Telegraph, Single Needle

A telegraph system in which the code is transmitted by the movements of a needle shaped index which oscillates to right and left, the left hand deflection corresponding to dots, the right hand deflection to dashes. The instruments for sending and receiving are combined into one. The needles are virtually the indexes of vertical galvanometers. In one form by a tapper key (see Tapper), in another form by a key worked by a drop-handle (the drop handle instrument), currents of opposite directions are sent down the line. These pass through both instruments, affecting both needles and causing them to swing to right or left, as the operator moves his key.

As galvanometer needle or actuating needle a soft iron needle is employed, which is polarized by the proximity of two permanent magnets. This avoids danger of reversal of polarity from lightning, a trouble incident to the old system.

The cut, Fig. 322, shows a single needle telegraph instrument of the tapper form. The action of the tapper can be understood from the next cut.

see more »