MODERN TELEGRAPHY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17143, 27 December 1929, Page 11

MODERN TELEGRAPHY

INGENIOUS NEW MACHINE SPBB£»INCt up traffic A' Creed' tolo-.printer machine, which embodies the ntrjst' modern 1 iclegrhph apparatus in New Zealand and Australia, is being irtstalicd in the New Plymouth telegraph . office. The abprtriitits is of British manufacture and is capable of handling all classes of telegraphic traffic at more than twice the speed of Morse and much faster than the Murray multiplex machine, which liitlievtf) has held pride of place. It can send and receive on one wire.

] New Plymouth is being linked by the j new system with Wellington and even- ! tually the system will be used extensively in New Zealand. In conjunction with ! the Murray system it will make, for an ' highly efficient and accurate service, equal to any rush or any manner of | Work. ! The. sending channel comprises a keyboard similar to the ordinary typewriter. The depression of a key lever perforates a parchment with a combination of fine li6les. It is possible 10 obtain 32 different combinations, which include the i alphabet. The perforated tape is then ' automatically fed into the transmitter. !' The transmitter is capable of sending 2220 signals a minute, which represents 66 words. The instrument is ingeniously ' designed so that it will wait while the : operator checks or times off his mes- ! sage's, or if ho is delayed suddenly i through any circumstance. As soon as i tile loop of tape is again offered to the .machine it will automatically take up its task.

When the machine stops at the transmitting end the receiving machine at tlie distant, office'also stops, and the two losunie together when tlie operator restarts. The signals, alter being received, are transformed info printed characters on a strip of paper or tape with a gummed back. The receiving operator actually does nc operating, as the whole tiling is worked by, the operator transmitting, whose task actually amounts to typing. At the receiving end the tape is cut and gummed on to the telegraph form The average operating speed by key or hand-sending is 25 words a minute. The .Murray machine ea i operate at 40 words a minute and ; the Creed at 66. With the rew machine's appearance the Morse operator in the telegraphic office* will pass, but only gradually. The operator of the future will be in effect a touch typist. The instrument at New Plymouth will b'o in full working order to handle the extra Christmas' traffic.