On the evening of February 26, 1879, the writing telegraph of Mr. E.
A. Cowper, of London, was exhibited in operation before the Society of
Telegraph Engineers, in that city. It is a curious and remarkable
invention. By its use the handwriting of the operator may be
transmitted, but a double circuit, that is, two telegraph wires, are
used. The operator moves with his hand an upright pointer or stylus,
with which he writes the message on paper. The stylus has two arms
connected with it, one of which arms, when the stylus makes an upward
movement, causes a current to be sent over one wire, while the other
arm causes a current to pass over the other wire when the stylus is
moved laterally. These two motions are, at the receiving end of the
line, made to operate on the needles of galvanometers, and the latter
are by silk threads combined or connected with a delicately suspended
ink tube, from which a minute stream of ink falls upon the strip of
paper below it; the arrangement being such that the combined motions
of the galvanometers so move the ink pen as to make it correspond to
the motion of the stylus at the sending end. The apparatus is said to
work very well, and it is expected that it will form a useful adjunct
to the art of telegraphy. We present herewith a facsimile of writing
done by this new instrument, which has been worked with success over a
line of forty miles length. It is hardly probable that it can compete
in rapidity with some of the telegraph instruments now in use; but for
many purposes it is likely to become important, while in point of
ingenuity it is certainly a great achievement, and the author is
deserving of the highest credit.
[Illustration: Writing Telegraph.]
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