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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1904)
""1 iar i jl H : E j f ELD If L IL Jj j j J F,W YORK reports once more Rive currency to rumors of u pros pective merger of the American Hell Telephone company and the Mackay-Uennett telegraph lines. N The basis for the latest rumors Is the friendly conferences of representatives of both Interests at the recent dinner of the Magnetic club. A dispatch to the Chicago ltocord-llernld says the belief is growing that some kind of a merger is in contempla tion, and this belief is strengthened by the recent financing of the Markay com panies. "Some years ago,"' says the dis patch, "the scientists, especially the elec trical engineers in the employment of the telephone company in New York City, were sure they could Bee far enough ahead to Justify them in predicting that there would be a union of the telephono corporations, especially that doing a long-distance busi ness, with one or the other of the great telegraph companies. The scientists knew nothing of finance, but they did Intuitively grasp the meaning of those strange Induc tive sounds that telegraph operators some times heard. "After the long-distance telephone system had been perfected, and especially after the utilization of copper wires by the telegraph company, operators would occasionally hear conversation, music, strange, unexxcted sounds brought by induction to the wires with which their transmitting or receiving Instruments were connected. They knew enough of the principles of electricity as applied to telegraph service to enable them to speedily decide that they were receiving by induction from telephone wires, by a sort of half wireless method, communications that were being transmitted by telephone. Bo some of them ventured to predict that Boine day both the telephone and the tele graph would be found employing, and pos Bibly at the name moment, uu identical wire. "In one of the broker's offices of New York an accident happened to the long distance upparatus and it was a wise elec trician who suggested that a Morse tele graph instrument be uttached to this cop per wire, the operator at the other cud, 200 miles away, having been informeu by an independent who of what was to be done, ami thus within an hour, according to tradition, telegraphic signals instead of telephonic communication were pass lug over that wire from New York to Uoston. Afterward tests were made and it was discovered that the principle of the quad ruplex telegraph would upply to a wire bo that both telephonic and telegraphic communication might be sent or received over a single wire at the same moment. "Science has now taught that the mag nificent plants that were established beta for telegraph and for telephone service, and especially long-distance service, were In a sense a waste, since they were a need less duplication. The question, therefore, became one of finance, of corporation building, for It was evident that the brill iant eiectrical engineers would speedily perfect apparatus that would make it pos sible to economically and profitably utilize a single wire, both for telephone and tele graph Bervice. The actuaries were set at work and after a while they made report that If thero were a merger which would enable the long-distance telephone com pany to make use of the plant of the tele graph company there could be saved in that way at least 120.000,000 to the telephone company, since there would be no further cost of construction, no duplication of jlant- Furthermore, there came severul estimates of the savings of a single year to the telephone company, one the experts figuring that as much as a million and a half could be saved and another as much as two and a half millions, while the gen eral opinion was that there could be a certain saving of at least two millions. "Those are tho kind of figures that ap peal to the great financiers, and it is safe to say that not in any corporation has thero been more brilliant or on the whole safe and wise financing than in the cor porations identified by the Mackay nam;', for not in any other way could that great competitor of what had formerly born the exclusive monopoly, the Western I'nlon, have been created and carried to success. "Two groups of financiers such as are associated with the telephono and with the Mackay companies wre certain, after reading the reports of the scientists and of the actuaries, to begin to feel their way toward a merger. Already a community of interest has been established through tho personality of the directorate of the tele phone and telegraph companies. Should there come a merger it undoubtedly would explain the advent Into the discount mar ket a few days ago of the telephone com pany, wh-ch secured discounts for $J0,(W0, 000 of 6 per cent notes, imitating the rail way corporations who have for some months boon obtaining vast sums of money through discounts Instead of