0 THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH

Needle instruments--Influence of current on the magnetic needle--Method of reversing the current--Sounding instruments--Telegraphic relays--Recording telegraphs--High-speed telegraphy.
TAKE a small pocket compass and wind several turns of fine insulated wire round the case, over the top and under the bottom. Now lay the compass on a table, and turn it about until the coil is on a line with the needle--in fact, covers it. Next touch the terminals of a battery with the ends of the wire. The needle at once shifts either to right or left, and remains in that position as long as the current flows. If you change the wires over, so reversing the direction of the current, the needle at once points in the other direction. It is to this conduct on the part of a magnetic needle when in a "magnetic field" that we owe the existence of the needle telegraph instrument.

NEEDLE INSTRUMENTS.
Fig. 54.--Sketch of the side elevation of a Wheatstone needle instrument.
Probably the best-known needle instrument is the Cooke-Wheatstone, largely used in signal-boxes and in some post-offices. A vertical section of it is shown in Fig. 54. It consists of a base, b, and an upright front, a, to the back of which are attached two hollow coils on either side of a magnetic needle mounted on the same shaft as a second dial needle, n, outside the front. The wires w w are connected to the telegraph line and to the commutator, a device which, when the operator moves the handle h to right and left, keeps reversing the direction of the current. The needles on both receiving and transmitting instruments wag in accordance with the movements of the handle. One or more movements form an alphabetical letter of the Morse code. Thus, if the needle points first to left, and then to right, and comes to rest in a normal position for a moment, the letter A is signified; right-left-left-left in quick succession = B; right-left-right-left = C, and so on. Where a marking instrument is used, a dot signifies a "left," and a dash a right; and if a "sounder" is employed, the operator judges by the length of the intervals between the clicks.
INFLUENCE OF CURRENT ON A MAGNETIC NEEDLE.
Figs. 55, 56.--The coils of a needle instrument. The arrows show the direction taken by the current.
Figs. 55 and 56 are two views of the coils and magnetic needle of the Wheatstone instrument as they appear from behind. In Fig. 55 the current enters the left-hand coil from the left, and travels round and round it in a clockwise direction to the other end, whence it passes to the other coil and away to the battery. Now, a coil through which a current passes becomes a magnet. Its polarity depends on the direction in which the current flows. Suppose that you are looking through the coil, and that the current enters it from your end. If the wire is wound in a clockwise direction, the S. pole will be nearest you; if in an anti-clockwise direction, the N. pole. In Fig. 55 the N. poles are at the right end of the coils, the S. poles at the left end; so the N. pole of the needle is attracted to the right, and the S. pole to the left. When the current is reversed, as in Fig. 56, the needle moves over. If no current passes, it remains vertical.

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