Marshall County, Indiana - Chapter 19, 1881

Chapter 19

BY Sounp - THE TELEPHONE - FIRstT GRaPU. COMPLETE history of electricity and its application to the electric telegraph would fill volumes, and it is unnecessary to attempt its elucidation in this connection. That electricity exists, and that it ean be utilized in the transmission of messages, has been, and is being fully demonstrated every day we live. While it has been caught and harnessed, and trained to tractability, it can neither be heard, nor seen, nor smelt, nor tasted. Tts effects, when applied to the nervous system, can be felt, but beyond that, and what has been demonstrated it can be made to do, no entirely satisfactory solution has yet been made, Whatever it may be, it is supposed to pervade all nature. At the present day, it is regarded by many eminent men as a form of motion which does not partake of the nature of fluid. by these philosophers to be nearly related to light and heat, eonsisting, like them, of waves, or undulations, which exist thronehout the material universe. Be that as it may, the faet* exists that it ean be produced by a combination of soft water, blue vitriol and copper, and by mechanical appliances, wires of almost any length can be charged, so that messages can be transmitted over them with the speed of lightning. There are comparatively few of the great mass of the people who have ever scen a telegraph instrument, attached to a regular wire, in operation, or who have ever given the subject of electricity, as applied to the telegraph, any thought. When lines began to be erected, and offices established throughout the country, the people could not be made to believe that it conld be used as represented. people believed it was the work of the devil, and would, sooner or later, be the means of sending all who were engaged in it to the bad, withont the benefit of clergy. The singing of the wires, stretched from pole to pole, was looked upon as being ominous of the wrath to come. But sending messages by telegraph became an established fact. Messages were sent, and speedy replies returned, giving the desired information, and no doubt longer remained that it would do all that was claimed for it. But how messages are sent is as much of a mystery to the masses of the people as it was in the beginning, and, therefore, a brief explanation will doubtless be of interest in this connection. is a circuit within itself. both ends coming together.

conduetor of electricity, which can be utilized by the use of the ground wire, has obviated the necessity of stretching two wires, in order to perfeet a cirenit. When a line is built, a ground wire is sunk several feet into the moist earth and attached to the line at each end. The wire and the earth, bronght together in this end, or at a distance of about two hundred miles, if the line is longer than that. A battery of about thirty-two cups, the size of a silver goblet. is generally sutficiently strong to charye the wire its full length. The local batteries, of one or two eups, are used in each office to operate the instruments, and this is all the power necessary in the transmission of messages. The sending of a message is purely mechanical. It is simply the act of opening and closing the cirenit at the proper intervals of time to make the dots and strokes of which the alphabet is composed, by the aid of the magnet. 'This is done by the operator using what is called a key, which is arranged with a spring that leaves the cirenit open when it is not held down by the pressure of the hand.

But one operator can work on a circuit or line at the same time, as lines are now nsed. When an operator wishes to send a message, he waits until the line is not in use, when he opens his key, and ealls the operator at the office to which he wishes to send the message. Each office has a signal of its own, which is generally one or more letters of the alphabet, as P for Plymouth; H N for Inwood; R N for Bourbon, ete. These letters are made over and over a number of times in rapid suecession, mntil the operator at the office called, opens his key, and answers. "TI, I, 1," and signs his signal letters, when the message is sent in the manner indicated. A message of ten words, with the address and signature, can usually be sent by an expert sender, any distance Tf the message is correctly received, the receiving operator answers, " O. K.."' in telon the circuit, in less than a minute's time.

| Experience has demonstrated that young men, or rather, boys, hetween the ages of fifteen and twenty-one, learn the art of tele graphy much easier than men. This fact ean be accounted for on no other hypothesis than that early impressions are the easiest made, and are the most lasting. When operators canght messages that were sent them by letting long strips of paper run through their machines, on which the pen lever left the indentations of the letters and words, it did not make so mnch difference, as operators could take their time, and decipher the message at their leisure. But now, in this fast age of lightning and steam, paper instrnments have almost been entirely abandoned, and operators are required to read by the sound of the instrument, and, pencil in hand, have the message written out in full, when the operator at the other end of the line has finished sending and closed his key. To enable an operator to catch a message by the sonndof the instrament, when sent by an expert operator, requires long and steady practice, and the closest attention to the instrument. The letters are made entirely of dots and strokes, properly spaced, and to an inexperienced ear, conveys no more meaning than the sounds produced by the falling of shot in a tin pan. The alphabet was devised by Samuel F. B. Morse, who invented the American system of telegraphy, about 1545. Tt is the alphabet now universally used in the United States, and is made as follows: '

A new beginner has no difficulty in learning the form of the letters. The trouble is to make them correctly on the key to the instrument. He is liable to run two or more letters together, or space a single letter so that it will sound like two letters. In such cases the receiving operator could not tell from the sound that was being sent, and would have to break circuit and tell the sender to "repeat." For example, the letter "j"' N's, only close together. If the operator failed to space it properly, it would look in this way: - - - - instead of - - - - as it should be. The word " Evie" is the hardest word to cateh by sound in the telegrapher's catalogue of hard words. Take the letters composing this word, and the reader will see that he can make anything else out of it about as easy as * Eric." oye, erc, eeiie, oiie, vic, ete. So that it will be seen, to be enabled to distinguish the slightest difference in the passage of time, which indicates "space," the receiver must keep his ears open!

The telegraph is one of the most wonderful, and also one of the most useful, inventions of modern times. The remotest portions of the world, through its instrumentality, are bronght within speaking distance. The benefits to trade and commerce, by its use, are inealenlable. In a thousand ways it is beneficial to mankind. Im fact, so necessary has it become in the every day transaction of business, that it could not be dispensed with without serious loss.