by the sale of stocks and bonds." Klectric Hallway Signals. An electric signal, invented by Harold K. Uradley of Warwick, H. I., Is Intended for Interurban trolley railways. The stg nals are actuated automatically by passing cars to indicate the presence or ubsence of other cars in the blocks. The operation of tho apparatus and cir cuit connection of the system is: The signaling system is particularly adapted for use on a single track road with turnouts, each section of single track constituting what is known as a block. Rach end of each section is provided with a signaling apparatus, both of which are moved at the same time to set the signals when a car enters an empty block and to restore the signals to normal conditions when tlic last car leaves the block. When a car enters the trolley wheel comes In contact with and operates a switch lever, which is thrown to the contact button by the pass ing trolley and through the wire ads on the signal to energize a magnet and cause a mercury switch bar to rise and break the electric connection, de-cnergizlng an other magnet, and allowing the target to fall to the danger position. As this target falls It also allows the switch bar to fall and connect the mercury wells, causing the current to pass through the line and light the cautionary signal, which Is an Incan descent lamp showing a green light either day or night at the entering end of the block, thus notifying the entering car that the danger signal at tho opposite end of the block has been set. The customarji signal can only be set when the danger signal at the opposite end of the block Is in lis proper position. When more than one car enters the block from the same direction tho magnet la energlzqd and through the mechanism described turns back a linger a step each time a car enters the block after the signals have been set, and this finger is returned again a step toward Its normal position euch time a car leave the block, until but a single car remains on the block. When tho last car passes out of tho block and the switch lever Is thrown to the contact point a magnet Is energized through Its conducting wire, and through the mechanism described causes the Bwltch bar to descend nnd make a connection through the mercury cups, thus energizing another magnet, raising the target out of the danger position, clearing tho signals, and at the same time disconnecting the mercury switch, breaking the circuit and extinguishing tho light of the cautionary signal. The train In entering the block from the opposite dlrertlon operates on the signals the same as those approaching from the other direction, the lever being thrown over ngalnst the contact polut acta on a signal at the opposite end of the block, energizing a magnet, and through the mechanism throws out of contact the mercury switch, de-enrrglsing a magnet, nnd allowing the target to fall to the dan ger position. The target In falling to this position allows the mercury switch cup to make a contact nnd light the cautionary signal. The Irnln In leaving this block throws the lever to the contact point, which through a wire energises a mngnet, and through the magnet-operated mechanism makes the contact through the switch, energizing a magnet to raise the target nnd clear the danger Btgnal. At the same time it disconnects the switch and ex tinguishes the cautionary signal at the op posite end of the block. The current by which tho signal mechanism is operated la taken from the trolley wlro. After the current has passed through Its circuit and performed Its work. It Is conducted through a wire to the ground, and where It passes through the lamps It Is arranged to pas out through a resistance coil to the ground. In the operation of tho system as described the signal at the distant end of the block Is set first and the signal at the entering end Is set only after the signal at the dis tant end Is In position. The signal at the entering end thus nffords an Indication that the system is In order, and that the signal at the distant end has been set to prevent the entrance of a car to tho block from tho opposite direction. If the wiring should break or the upparatus get out of order, the danger signal will be net automatically, (Should this danger-Indicating target for any reason full to fall to the danger posi tion, then the cautionary signal at the en tering end of the block will not be set. When tho cautionary sifinal Is not set it Indicates to nn npproachlng car that tho signaling device is out of order or that there Is danger ahead. Hew Idea in Telephones. A portable telephone Is the latest thing out nnd it Is the conception of a Swedish, not an American, Inventor. The sjMelmena of the device that have been sent to other countries hnve elicited unstinted praise from Austrian, Kussian, Greek and Turkish experts who have teHtPd them, and, while large demands and Inquiries for the new phone have come from France, Germany, Italy, Bpaln, Portugal and