EXTRA EDITION NEW TELEGRAPHY

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 62, 10 September 1921, Page 6

EXTRA EDITION NEW TELEGRAPHY

PRINTING EQUIPMENT

PROGRESS OF THE SYSTEMS

SETS SECURED EOR NEW

ZEALAND.'

Much of the report of the Chief Telegraph Engineer (Mr. E. A. Shrimpton) on his recent investigations in Europe, and America, made available by the Post-master-General (the Hon. J. G. Coates) to-day, deals -with'the manner in. which machine-printing telegraphy is gradually .replacing i manually and automatically operated Morse apparatus. " The modern machine-printing telegraph apparatus, which telegraph engineers to-day .are convinced is rapidly ending the reign of Morse working," states Mr. Shrimpton, "is a development of principles diiscovered by M. Baudot,, a' French telegraph. engineer, over forty years ago. The signal for each letter, figure, or symbol is made up of five units, which are transmitted to a telegraphline. A five-lever key is used. These electrip] impulses on being received at the distant end, are mechanically translated into letters, which are printed on paper tape or slip, which io 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 fhne-kver key an operator niad to learn what is known as the 'Baudot code.' A lew years 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 signajs to the line in the same manner, a-m operator does with the fivelever key. Murray also brought out a 'pafge-iprintar' ■ tor ' .replace the 'tapeprinter.' The ■ key-board perforator has keys, etc., exactly ajtsr the- style of a typewriter, and the page-printer is really a typewriter minus the keys. By' using- a keyboard perforator the capacity of an operator sendirnig /telegrams M increased 100 per cent. In April, 1914, the Department ordered from 'Donald Murray the appartus referred to above, which, owing- to the war bringing about difficulties of manuiaoture, hiae not yet been delivered. On reaching London I found that Mr. Murray had all the '■■ instirunieiits-r-ininiis the printers—ready, for1 shipment, and tl^at there was no chance of his; being able to supply printers within nine months or more. As all, the Department's main telegraph circuits were becoming badly congested, it was faced with the problem either to ereot additional wires and lay more cables across Cook, Strait, or ttt< increase the carrying capacity of its 2xisting ■wires. . LINE CAPACITY INCREASED. The main, telegraph circuits in New Zealand are worked on the manual Morse quadruples system : this is four telegrams passing over a wire simultaneously, two being received at the same time as two are being sent. Machine printing will enable eight telegrams to pass over a single wire—i.e., four.going and 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 lines will, with ma-chine-printiag apparatus, be increased by 300 per cent, amd an operator's capacity for getting'off work will be increased 100 per cent., with,, as I have already mentioned, less 'inenta) and physical strain. The Wanganui-Nekon cajjle, of 107 naur tical miles, which has been out of action only about twice in forty years, is now worked only duplex—i.e., one telegram sent and received simultaneously-piand will with machine-printing apparatus be capable of carrying eight times the traffic it is novr doing. . "With.' view -to quickly increasing the carrying oapaoity of some of our mostcongested routes," I sought to obtain sufficent Baudot tape-printers to bring this about. With the assistance of the British Post Office Engineering Department, I managed' to secure twenty tupe-pririt-«rs, which should ■ arrive in New Zealand shortly. Some time must elapse before this apparatus is brought into practical use. Staff must be trained- to work it, and different methods from those now in vogue-for handling traffic must be organised. ' "In, America Morse is now workedi on local circuits only, the long-distance and the more important circuits being entirely equipped with machine-printing apparatus of the Western Electric ..Company's and the Morkrum types:.' Both, these types are really identical with Baudot-Murray." " " ■ , 'Mr. Shrimpton refers to the use of page printers by the Western Union Company, and adds that one of the company's prominent engineers said that if the system were being inaugurated today it would use the tape printers with their saving of line time and lower cost of maintenance, etc. The New Zealanfi' Department would be in a position to try-out both types of printers when the Murray page-printers came to hand. LOCAL APPLICATION. "There is a simpler type than the multiplex of machine telegraph apparatus used in America, which is known as, the 'start-stop' or the 'Teletype.' It will send signals for printing messages in both directions over a wire. It uses the Game keyboard and signals as the Baudot, and can be used on a Idt of our circuits with a considerable saving in man-power. 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-Manchester circuit I saw working on one of the multiplex channels a Murray keyboard,, a Western electric transmitter, and a Baudot 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 Greymouth, Oamaru, and Timaru provided,-leaving-the fourth channel for Christchurch-Wellington traffic. So Greymouth, Oamaru, Timaru, and Christchurch would be simultaneously sending and receiving a telegram to and from Wellington, so that in effect eight telegrams would be passing to and from over a' single wire between Wellington and Christchurch. When, such apparatus is installed throughout our country it does not requirel 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 in the chances of error. The apparatus at Timaru, Oamaru, and Greymoutfc would have no machinery moving when there is no traffic to be despatched or received."