Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-10
TRAIN TELEPHONY
INVENTOR MODEST
Slight Young Man PerfeCts
.TWo-Way Conversation
From Moving Cars.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Speclal DlSpatch to The Star.
TORONTO, May 10-Through the
storm of jubilation and congratulations
over the successful demonstration of two
remarkable achievements of voice trans
mission, that of tWo-way conversation
from moving train, moved an incon-
spicuouS figure, sort Of an Edison of
railway telephony. John c. Burkholder,
chief engineer of the telegraph and
telephone department of the Canadian
National Railways.
less assuming man it would be hard
to discover. He stands five feet six and
weighs los pounds. He dresses incon-
SpicuouSly. He speaks softly. He has TO
be pumped hard before he will say the
most trivial thing about himself or his
achievements.
Yet at 80 he brought to completion
successful two-way telephone conversa-
ton from moving train, having just
previously perfected carrier current
system that has been installed on rs
per cent of the Canadian National Tele-
graph lines and has proved to be the
most revolutionary telegraph develop
ment of the past quarter Of century.
Mr.. Burkholder. who was born at
Philadelphia, was brought to Canada
from the Bell Laboratories at New York
by w. D. Robb, vice president OF the
IN. R., little over a year ago, when
things went wrong with the new carrier
current with which the C. N. r. tele-
graph experts were experimenting. That
was less than q year ago.
How many weeks ago were you sure
that you had solved the problem OF
two-way speech from trains?" he was
asked.
IT knew I could do it when I start
ed" was his quiet reply.
Mr.. Robb has been interested in the
idea for years. He had heard three
years ago that German engineers were
busy on the problem, and year ago he
went to Germany and was given a
demonstration of a one-way converse
ton. He came back satisfied that the
time was ripe for Canadian develop
ment, and it was then that the nut was
given Mr.. Burkholder to crack.
There are very few discoveries now
adays, anyway" he said. We don't dis
cover. We just push somebody else'S
ideas a little further. Take this mat
ter of radio telephony" he continued
modestly. ~. S. A. engineers could
have developed it. only they were busy
with other things, and there was no
railway down there that saw 1t as a
commercial proposition. Now any rail-
way can use the information we have
gained"
From the very first, Mr.. Burkholder
was interested in carrier current, sort
of father of the radio telephone. He
says he is not a radio expert, but
carrier current expert. But he agrees
that the radio and the carrier current
are very closely related.
His research has solved some odd
problems. The old way of timing cheap
watches was to hang them all up and
check them up once an hour. A good
timer could strike the right adjustment
of the regulator after three or four adj
juStments. The new way Burkholder
and his associates developed made 1t
possible to tune them in a minute.
They amplified the "tick-tick" of the
watch until it sounded like hammer
blows on an anvil. They then produced
a similar hammer blow from a chro-
nometer which was keeping perfect
time. When the two sets of blows came
together The cheap watch was running
in perfect time.
copyright, 1929