NEW TELEGRAPHY.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17248, 12 September 1921, Page 9

NEW TELEGRAPHY.

PRINTING EQUIPMENT. \ SETS SECURED TOR NEW f ZEALAND. : Much of the report of tho Chief Tele- ( graph Engineer (Mr E. A. Shrimpton) , on his recent investigations in Europe ] and America, made available by the ] Postmaster-General (the Hon. J. G. . Coates) on Saturday, deals with the ( manner in which machme-prinling telegraphy is gradually replacing manually and automatically operated Morse ap"The modern, machine-printing tele- ] graph apparatus, which telegraph engineers to-day are convinced is rapidly ending the reign of Morse working," states Mr Shrimpton, "is a development of principles discovered by M. , Uaudot, a French tolegraph engineer, over forty, years ago. The signal for each letter, figure, or symbol is made up of five units, which are transmitted to a telegraph-line. A five-lever key is used. These electrical impulses on being received at the distant end. are mechanically translated into letterß, ■ which are printed on paper tape or slip, which in'turn is gummed to a telegraph form'and delivered to the addressee. Such a system has been very largely used in France for forty years, and to a lesser degree and for a lesser period in England. "To operate the five-lever key an operator had to learn what is known aa the 'Baudot code.' A few yeara before the war Donald Murray brought out a 'keyboard perforator,' which punched holes in a paper tape. This tape, on being passed through a 'transmitter,' sent signals to the line .in the same manner an operator Hoes with the , fivtf-lever key. Murray also brought out a 'page-printer' to replace the 'tape-printer.' Tho key-board perforator has keys, etc., exactly after the 6tvle of a typewriter, and the pageprinter ia really a typewriter minus the ieya. By using a keyboard perforator rtbe capacity of an operator sending telegrams is increased 100 per cent, hi April, 1914, the Department orderea from Donald Murray tne apparatus referred- to above, which, owing to the war. bringing about difficulties of manufacture, has not yet been delivered. 'On reaching London I found that Mr )Burray had all the instruments—minuß the printers—ready for shipment, arid - that there was no chance of his being able"; to supply printers within nine Months or more. As all the Denartmeat's main telegraph circuits were be-j^imnglbadly-congested, it was faced, witirtne problem either to erect additional wires and lay more cables across Cook Strait/ or to increase the carrying capacity of ite exiting wires. ' Line Capacity Increased. "Tho main telegraph' circuit in New Zealand are worked on the manual Mors© quadruple* system: this is four telegrams passing over a wire simultaneously, two being received at the . same time as two are being 6ent. Machine' printing will enable eight telegrama to\pass over a single wire—i.e., four going arid four coming at the same time. each, telegram being despatched at double the speed possible with manual Morse signalling. In other words, the carrying capacity of the lutes''will, with macfiine-printing ap- ~ paratus, bo increased by 300 per cent., and, ah operator's capacity for getting '• off work will be increased 100 per cent., with, as I have already mentioned, less ' mental and physipal strain. The Wan'ga-nui-Nelscm cable, of 107 nautical miles, ffhkh has been' out of action only about twice in ferty yeara, is now worked only duplex—i.e., one telegram sent and- received aixnultaneonsl^ —and will, ' withmachine-printing apparatus bs> cap--ablo of carrying eight times the traffic it is now doing.. • '■ '.'With a view to quiokly increasing 4W carrying capacity of some of our most congested routes, I sought to obtain -sufficient' Baudot tape-printers t -*to bring this about. With the assist- ' *"ance of the British Post Office Engin'eerulg Department, 1 I managed to 66-1 cojpo twenty tape-printers, which should arrive in New Zealand shortly. Some time must elapse before this apparatus is vhrought into practical use. Staff most be trained to work it, and different, methods from those now: in vogue , flare handling traffio must be organised. *VIn America Morse ia now worked '.iofc'loeal circuits only, the long-distance ' and the more important circuits being vshtirely equipped with machine-print-of the Western Electrio and the Morkrum types, /sfioth these types are really identical -,"»$» Baudot-Murray." i-ViSfr Shrimpton refers to the use of , vBUSS printers by the Western Union 'jvpoprpaay, «id adds that one of the .sOntipany's prominent engineers, said the system were being inaogur-to-day it would use the tape with their saving of line time *■'< , and, lower cost of maintenance, etc. - * The New Zealand Department would ■n oe in a position to try-out both types af printers when the Murray pageV printer? came- to hand. i _ .—^

Local Application. "There is a simpler type than the multiplex of machine telegraph apparatus used in America, which is known as tho 'ttart-stop' or the 'Teletype.' It will send signals for printing messages in both directions over a wive, -it u.-res tho same keyboard and signals as the Baudot, and "can be used on a lot of our circuits with a considerable saving in man-oower. I have secured a set for trial, "it should be noted that various instruments which go to make up machine telegraphy are interchangeable. For instance, on a London-Man-chester circuit I saw working on one of tho multiplex channels a Murray keyboard, a Western electric transmitter, and a Uaudot tape-printer. At the corresponding end at Manchester they had a Baudot five-lever key worked manually, and a Western electric page-printer. "Start-stop or .teletype apparatus will work into a multiplex set. Duplex quadruple could be used over a wire from Wellington to Christchurch. and by means of simple repeaters at Christchurch channels for Groymouth, Oamaru, and Timaru provided, leavine the fourth channel for Christchurch-Wel-lington traffic. So Greymouth, Oamaru, Timaru and Christchurch would be simultaneously sending and receiving a telegram to and from Wellington, so that in eSect eight telegrams would bo passing to and from over a single wire between Wellington and Christchurch. When such • apparatus is installed our country it does not require much imagination to see that working will be possible to all centres —i.e., all centres will be in intercommunication, thus saving greatly in transmitting or relaying staffs, with a corresponding reduction in number of hands through which telegrams will have to pass and a corresponding reduction m the chances of error. The apparatus at Timaru, Oamaru, and Greyniouth would have no machinery moving when there is no traffio to be despatched or received."