The first telegraph line built in this part of the State was what was called the Ohio and Mississippi line. It extended from Michigan City through La Porte, Plymouth, Rochester, and thence to Logansport, where it intersected a line extending from Toledo, Ohio, along the Wabash River, and haying its terminus at Evansville. An office was opened in Plymouth, in 1552, mainly for the purpose of enabling the company to keep their line in repair. Before the office was opened here, there was no office between La Porte and Logansport, a distance of something near one hundred miles, and the frequeney with which the line "got down," and the long distances the repairers had to travel to repair it, made it necessary to shorten the distance between stations. The merchants and business men of Plymouth conis made like two | established. Henry Congle was the first operator, and kept the office in his father's store, in a building since burned down, situated on the corner north of the First National Bank. The office eall for Plymouth at that time was N E, made in this manner: - - - In ealling the operator, these letters were made over and over in rapid succession until he answered, whieh was done by making the letters, I, I, I, and signing the signal eall N E, thus: -- -- -- - - In those days meavos were taken, and conversation carried on between operators ou what was called "paper instruments." These instruments were made so that strips of paper, an inch in width, could pass through between the and strokes. Mr. Cougle learned very rapidly, and soon became an expert operator. He left the office in 1853, and was stationed at Kansas City, Mo., where he had charge of the repeating office. A year later he returned to Plymouth, was taken sick, and died. After he left the office it was turned over to the writer, who learned the art, and operated the instrument in connection with the post ollice, on Garro street, between Michigan and Center, until the office was closed and the line removed to the New Albany & Salem Railroad, about two years later. From that time until the completion of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, Plymouth was withont telegraphic communication. Upon the completion of that road, in 1858, the Western Union Telegraph Company built a single line along the track of the railroad, when an office was again opened in Plymouth, and the writer employed as operator, who continued until after the breaking-out of the war. in IS61. After the beginning of the war the movements of troops from the west to the east commenced, and as the soldier trains were usually run through in the night time, operators were required to remain until rélieved, which frequently did not occur until morning. The business of the road increased so rapidly from that time on, that it became necessary to establish a night office and employ a night operator, which was done in 1862, and has been continued until the present time. The business of the telegraph increased rapidly also, so much so that it became necessary to erect additional lines. As the business increased, lines were stretched until now there are five lines along the entire road from Chicago to Pittsburgh, all fully oceupied every day, for commercial and other purposes. Since the opening of the railroad office, there have been a host of "brass pounders" engaged as managers of the company's business, most of whom have been young men from a distance, between the ages of eighteen and twenty. Plymouth has furnished a few. Ed Fitzgerald, now Master of Transportation on the Grand Rapids road: William Fitzgerald, M. Hulverson, W. E. Fleming, Emery Brownlee, and doubtless others whose names cannot now be remembered. Since LS62, offices have been opened at Bourbon and Inwood, on the P., F. W. & C. R. R., at Argos, on the 1, P. & C. R. R. and at Bremen and La Paz, on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. There are about 264 miles of wire passing throngh the connty, 180 of which are owned and controlled by the Western Union Telegraph Company, and Stby the Ameriean Union, which has just stretched four lines along the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago road. ATLANTIC CABLE,

The experiment of laying across the Atlantic Ocean was first tried in 1555. It was suecesstfully laid, but the wire parted twice, so as to stop the current of electricity from passing through it. It was, at the time, a waste of time and money, and a project that could never be made snecessful, The writer of this, in the Plymouth Deneerat of July 22, 1888, promulgated the following in "Atlantic Cable. - There can be no doubt of the failure of this great enterprise, although some of the most scientific mien of England and America are at the head of it. It has been stated and not denied, to our knowledge, that for an hour or two before the cable broke the first time the experiment of laying it was tried; that the current of electricity had ceased, and to keep this fact from coming to light the cable was broken. A gentlemen who professes to know the power of olectricity, says that 1,000 miles is the greatest length of line that ean be worked with an work the line, even if it can be laid from one shore to the other. The experiment has failed again, the cable having parted on the 29th of June, 1858. Another trial is to be made shortly, which will no doubt result as did both the others- in failure." But the cable was completed and put in working order, and has continued to bring us yesterday's news to the present time.

The Telephone

which came into use about the latter half of IS7S, is the latest and most useful discovery in connection with electricity yet made. It is an instrument attached to a telegraph wire, similar in appearance to a mouth-piece to a speaking tube, and is so arranged that the voice of the speaker talking at it in an audible tone of voice, is forced over the wire a distance of a hundred miles or more, and can be distinctly heard by the listener at the other end. They are very useful in the transaction of business between business houses in large cities, and in smaller places. In Chicago, at this time, fully one thousand business places are thus connected. It is, without doubt, the most wonderful discovery ever made, H. G. Thayer, of Plymouth, has three in successful operation, one at his office, on at his grain warehouse and one at his residence, which enables him to converse with his employes and family as readily as if they were in his presence person propria,

The Phonograph

This little instrument is an invention of Mr. Edison's. One of them was exhibited in Plymonth during the summer of 1575, and was visited by a large number of people. A cylinder is placed in a small iron frame, to which is attached a crank. Over the cylinder.is fastened a sheet of tin foil. Above the cylinder is a spiral tube, into which the operator speaks. The cylinder is turned rapidly until the tube reaches the opposite end from that at which it started, when it is again set back to the starting point. In the end of the tube a needle is fastened to a very sensitive spring, and the sound of the voice indents it into the tin foil. In reproducing what has been talked into the machine, the crank is turned and the needle drops into the indentations made in the first place, producing through the tube exactly the same articulations as were made by the speaker. It does about all that is claimed for it, and while it is of no practical value in its present form, it is undoubtedly one of the most wonderful discoveries of the age.