The telegraph manual: a complete history and description of the semaphoric, electric and magnetic telegraphs of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, ancient and modern.

SEIMENS AND HALSKIE'S GERMANIC
TELEGRAPH.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Description of the Telegraph Apparatus-The Alarum Bell-Electric Circuits
and Manipulation-The Transmitter and its Application.
DESCRIPTION OF THE TELEGRAPH APPARATUS.
THIS apparatus is organized upon the principles of the dialp. ate system, and is universally admitted to be the most perfect in the European telegraphic service. The following description, though very defective, will give the reader a knowledge of its mechanism and manipulation. I have seen this
apparatus on the German railways; it was really a model of
beauty, and to me very simple. It serves the purposes of rapid
communication; it is easy to keep in order, and it is susceptible of manipulation by the ordinary employes of the railway
service. In the organization and finish of the apparatus, and
in the perfection of the system, Messrs. Seimens and Halskie have
exhibited rare powers, fully sustaining the distinguished and
enviable reputation enjoyed by those gentlemen in Europe, as
telegraphers.
In fig. 1, E E are the poles of an electro-magnet, perpendicular to the upper side of the box, or' the plane of the drawing,
flat on one side and round on the other. A Al is the armature,
something like a reversed m2, moveable around a vertical axis,
which axis is supported by two gudgeons fixed on the support
c; a lever-arm is fixed to the middle of the armature, and the
spring RI draws it continually upward toward the left, tending
to separate the armature from the electro-magnet, so that it
will not be in contact with it, except when under the influence
of the attraction produced by the passage of the current, and
so that the armature will separate therefrom, under the traction of the spring, when the current is interrupted. The fig.
313