THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[.Fanuaby, 



very lar^re in the end, as they admit of such useful application in i 

 piililic and jjrivate estahlisliinents. In tlie eourse of a short time ' 

 111) piihlic ortiee will he witliout a clock dial in every department, 

 and wlien tlie example has heen set wide enouj^h there will he i'ew 

 private houses without a dial in every room. It is a small tliin};, 

 hut it is no mean thin;; to increase hrdjits of jiunctuality in a popu- 

 lation. Those wlu) have noticed in fiu-eifin countries the disreu:ard 

 of tlie value of time amonf>- uiienterprisinf>- jiojiulatioMs, know the 

 wortli of our f^reater luxury in time-pieces. The Electric Tele- 

 frraph Company, liowever, will be satisfied with tlie pecuniary 

 result, witliout' seeking; further as to the puhlic l)enelit they may 

 effect. Tlie ])rice of a clock is at present of course ratlier liif^h, 

 namely, sixteen guineas, and of companion clocks, ten ffnineas 

 each. A great olijection to electric clocks at present is, that de- 

 jiending- on the electric currents of tlie earth or on a battery, their 

 regularity cannot be depended upon. 



The metropolitan station, designed by JMr. Hunt, is very well 

 situated. It occupies what was lately Founders' Hall and the ad- 

 jacent premises, liaving entrances in Lothbury from Founders' Hall- 

 court, and in Moorgate-street. The doorway in Founders' Hall- 

 court is handsomely carved in stone, and thiuigh small makes a good 

 fa.ade. Tlie central hall or counting house is one of the hand- 

 somest works lately executed. This station is within a few minutes' 

 walk of tlie Bank, Stock Excliange, Royal Exchange, Lloyd's, 

 the joint stock and private banks, assurance offices, in the heart ot 

 business, and not far from the Corn Exchange, Commercial Rooms, 

 L^oal Exchange, and the seat of the Manchester warehouses and 

 colonial produ(-e warelunises. The newspaper offices are further 

 removed, hut in the end means will he found of accommodating 

 this class. The government offices, houses of parliament, courts 

 of law, and places of west-end business are also at a distance, but 

 the city is tlie district which will pay best, and it is impossible to 

 provide for all at once. So far as tlie city office is concerned, the 

 judgment of the managers has been well shown in its selection. 



The principle of Cooke and AFheatstone's telegraph is founded 

 on tlie discovery of Professor (Ersted in 1819, that a magnetised 

 needle has a tendency to i>lace itself at right angles to a wire along 

 which a current of electricity is passing. By the movements of 

 such a needle on a dial an alphabet is formed, which serves as the 

 means of communicating messages. 



In the other forms of telegraph a disc is made to rotate, bearing 

 on it letters or signs, and this is effected in virtue of tlie property 

 soft iron has of becoming temporarily magnetised by an electric 

 current being passed along a wii-e coiled in a spiral around it. The 

 same principle is adopted in all tlie apparatus for ringing the 

 alarum in order to give notice that the telegraph is in action. It 

 is to be observed that the telegraphs in the United States, France, 

 and Prussia, are on the disc system ; in Baden Highton's telegraph 

 has been used. Most of the telegraphs in England are needle tele- 

 gra])hs, that on the Smith Devon is a disc telegraph, and that iu 

 the Box Tunnel on Nott and Gamble's plan. 



The disc telegraphs are wm-ked either by the voltaic battery 

 or the magneto-electric machine, power being derived from a 

 permanent magnet. With these telegraphs, two wires only are 

 necessary, one for the telegraph and one for the alarum ; but the 

 needle telegraphs, for commercial purposes, require three wires, 

 two needle-wires for the telegraph and one wire for the alarum. 



As now laid by the Electric Telegraph Company, on their best 

 system, two wires are employed for each principal statimi, the 

 wires used being of iron, of No. 8 gage, and one-sixth of an inch 

 diameter. These are galvanised, and come very cheap. The 

 weight is about ;i8lh. to the hundred yards, or ISOlb. per mile. 

 The wire is welded together in lengths of about a quarter of a 

 mile each. These wires are fixed to standards, at distances vary- 

 ing from 45 to 55 yards apart, and at each quarter of a mile is a 

 stronger standard, where a connection is made. The wires are 

 kept taut by a simple arrangement, which it is unnecessary to 

 describe. In conse(iuence of this mode of suspending the wires on 

 standards, which was first adcqited in 1812, a great economy is 

 effected, and the system admits of a more extensive apjilication, as 

 now it may be laid anywhere wherever the standards can he put 

 up ; and as the population get accustomed to this invention, it can 

 be put up as safely in the streets, or in the roads, as gas-lami)s are 

 now left ; though of course it is premature to anticipate such ad- 

 vancement at present. Under Brett and Little's system it can, we 

 believe, be laid much cbeajier than now. 



