Year: 1877

The Wonders Of the Telephone.


In former No. OF the Herald we have
described the apparatus now used in Provi-
dence for lighting and extinguishins the
street-lights. It's novelty consists in the
combination Of compressed air for perform
ing the mechanical part OF the operation,
with an electric.currentfo for lighting thesgas.
The system has been in operation something
more than year, and has resulted in avery
great saving OF expense in the. care and
lighting OF the 800 lanterns to which it has
been applied over the old system Of hand
lighting. The connection Of the lanterns
with central office is made through
about ten milesIof. copper wire, which
is inclosed in iron 7 pipes. laid about
eighteen inches below the surface, and
in less than half minute by the turn, up
or down. Of single lever. Since the intro
duction OF this system into Providence
some further useful discoveries have been
made by adapting the electric wires for
lighting to general telegraphic purposes;
more especially for telegrapMc fre-alarm and
police signals, by means OF which commune
cation may be made, by any policeman on
duty, with every police office and engine
house with which the wires are connected by
the use OF a simple hand instrument, not
larger than q common door-key, upon the
wire at any lamp-post, which, for the time


being, becomes tclegraphic station. II a
policeman wishes to give notice OF fire
or 4 burglary he has only to go
to the nearest lamp-post, apply his


"key," and by the use Of the ordi-
nary telegraphic signals the information is
at once conveyed. But, through this key,
the policeman can receive no message back,
and cannot even know that his information


has been received at the point or points TO
which he designed to forward it. This can
only be done through the use by him OF
regular tclegraphic instrument, the conncc-
ton OF the wires with it in the regular way,
and the knowledge OF a trained operator.
Within the past ten days, however, expert
ments made at Providence with the wires OF
the pneumatic-electric system for lighting
and eXtingushing the gas used for street.
lights in that city have demonstrated
in the clearest and most convincing
manner that the newly y-dscovered prin-
cple OF the telephone may be ap-
piled to this system OF electric work
and communication with most cXtraor-
dinary results. BY the Use OF the telephone
in connection with the perfectly insulated
underground wires OF the Providence
lamp-lighting system 1t has been discovered
that the human voice can be employed with
great advantage over the arbitrary telc-
graphic signals used for communicating in
telligence from one part OF the city to all
other parts; and that electrical instruments
and skilled operators may be entirely dis
pensed with for instantaneous communlca-
tion wherever the wires extend. 1t is not
at all necessary that policeman or other
officer Of the city entitled to use the wires
shall know anything of the art OF telegraphy
in order to maintain constant communlcl-
ton with officials in every part OF it. II q po-
liceman, he goes out upon his beat with
telephone in his pocket. There Is, we
will say, little door provided in the lamp
post. OF which every officer has key; he
opens the door, connects bis telephone with
the wire inside by the simple process OF
turning a screw, applies his mouth to the
instrument, and first having shouted to at
tract attention, he talks in an ordinary tone
OF voice. With the speed OF lightning his
words reach the Office to which his conyer-
sation is directed, and by placing his ear to
the cup or mouth-piece through which he
has Just spoken he receives at once an in
telligible answer so clear and distinct that,
even il separated by miles OF distance chow
many miles is not yet ascertained, he can
tell by its tones, ii there are a number
Of persons present at the other end, just
who it is that gives the response to his
message. BY this same operation every
police officer and every cnSine-house can
receive the same verbal message in the same
instant, and the officers may converse from
station to station, and from engine-house to
englne-house, and with policemen on duty,
with equal facility through these gas-light-
ing tubes and wires; and all the mistakes
and confusion in transmitting from the
remote points of q city to different offices
are avoided. 1t is simply matter OF COM
mon speech from any point upon one OF
these wires to any other or to its end, wher-
ever it may be, provided the little tele-
phone is properly attached in the simple
manner described; for these insulated
wires laid III the iron pipes are always
in the same condition, and their
uniform operation is always assured.
Over what length Of space these
conversations can be carried on can only be
known by further experiment. Thcoreti-
cally, it is claimed that they can be carried
on over distances of fifty miles as we'll as
FIVE; certain it is that there appears to be
no difference in the clcarness and strength
Of the articulation, whether the distance is
one mile or five. In view OF what we have
seen with our own eyes, and heard with our
own ears, it is quite safe to say that the tele-
phone discovery, although in its infancy, is
making very satisfactory progress, and that
the present indications are already favorable
for its becoming more useful and power
full aid and helper to mankind in the march
of civilization and progress than the first
experiments gave us reason to expect
Boston Herald.