Re: Wrecking terminology

For JBW...

"Telegraphones" were a local battery telephone set pretty similar to the old time "crank & holler" magneto wall telephones used on rural lines, except there were no magnetos for ringing signalling.
"Talking" battery was supplied by several drycells at each telephone instrument.

The magneto rural lines used a two wire pair insulated from ground. But in the case of telegraphones, they were connected by one wire from the telephone set to an existing telegraph wire that went between places where 'phone conversation was desired. The "other" wire was via ground or "earth" return.

Intermediate telegraph offices on the wire were "treated" with some special circuitry (Capacitors to block DC telegraph currents but let the voice conversation energy go thru around the telegraph relay), and special retard coils (Audio frequency chokes) to block the Voice frequency energy from the terminal end telegraph equipment and series capacitors from the telegraphone instrument to block the DC telegraph current but allow the telephone conversation to go out over the line. The operation of the telegraph circuit was thus unimpaired.

Send signalling was done by a push button on the telephone that operated a DC interrupter-buzzer affair which put out a buzzing signal on the line via a series capacitor.

Receive signalling was accomplished by means of a "howler" which was a high resistance electromagnet and diaphragm affair similar to a large telephone receiver and had a small acoustic megaphone or "horn" attached to it.This was wall mounted above the telephone set, or located inside it. The Howler was connected from the line to ground with a series capacitor to block the DC telegraph current.

The "howlers" at all the telegraphone stations connected to the wire responded to this buzzer signal and made it into an audible signal that could be heard by the operator.

Coded "buzzes" (long long short, etc) could be used to
identify who was calling whom on the line.


Telegraphones worked pretty well over limited distances where there were few or no paralleling electrical circuits like power lines etc. that would otherwise cause noise on the circuit.

Operation of the telegraph circuit could usually be "read" by a Morse operator listening on a telegraphone connected to the wire.