CHAPTER XVIII. 



SHORT-LINE TELEGRAPHS. 



Early in the history of the telegraph short 

 began to be used for private purposes, 

 and as the Morse code was familiar only to 

 those who had studied it and were expert oper- 

 ators on commercial lines, some system had 

 to be devised that any one with an ordinary 

 English education could use; as the expense 

 of employing two Morse operators would be too 

 great for all ordinary business enterprises. 

 The<p short lines are called private lines, and 

 the instruments used upon them were called 

 private-line telegraph-instruments. Of course 

 they are now nearly all superseded by the tele- 

 phono, hut they are a part of history. 



One of the earliest forms of short-line in- 

 struments was called the dial-telegraph. One 

 of the first inventors, if not the first, of this 

 I'M mi of instrument was Professor Wheat- 

 stone of England, \vho perfected a dial-tele- 

 ^raph-insfrumont ;ih..nt the year 1839. The 

 iiiL r -en(] of this instrument consisted of 

 a lettered dial-fare, under which was clock- 

 work mechanism and an escape-wheel con- 

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