The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-03-06
Wonderful Invention Has
Developed Beyond His
Dreams
HOT OFF THE WIRE
How Telegraph Business of
Today Serves Public With
Haste and Accuracy
nv HARVEY Il. RHODES.

H. the existing scientific world that
iH.r. could never be any great inn
ar.,umyuts 20 his system other than
DO perfect telegraph keys that might
cause louder clicks as the little in
..rumout sounded dots and dashea
into the ears of the operators. who
sat at each end OF the wire and
translated these sounds into intel
UE.0le sentences.
SO one was insane enough at that
tma 90 predict chat some day the
ether would be used for wires, and
that messages would be sent across
tho ocean or across n continent or
to ship at sea. II remained for
another inventive genius Marconi,
60 prove It could be done.
Above all, Morse himself never
Thought II would be posslble--or at
llcJst, according to history, he never
NleNprassed the opinion-to perfect n
machine that would automatically
translate Geographic messages as
they came hot" off the end of the
wire
Not many persons in Tulsa today
realize that the messages they re-
Doiyc over Western Union wires are
mot written by hand, but are typed
y
almost entirely by electricity. They
may have wondered why the mes
agas are typcd with sail capital let
tnr- This is because the typewrit .
crs are not equipped with "lower
case letters for the reason that to
use both capitals and small letters
would involve the use of much more
machinery, cause n small loss of
time and would not add 'substan-
TALLY to the clarity Of messages.
Machinery Replaces Brains.
Instead Of trained "key" senders,
yom- women are used almost en-
trolv 10 operate these automatic
systems. In the Tulsa office Of the
Western Union there are several
'kovs' and operators, but they are
used FOR special work and take only
a small part I'm the days routine OF
faud.ng and receiving messages to
and from local people.
The sender uses machine simi-
Jar In most respects to an ordinary
typewriter. Through this. machine
runs strip of narrow paper. As
each kev is pressed by the operator,
it punches a combination" OF holes
through this strip. The "combina-
ton Is caused by using variations OF
five punches, which are arranged
side by side. AS the strip of paper
passes through the machine 1t Il
perforated by these punches, each
letter being different "combina-
u"n' For example, punches one
and five constitute one letter
punches two and four represent an
olher letter, and so on through the
alphabet.
As this perforated strip leaves the
periorating machine It feeds into the
sending machine at the operators g
I'li And there Is where the in
rinacics Of the whole contraption
begin As n reporter for The World
NWatchcd the machinery he decided
no one but an electrical wizard could
figure IL. out" Because the process
involves mass Of elatrical why's
ana whcrofores that only a mind
hiHhIy trained in applied electricity
can understand.
Layman's Explanation.
'mittlng technical terms, the
process 10 something like this: In
'1o sending machine are five small
punches Ohe guide called them
something else) corresponding to
nose In the typewriting machine.
N' 'ne strip passes through, these
'u1'hes are constantly bobhinE up
"NN down, certain combinations"
,h''flnS tho holes made by the twp
ing machine and then Withdrawing
quickly from beneath. These com
u,n'u"ns' are transferred TO a sen
Nll'd something or other that
N'47's tho receiving machine, also
I,Nnung a typewriter. to strike the
A'I'r the combination represents.
NO receiving machine is equipped
NIL " long roll of telegraph blanks.
ne receiving operator sits calmly I'm
iloHl OF the machine and, as quick
n' one message Is finished, she
su'nS me roll around and places in
IN, or the type blank headed by
| western Union emblem. The re-
NAS machine needs no one to
o'' the carriage" back for the
"l'I'E or new line--when n line
-, "uShod entirely across the sheet
PAPER the type automatically
''tI' back TO the left side.
,INer the. old key" system II was
C'r practical, according to Harry
~ local manager for the Western
ll 70 20 send more than four mes.
S over one wire. with the auto
l,l' system 32 messages NAV be
"..'ed over the same wire stimuli
Ls'y-l6 outgoing and 16 in
N""s messages, If by some chance
SgI' should he an error in the mes
tar lhS receiver may press a but
r oI and the sender, perhaps 500
,,,,5'. r,l,9s away will re-run the tape i'm
Room for Improvement.
ne Western Union maintains
aois OF instruction in larger cities
a.. as Tulsa, where young women
,. trained to operate these auto
s.5,S machines. The school is pre-.
sr5 over by competent instructors,
Con-. ne time in which students be-
fr1,, proficient varies. being usually
'.r III, one TO two months.
D., me automatic system seoms n
VIC acme OF telegraphic perfec-
crl5,. says Gail. mo one man takes
prod. pC Tor .perfecting II. as IL is the
msos OF several electrical gen
ms, nsSs, II IL possible thai someAna
ny eventually devise a way 10 CON-
~ ch with the sending tvnewriter ana ana
@'''hate the use OF the tape. How.
V