the Vnlted States, those from Great Krltuln have been even wore noticeable. Within the cylinder of the telephone Is a small dry cell, the whole apparatus (In cluding both receiver nnd mouthpiece) being small enough to go In the pocket. With each Instrument Is a coll of thin copper wire, and It Is reckoned that a soldier could easily carry 13,000 feet of this wire with him. The uses suggested for the portable tele phono are Innumerable, military considera tions being kept specially to the front. Outposts, it Is declared, could by Its aid keep In constant communication with the main force, and it Is pointed out that it would furnish a valuable means of keeping In touch with headquarters for police and fire brigades. For use between railway coaches on a moving train, for engineers at work underground or on great public works, for Bteumers, for cyclists and In many other fields It would be most de sirable. Trlrgrnplilna Pictures and Writing. In an address recently delivered nt the Berlin Urania, Prof. Cerebotanl presented a telegraphic apparatus for transmitting any kind of handwriting, drawing, etc. The fundamental principle Is Identical with the principle employed for instance by Kllsha Gray, the novel feature being a highly sensitive system of electro-magnets. In the case of the drawing pencil of the transmitter being moved upward In an ob lique direction, the lint, obtained In the receiving apparatus of prevknisly Invented systems Is a broken one. In Cerebotanl' system, the electromagnet are so sensi tive as to produce nearly straight lines, even In the case of their being rxcltrd by extremely small currenta. The telegraphies transmission of pictures and handwriting Is obtained by means of his apparatus and Is therefore much clearer and truer than In tho case of any previous apparatus. Home samples produced by Cerrlmtanl were transmitted on the telegraph line from Munich to Augwberg. from Milan to Turin, and finally from Herlln to Munich. A pic ture transmitted some weeks ago from lleiiin to Munich, over a distance of 403 miles. Is said to lie tho finest spoclmen of telegraphic transmission ever obtained In this direction. 4 The KlrM Klertrlelao. The Fleet rleal World and Kiiglneor. In an article by Urtilher l'otanilan, professor of physics in Manhattan college, pays fit ting honor to the memory of the mediaeval student whose researches In magnetism ap pear to entitle him to be called "The First Klectrlclan,' and hence the beginner of tho great Industry by which that Journal lives. Ills nnme was Pierre de Marlcourt, com monly called, from having made a Journey to the Holy Until. Petrus IVrogrltius, or Peter the Pilgrim. P.efore bis time the loadstone, or natural magnet, was well known, but was regarded chiefly as a curi osity, though It had begun to be used by seamen, In a ruilo form of the mariner' compass, as a means of finding which way was north when the stars were hidden. In the year 12(!9 this Peter the lllgram was employed as a military engineer In the army of Charles of AnJou, at the siege of l,ucera, In southern Italy. Probably Ida military duties did not keep him busy, for he found time to consider what he had learned about the loadstone and to en deavor to apply Its force In tho construc tion of a motor. Ho thought he had succeeded In Invent ing a machine that would go on forever, and his delight was so great that he sat down mid wrote a long letter to a friend at home In Plcardy, one Hlgcrus de Fou caneourt, In which ho described not ouly his perietual motion machine, but told the results of nil his experiments with the magnet. From this letter Ilrother lHitam lan finds that: 1. Peter the Pilgrim was the first to assign a definite character to tho poles of a loadstone, and to glvo directions for de termining wh'ch is north and which Is south. 2. He proved that unlike poles attract each other and like poles repel, and that a ixile may neutralize a weaker like on and even change It polarity. 3. He was tho first to pivot a mngnetlxed needle and surround It with a graduated circlu, und to determine with this device the positlo i of nn object by its magnetic bearing as done today In compass survey ing. 4. He established by experiment that every fragment of a loadstone, however small, Is a complete magnet, thus antici pating a standard modern laboratory Illus tration of tho molecular theory. 6. His magnetic motor, while, of course, Its motion failed to le perpetual, curiously anticipated the modern electric motor In Its plan of construction und In its reliance on constant changes of polarity In the field to pull the urmature around and keep It revolving. While Peter tho Pilgrim probably knew nothing of electricity In the modern sense, yet his experimental researches Into tha familiar force of natural magnetism and his efforts to apply magnetic force to prao tlcal uses seem to entitle him to be called not only the first of perpetual motion cranks, but also the first electrician.