TELAUTOGRAPH EXPERIMENTS 73 



constructed by Mr. Sanger Shepherd for the Daily 

 Mirror, and every effort was made to finish it in 

 time for the King's visit in January, 1 909, to Berlin. 

 Pictures were wired from Berlin to Paris of His 

 Majesty driving through the streets of Berlin, and 

 from those further pictures were prepared by M. 

 Chatenet, which he attempted to re -transmit from 

 Paris to London. But the London telautograph 

 had only been tested a day or two previously, and 

 was not in anything approaching good adjustment, 

 and the results were not good enough for publica- 

 tion. This was after attempting the transmissions 

 from about i A.M. to 3 A.M. Results soon began 

 to come through with regularity, however, and the 

 telautograph became a useful means of obtaining 

 news pictures from the Continent. 



An interesting break in the telautograph trans- 

 missions was caused by the great Postal strike in 

 France, which was at its worst during the summer 

 of 1909. The pressure on the telephone lines was 

 very great at this time, as so much correspondence 

 was carried on by means of the telephone, and it was 

 only occasionally that the Post Office was able to 

 spare a line for the photo -telegraphic work. On 

 one occasion a picture was being transmitted, and 

 the adjustments had taken a minute or two longer 

 than usual ; the line could only be spared for about 

 fifteen minutes, and when this time had elapsed the 

 officials were obliged to cut our line. The picture 



