CABLE SERVICES

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 61, 14 March 1927, Page 5

CABLE SERVICES

THE REGENERATOR SYSTEM A WONDERFUL, INNOVATION (From Our Own CorrMpondent.) LONDON, 26th January. While tests are being made with the latest development in wireless communications the submarine cable companies are proving that so far as the combination of speed, accuracy, and secret transmission is concerned'they still hold the field. A company of scientists and representatives of the Press met at Electra House a day or two ago in the rooms of the Eastern Telegraph Company for the purpose of inaugurating the "regenerator" system, of working between London and Capetown. A signal was sent to South Africa and an answer received in the marvellously short time.of l%sec.

During the past few years great improvements have been made in submarine telegraphy. The capacity of the loaded cable has been increased sixfold; and .now the invention known as the "regenerator" has practically ensured complete automatic working throughout the length of the line. The "regenerator" is an instrument that enables several sections of the cable to be worked simultaneous^ in line over long distances—such as London to actual signals as they leave London being produced automatically and practically at the same time in South Africa. It dispenses with the time hitherto lost in retransmission; there is retransmission, but it is automatic and spontaneous.

NO POSSIBILITY OF ERROR.

In the case of the Cape route, a mes- I sage handed over the counter is first punched, on a tape, and then passed through, a transmitter and^ repeated sim'ul: taneously by the stations at Porthcurnow (Cornwall), Fayal (Azores), St. Vincent (Cape Verde Islands), Ascension, sind St.s

Helena. Finally, the message is recorded on a tape at Capetown, which is a counterpart of the original in London. By the use of the "regenerator" the telegraph clerk, instead of handling the perforated tape at each of the above-mention-ed stations, merely has the duty of watching to see that the instrument is working properly. There is no possibility of slurjjing or distortion pn the way. The time taken in the process of transmission from London to Capetown is less than one minute, over a distance of 8000 miles. The message is exact and secret. There is practically no possibility of error^ The meaning of "regenerator" to the Eastern Telegraph Company must bo apparent. The company, which is entirely British, owns and works 136,000 miles of cable, of which 22,000 miles have been laid since the Armistice, and in the last few years it has accomplished some wonderful feats. The King's message at the opening of the : Wembley Exhibition was carried for two-thirds of the total distance round the world over the Eastern lines in well under a minute. Last year's Derby result, also transmitted over the Eastern lines, established a record for spe^d, as Egypt heard of it in lOsee, India in losec, South Africa in losec, Valparaiso in 15 sec, Ceylon in losec, the Straits Settlements in 50sec, Shanghai in 60sec, and Australia in (SOsee. ' "

NICE LiTTLE ISLAND.

The journalists present at the demonstration availed themselves o£ the company's offer to send messages to their colleagues in South Africa, and very speedy replies were received. The operators at Fayal, where there was a recent seismic\ disturbance, cabled: "Ours is a nice little island ours is, while it keeps still." ■ \ Mr. J. Denison-Pender, who presided at the subsequent lunch, said that he could not give away an inch of advantage to his wireless friends. .There was plenty of traffic in this world to fill the coffers of the-n and. of himself, but he could not give away the point in argument that wireless could possibly mean more speedy, more accurate, or more secret transmission than the cable service. In regard to the "regenerator," he thought their experts had evolved a scheme which represented the biggest invention in cable telegraphy. 85, Fleet street. , . . ■' '