At this time there was no one in the office who knew how to adjust it, so they had to send up to the house of the superintendent and arouse him from his sleep and bring him down to the office. He looked under the table and found that one of the wires had loosened from its binding-post and was hanging down. He said immediately, "Here's the trouble; I should think you could have seen it yourself." The operator replied, "I did see that, but I didn't think one wire would make any difference." He learned the lesson that all electricians have had to learn—that even one wire makes all the difference in the world. But this operator was no worse in that respect than some of his superiors. One of the heads of the Cleveland office at one time in the early days wanted to give some directions to the office at Buffalo. He told the operator at the key to tell Buffalo so and so, when the operator replied: "I can't do it; Buffalo has his key open." The official immediately said with severity: "Tell him to close it." He forgot that it would be as difficult for him to tell him to close it, as it would have been to have sent the original message.
But let us go back to the telephone. While it is possible to send a message from New York to San Francisco by telegraph, it is not possible to telephone that distance, because as yet no one has been able to devise a repeater that will transfer spoken words from one line to another satisfactorily. But unless the printer and publisher bestir themselves some one may accomplish the feat before this little book reaches the reader. If this proves to be true, let the writer be the first to congratulate the successful inventor.
CHAPTER XVII.
SUBMARINE CABLES.
The first attempts at transmitting messages through wires laid in water were made about 1839. These early experiments were not very successful, because the art of wire-insulation had not attained any degree of perfection at that time. It was not until gutta-percha began to be used as an insulator for submarine lines that any substantial progress was made.
The first line, so history states, that was successfully laid and operated was across the Hudson River in 1848. This line was constructed for the use of the Magnetic Telegraph Company.
In the following year experiments with gutta-percha insulation were successfully made, and about 1850 a cable was laid across the English Channel between Dover and Calais (twenty-seven miles), consisting of a single strand of wire having a covering of gutta-percha. The insulation was destroyed in a day or two, which demonstrated the fact that all submarine cables must be protected by some kind of armor. In 1851 another cable was laid between these two points, containing four conductors insulated with gutta-percha, and over all was an armor of iron wire. Twenty-one years later this cable was still working, and for all we know is working now. After this successful demonstration other cables were laid for longer distances.
These short-line cables served to demonstrate the relative value of different material for insulating purposes under water, and it has been found that gutta-percha possesses qualities superior to almost every other material as an insulator for submarine cables, although there are many better materials for air-line insulation. Gutta-percha when exposed to air becomes hardened and will crack, but under water it seems to be practically indestructible.