RAPID TELEGRAPHY.

Evening Star, Issue 12766, 20 March 1906, Page 2

RAPID TELEGRAPHY.

NEW ZEALANDER’S CLEVER INVENTION. [From Oxm Special Coubespondbnt.J t ir , LONDON, February 9, no •“foyi 1904, I mentioned that Mr JohnCell, M.T.R.E., who was formerly in the service of the New Zealand Telegraph Department, had come to England to work upon au improved telegraphic apparatus invented by himself. On Tuesday lasi a successful demonstration of the working of the apparatus was given. The object of the inventor is to fueilirate and cheapen the transmission of messages by substituting for the Morse key a device resembling a typewriting machine, which automatically perforates a strip of paper in such a manner as to represent the Morse signals corresponding to any given letter. By depressing any key of the machino the complete scfc of lt dots,” according to the Morse alphabet, at once appears in perforations on the paper strip, so that the tedious process of “ punching ” by successive blows to form the single Irtter is rendered unnecessary. The mechanism is arranged to cany the strip of paper forward with each depression of a key, and by au ingenious device the spacing between the Morse letters is maintained with mathematical correctness. When the whole message has in this way been transferred by the typist into perforations the atrip is passed through a contact mechanism resembling a Wheatstone’s automatic transmitter. Electric contact is made through each perforation in proper sequence, and the corresponding electrical impulses axe sent either by land lines or cables to their destination, where they are received as Morse signals on any of the ordinary instruments designed for that purpose. The advantages both in point of time gained and simplicity of operation were sufficiently shown to prove that the invention is a distinct advance in the science and practice of telegraphy! Included among those who were present at the demonstration were a number pf telegraphic experts and members of the Press possessing extensive and peculiar knowledge of telegraphic work. By these Mr Gell was subjected to a, fairly exhaustive examination, and Ms machine was subjected to tests dictated by them. In no case was there the slightest hitch of any kind, and it was proved that a typist ot average ability could comfortably reel off messages at the rate of sixty words a minute, as againsf the fifteen a minute which even a fairly expert operator of the Wheatstone three-key perforator cam be expected to maintain, and the strain upon the operator is nothing to that involved in high-speed work with the Wheatstone system. Moreover, the liability to error on the part of the operator is infinitely less. This, will readily be understood when it is remembered that there are on an average four elements in each telegraphic letter, and that, taking five letters as being the . average length of a word, an operator requires to strike approximately 300 blows on the threekey perforator to maintain a speed of fifteen words per minute. And these blows must be struck correctly and in their right order on the throe keys. It requires a couple of years or thereabouts to school an Operator up to the fifteen words standard, whereas any person who can operate an ordinary typewriter can master the Gell instrument in a few minutes, and is only liable to make such errors as the average typist may be expected to make when copying ordinary MSfi To put it another way; the Wheatstone operator, in sending a word of average length (five letters) has to hit twenty times in correct sequence threo different keys, whereas the Gell operator has only to strike five blows on keys plainly marked with the letters ho desires to reduce to Morse punctures. Mr Gell has also designed a very simple and efficient form of transmitter, which, by common consent of the experts present, is much superior to any transmitter at present in use. This transmitter and the typewriter “ sender ” can bo worked in unison, and replace “Morse” or cable key, on any circuit simplex, duplex, or quadruples, without any interference with existing telegraphic install alions. The apparatus can also be used in connection with “space” (i.c., wireless) telegraphy, and will enable ordinary typists to telegraph on private wires. Air Gell has submitted his inventions to the British Post Office, but finds—like his thousands of predecessors—that it requires an infinity of iime, patience, and tact to induce the authorities at St- Martdns-le-Grand to take up any new thing, or even to persuade them to submit it to a test under ordinary working conditions. Eight sets of his apparatus have, I understand, been ordered by the Commonwealth Government, and four of them are now en route to Australia, whose telegraphic authorities were quick to recognise the advantages offered by the New Zealander's clever invention, and were anxious to give it the most exhaustive practical trials at the earliest opportunity. ; Prior to Tuesday’s demonstration the directors of the Gell Telegraphic Appliances Syndicate entertained a few friends and Pressmen to luncheon at the Great Eastern Hotel, Mg George Berth am the' chairman of the syndicate, occupying the chair.