The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

Of various other forms of receiving instruments devised by Sir William Thomson, the next to be noticed is the Spark Recorder, both on account of the principles involved in its construction, and because it in some respects foreshadowed the more perfect instrument, the Siphon Recorder, which he introduced some years later. The action of the Spark Recorder was as follows. An indicator, suitably supported, was caused to take a to-and-fro motion, by means of the electro-magnetic action due to the electric currents constituting the signals. This indicator was connected to a Ruhmkorff coil or other equivalent apparatus, designed to cause a continual succession of sparks to pass between the indicator, and a metal plate situated beneath it and having a plane surface parallel to its line of motion. Over the surface of this plate and between it and the indicator, there was passed, at a regularly uniform speed in a direction perpendicular to the line of motion of the indicator, a material capable of being acted on physically by the sparks, either through their chemical action, their heat, or their perforating force. The record of the signals given by this instrument was an undulating line of fine perforations or spots, and the character and succession of the undulations were used to interpret the signals desired to be sent. The latest form of receiving instrument for long submarine cables, is that of the Siphon Recorder, for which Sir William Thomson obtained his first patent in 1867. Within the three succeeding years he effected great improvements on it, and the instrument has, since that date, been exclusively employed in working most of the more important submarine cables of the world--indeed all except those on which the Mirror-Galvanometer method is still in use.