The original method of laying the wires was to cover them 

 with silk or cotton thread, and then with pitch, resin, cacuitchiuic, 

 or some other non-conducting substance, enclosed in eartheiiw;ire 

 tubes, in wood trunks, or in iron ])ipes. At that time, there were 

 several inventions for laying the telegraph wires in asphalt. The 



great expense of the system was one of the obstructions to its 

 extension at an earlier jieriod. Our readers will recollect that 

 pipes were used on the tjreat Western and Blackwall llailways. 

 One purpose in the pijies was to prevent any interference with the 

 telegraph wires ; but this precaution is now considere<l unneces- 

 sary. The connecting wires between Nine Elms and the Strand 

 stations, and between Euston-square and the metropolitan stations, 

 are laid in pipes (Mr. Freeman Roe being the contractor) ; but, 

 as we have already observed, they will in tlie end be, in most 

 cases, laid on standards in the streets. At the present moment, 

 our main streets are filled with cast-iron pipes for gas, for water, 

 and for electric telegraphs. Liquid manure is also to be laid on, 

 and we believe Professor Wheatstone contemplated a sound tele- 

 graph, which should play music. The professor contemplated the 

 conduction of sound ; but waiting till that is accomplished, it is 

 quite easy to play music at a distance by the, present resources of 

 science. With a sufficient number of wires, a grand piano might 

 be played in London and Liverpool at the same time ; ami nothing 

 would'he easier than for one organst to play in two cathedrals, or 

 to play a set of chimes in St. Paul's and in York Minster simul- 

 taneously. Professor Wheatstone's bell telegraph, in the model- 

 room of the Electric Telegrapli Company, gives the elements of 

 such an apparatus. In Flanders, every town has its set o{ carillons 

 or chimes, playing elaborate tunes, and having its carilloneur, who 

 plays on Sundays. In time, the whole of these may he worked 

 together, or perhaps the towns of England supplied with the 

 luxury of cariUnns. Professor AV^heatstone, however, proposes to 

 go beyond this, and to convey musical sounds to a distance. 



A great economy has already been effected in the luimber of 

 wires used. In the earliest Slough instrument, five needles were 

 used, and double wires for each. The application of the principle 

 that the earth could he made to serve as half of the circuit, and 

 its adoption by Mr. Cooke in his patent of 1842, at once abolished 

 half the wires, and by successive improvements, the number of 

 needles was brought down to four, to three, and to two, and, for 

 some purposes, even one. Thus, where twelve wires were necessary 

 in 1842 for one station, two are now sufficient, while the cost is 

 decreased in a very much greater ratio by the wires being 

 galvanised instead of wound in cotton or silk, and by their 

 being suspended in the air instead of being laid in pipes. Perhaps, 

 in the end, a lighter wire will be used, and the system will be in- 

 definitely extended. It is impossible to consider the system as 

 being otherwise than in its earliest infancy, and we may expect, as 

 in railways, to see very great modifications. The locomotive, after 

 being increased in size to the magnitude of the "Great A^^estern," is 

 now likely to he brought down to the proportions of a steam- 

 carriage. Nothing is so dangerous in new inventions as to pre- 

 judge. 



The instruments used are Cooke and Wheatstone's, and are 

 either single or double needle instruments. The latter is pre- 

 ferred. They are both on the same principle, except that the 

 latter is double the former. As seen from the outside, the double 

 needle telegraph shows two needles suspended like clock-hands on 

 a dial. Each of these needles is the duplicate of another within 

 the instrument, and behind the dial, and which latter is the real 

 needle. This needle is suspended in a light hollow frame of wood 

 or metal, round which are wound two sets of fine copper wire, coated 

 or insulated with silk or cotton. About 200 yards of wire, rjirt'i 

 of an inch diameter, is used for these purposes. Tiiis coil is con- 

 nected with an electro-galvanic battery. A great difficulty of 

 the needle telegraph is to stop the oscillations or vihrat.ons of the 

 needle when set in motion. This is attempted by giving a greater 

 e.xtension and weight to the lower limb of the needle. 



On the instrument, below the dial, is a liandle, which is so 

 foi-med as to turn on or break off the connection of the battery 

 with the conducting wires, and so to transmit motion to the needle, 

 which, according to the way in which the curi-ent is passed, may 

 be deflected to the right or left. 



In the double-needle instrument, the alphabet is formed by the 

 production or repetition of three combinations. The needles being 

 placed parallel, the right-hand needle may be worked or the left- 

 hand needle, the two together, or the two alternately ; accordingly 

 as this is done once, twice, thrice, or four times, a large number of 

 alphabetical or other characters is obtained. The double needle 

 has this additional economy over the single needle, that in many 

 combinations the two handles are worked together ; in other tele- 

 graphs of a simpler construction the saving would be still greater. 



The needle being itself a magnet, is subject to disturbance from 

 the free electricity of the atmosphere in particular states of wea- 

 ther so that its working is very uncertain ; and although some 

 modifications and improvements are made, this does not obviate 



