[HN Gopher] Telautograph
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       Telautograph
        
       Author : nanna
       Score  : 30 points
       Date   : 2021-06-12 09:52 UTC (13 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
        
       | marcodiego wrote:
       | Most of these early transmission schemes used audible signals
       | transmitted by radio. I'm always curious to listen how they
       | sound.
        
         | IIAOPSW wrote:
         | Like dialup mixed with ragtime.
        
       | gene-h wrote:
       | I am surprised that this was accomplished using primitive
       | electric motors, relays(?), and mechanical parts. This page[0]
       | seems to have some better descriptions of how they worked.
       | 
       | The device seems to operate using two relay driven escapements
       | that seem to function similarly to today's stepper motors
       | advancing a single step forward or backward. Step signals are
       | generated by a set of circular contacts connected to the pen
       | mechanism on the receiver. So when the pen is moved a degree a
       | step signal is generated.
       | 
       | [0]https://www.jmcvey.net/cable/elements/telautograph1.htm
        
       | rexreed wrote:
       | This is one of many conflicts between Elisha Gray and Alexander
       | Graham Bell. Bell and Gray famously fought over the telephone
       | patent, one filing just hours before the other.
       | 
       | What is also not as widely known is Bell also patented the
       | autograph telegraph fax-like device.
       | 
       | Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_Gray :
       | 
       | " In April, 1875, ten months before the alleged theft of Gray's
       | design, the U.S. Patent Office granted U.S. Patent 161,739 to
       | Bell for a primitive fax machine, which he called the "autograph
       | telegraph." The patent drawing includes liquid transmitters. "
       | 
       | I'm sure there was no love lost between these two.
        
       | pwdisswordfish8 wrote:
       | What an adorable example of citogenesis:
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Telautograph&oldi...
       | 
       | Refreshingly honest, really.
        
         | Rexxar wrote:
         | I'm surprised they don't have a bot that check circular
         | references inside Wikipedia.
        
         | renewiltord wrote:
         | That's not citogenesis. Citogenesis requires laundering through
         | the external world.
         | 
         | Just fix the cite to an internal link. This doesn't need to be
         | "adorable". It's literally a self-fixable bug that takes less
         | time to fix than to make this comment.
         | 
         | Always confuses me why people make "Behold! A problem!" posts
         | when the problem itself is fixable in less text than that.
        
         | nanna wrote:
         | Wait, why?
        
           | JadeNB wrote:
           | I think the idea is that the authority for the claim that
           | Wikipedia is making is Wikipedia itself; citations
           | "spontaneously generate", as it were:
           | 
           | > The Allpoint Pen is currently in use and has been used to
           | register tens of thousands of voters in the United States,
           | and the Long Pen, an invention conceived of by writer
           | Margaret Atwood, is used by authors to sign their books at a
           | distance.[6]
           | 
           | > [6] "LongPen", Wikipedia, 2019-10-15, retrieved 2020-05-08
        
             | nanna wrote:
             | Seems like a bit of a harsh critique to bring all the way
             | out here on hn. Sure it references another Wikipedia page,
             | but on that page external references to the same claim are
             | provided. 'Allpoint pen' could just be internally linked to
             | the relevant Wikipedia page, and the relevant citation
             | brought to the telautograph page? Gp could just fix this on
             | Wikipedia themselves...
        
       | dang wrote:
       | One past thread:
       | 
       |  _Telautograph_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20368098 -
       | July 2019 (10 comments)
        
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       (page generated 2021-06-12 23:01 UTC)