(Mike Polk) wrote:
>
> Anyone able to help this gentleman out?
> ---------------------
> Forwarded message:
> From:   [log in to unmask] (D B Wagner)
> Sender: [log in to unmask] (Material Culture Study and Methods)
> Reply-to:       [log in to unmask] (Material Culture Study and Methods)
> To:     [log in to unmask]
> Date: 97-05-31 02:29:13 EDT
>
> Dear all,
>
> I have become involved on the periphery of a study of the introduction of
> the telegraph in China, and find that I need to know more about the
> specific technologies used. I wonder if anyone can direct me to published
> work on telegraph technology in the U.S. and/or Europe and/or elsewhere
> from about 1860 to about 1890? I can probably find out a lot by searching
> through Scientific American for those years, but I suspect that someone
> somewhere has already done that kind of work.
>
> Things that seem important:
>
> * Poles, wires, insulators: how many poles per km, when were the wires made
> of iron, when of copper? What were the technical requirements for the
> wires?
>
> * Electricity: what voltage, what sort of batteries?
>
> * Stations: what sort of apparatus was used, was it expensive, were
> automatic repeaters ever used?
>
> * Maintenance: How much maintenace was needed, for all of the above?
>
> * People: What was the training of an operator? How many messages could an
> operator handle per day? And what about other personnel?
>
> Of course if I get answers to some of the above they will probably inspire
> more questions.
>
> Looking forward to hearing from Those Who Know,
>
 
Have you tried posting this enquiry to the HTECH list?
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Fran