of the wires,
which, not counting poles. are worth
81 a mile. For instance. when a
man talks from New York to Chicago
he is using $125.00O worth Of property.
Now. on top of all this. comes word
of a new invention that will permit
wires to- be used for the phone and
the telegraph at the same time-that
will. in fact. uuadruple the service OF
each line. When one thinks what this
might mean. he is driven right back
To the old thought that wonders will
never cease.
'ii ~ NLSo SG Is IlC
of New York city was granted the last
of three patents for a Geographic sys-
tenn hat differs fundamentally from
our present. the adoption of which
is expected to revolutionize the meth
DDS of commercial telegra ply now in
use.
The new system. it is believed. will
q~uadruple the present capacity OF
wires by making it possible to operate
a u,Ia6r,Inlav fn1rOrar1, unI fo1oY,I0y,a
simultaneously on n wire. In fact,
it will do more than this. At present
telegraph circuits require but one wire,
while the telephone requires two. The
circuit is completed on telegraph lines
through the ground. while the tele-
phone requires a return wire. 1t will
enable the company hat adopts it to
utilize one wire as a single. duplex or
1uadrupleX telephone and Geographic
circuit simultaneously.
This is made practical by the fact
that Geographic and telephone inn
pulses pass through different media
the Geographic through condensers--
which prevent them from interfering
with each other. There is now an at
tempt to telegraph and telephone on
the same circuit. but it is not very
satisfactory. Furthermore. the new
system is particularly adapted to work
under adverse weather conditions, and
is said to require but a fraction Of
current required by the types OF in.
struments now in use.
In an article captloned "Mutilation
of Telegraph Signals" in the Postal
Telegraph of December. 1910, the fol-
lowing paragraph appears: ut Is often
necessary to operate telegraph circuits
during the prevalence of conditions
which render their operation imper-
feet. Wet foliage swinging against
wires during rain storms makes vari-
able leakage. 1t ia Impossible to ad.
just receiving instruments to exactly
meet the constant variations of the
receiving current. the false signals are
therefore often recorded under such
conditions"
The writer e~numerates, among
other causes Of Interruptions, sunspots,
aurora borealis. electrically charged
snow clouds and sand. high winds that
swing the wires into contact with each
other. broken branches of trees, kite
tails. electrical storms. and one that
is becoming more common every year
induction from high-potential wires
that run parallel. So that, by the state
ment of one Of the Postal TELEGRAPH
company's engineers. the accuracy of
the present system is not only subject
to weather variations, but TO many
other influences. ~
Signals are distorted in these In.
stances because Of the fact. that the
wires are continuously CHARGED with