The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1915-02-05

It wa, perhaps, little more difficult to
string wires from Denver to San Fran
cisco than from New York to Denver, but
the actual construction OF the line was
the least of the engineers troubles. His
real problem wa to make the line talk
to send something 5000 miles with a
breath as the motive power. In effect,
the voyage OF the voice across the con
tinent is instantaneous; if its speed could
be accurately measured, fifteenth of a
second would probably be nearly exact
In other words message flying across
the continent On the new Transcontinen-
tai Line, travels, not at the rate of l,160
feet per second, which ID the old stage
coach speed Of sound, but at $4,000 miles
per second III il were possible for sound
To carry that far, a ffHello' uttered in
New York and travelling through the all
without the aid of wires and electricity
would not reach San Francisco until fouI
hours later. The telephone not only
transmits speech, but transmits it thou
sands of times faster than its own nat
ural speed.
But, while the telephone is breaking
speed records, it must also guarantee safe
delivery To these millions vi little pas
sengers it carries every few minutes in
THE way of sound waves created at the
rate OF 2,100 second. There must be
no iostling or crowding. These tiny
waves, thousands and thousands Of vary
ing shapes, which are made by the human
voice, and each as irregular and IL differ
emit from the other as the waves OF the
sea, must not tumble over each other or
pet into each Others way, but must breaE
upon the Pacific coast Just as they started
VIZ The Atlantic. OH all the line fails and
-he millions OF dollars spent upon it have
been thrown away. And i'm all this line,
f just one pin-point OF construction H.
not as it should be, if there is one iota
Nf imperfection, The miles Of line are use
wy. and the currents and waves and
ounds and words do not reach the end a.
hey should. It II such tremendous tri-
Ges, not the climbing Of mountains and
Ahe bridging of chasms, that make th-
Transcontinental Line one of the wonders
of the ages.
The engineer In telephony cannot w
atease his motive power. A breat'
against metal disk changes alr waves
into electrical currents and these electri-
cal currents, millions of which are re-
quired for single conversation, must De
carried across the continent and produce
The same sound waves in Sam Francisco
rs were made in New York Here is o
task 20 fine a. to BE- gigantic In hi
History of the Telephone" Herbert IN
Casson says that the energy set free by
cooling one spoonful of water just ont
degree, would operate telephone for ter
thousand years 1t was to nurse and
coax this baby current Of electricity thret
thousand miles across the continent, un
der rivers and over mountains, through
the 5listering heat Of the alkali plains
and The cold of snow-capped peaks, that
has taken the time and thought and labol
Of the brightest minds Of the scientific
world.
Solving the Problem
Never has been such skilful ant
patient lot of trained nurses, though, a.
this invalid Of current has had ID
ginning with that first timid step in Bos
ton, thirty-eight years ago, they have let
The weakling On, mile after mile, to cit,
after city, till it has reached the othel
| coast.
who did iti who made this wonder