BOY’S TELEGRAPH.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 17, 23 April 1892, Page 437

BOY’S TELEGRAPH.

The present generation is so accustomed to the electro magnetic telegraph that it is hardly remembered that there were various forms of telegraphing, that is, of communicating messages instantly to a distance, before the Morse telegraph was invented. Perhaps it will interest the readers of The Graphic to be told how two boys reinvented one of these forms of telegraphing when they could not put up a wire to be worked by a battery. These boys, Tom and Eugene, were sons of a physician, and lived in the backwoods of North Carolina, far from railroads and towns. Eugene attended a school in the neighbourhood, while Tom was older, and a clerk in a country store near by. There was often a need of a means of communication between the store and the doctor’s residence, especially after dark, and as the distance was nearly a mile, these boys conceived the idea of constructing a telegraph line between the two places. As a preliminary to this work, they learned to write in the telegraphic alphabet, which, as every boy knows, is composed of dots and dashes, thus :

This is called the Morse code, because it was invented by - 8- Morse, and they soon became quite expert in wiiting it and io spelling sentences to each other by the sound of rapping on a table with a key or pocket knife. They were now ready for the wiies and instillments, but were astonished to find that the necessary outfit, at that time, would cost them upwards of £5, a sum far beyond their means. Since their leisure time was mainly after dark, they conluded to try some means of signalling to each other by

using a lamp. The apparatus they finally made was so simple and effective that any boy, handy with a jack knife, can easily make one. It consists of a lamp inside a small box, with a hole on the side at the height of the flame, and a means of opening or closing the hole easily and rapidly. The box was an ordinary cigar box, and the lamp a small one burning kerosene oil. Several small holes were made in the bottom of the box to admit air, and a large one in the top just over the lamp-chimney. When closed the light was entirely concealed, except when the cover to the opening on the side was pushed back. This cover was shaped and made of thin cigar box wood also. It had a single screw at the bottom, and a small knob to push by. The movement of the cover or shutter was from side to side, like an inverted pendulum. There was a tack on each side, one to keep the shutter from going too far one way, and the other to stop it exactly over the hole, when closed. A small spring of whalebone or a rubber band served to hold the shutter in its closed position. When this box and lamp were used at night, the opening and closing of the shutter served to show the light as a succession of quick or long flashes, which look at a distance exactly like a firefly. To open and close the shutter very quickly makes a spark to represent a dot, and to make a dash the shutter is held open about half a second. For a long dash, representing an I, the shutter is simply kept open a trifle longer than for the regular dash. A little practice will soon enable one to make the short and long flashes corresponding to the characters of the Morse code, and the signals are easily read, even at a distance of several miles. Of course the operations must take place between stations visible from each other, and the box must be turned in the direction of the distant ob server. For very long distances a larger lamp and reflector will be better. With such a box under his arm, while out of doors, or at a table near a window looking in the proper direction, Tom would telegraph long conversations to Eugene, and read bis replies in the distant sparks. On cold, dark or rainy nights these boys were able to talk with each other, and were sometimes able to send messages of importance, which saved them many steps. The main drawback to the system was the want of a means of attracting the other's attention, or to ‘ call,’ as the telegraph men say. This was done by setting the box open, and showing the light till noticed at the other station. The ‘ call ’ would soon be seen by the other boy, because he would occasionally glance in that direction. They also agreed upon a system of signals meaning ‘ Repeat,’ ‘ Do not understand your last word,’ ‘ All right,’ ‘ Go ahead,’ etc. Many a boy or girl may thus find a means of amusement in communicating with friends, even across wide rivers, or at long distances in a hilly or mountainous country, with such a home made telegraph. There are situations where a couple of enterprising boys might make considerable money out of it.

T. C. Harris.