House insulator used on New York and Buffalo line

From the Buffalo Commercial Advertisor.

HOUSE'S PRINTING TELEGRAPH — New York and Buffalo Line. — As there seems to be some misunderstanding in regard to the above named line, and various statements having been made by certain persons interested in other telegraph lines, which are untrue and false, it has become necessary to explain. - This line was commenced last fall, and after putting up two hundred miles of the poles the proprietors became satisfied that the old form of insulating the lines was very imperfect, as the lines were always out of order and unable to work in wet and stormy weather, and that if some new form could be invented obviating that difficulty, it would be of great advantage to the line, besides the saving of much annoyance and disappointment to the business community. The writer stopped setting poles and went to New York to consult Professor House, and after various experiments a new insulator was adopted, which we have no doubt is far ahead of any other, one that is perfect (though expensive) and reliable in all kinds of weather. This alteration necessarily delayed our line, as expensive and difficult moulds were necessary to form our glass. Yet we counted the delay as of little consequence, if we could succeed in putting up a perfect and reliable line. We are now pushing this line as rapidly as possible for New York, using between this city and Rochester, a wire weighing six hundred pounds to the mile - more than twice the size used by other lines - and from Rochester to New York one-fourth rolled rods will be used, weighing eight hundred pounds to the mile. No pains will be spared with this line, as we know we are expending more money per mile than any other line in the United States, and when done we believe it will be the best constructed telegraph line in the world. The House instrument prints its messages ready for delivery, using the common letters (twenty-six in number,) and we do not think it necessary to go into any extended argument to prove that twenty-six characters are much better and far safer than two, besides each letter of the alphabet is not only of a different form but has a distinct sound from all the rest, and tho' a letter may be left out of the word or a wrong one put in, it is only misspelled, not altering the meaning. On the other hand, all other systems are mere signal telegraphs, using two characters, a dot and a mark. They have no sound and cannot be spoken except by spelling the word, dot or mark, and as there are but two characters to write the English language, it is easy to see that no possible arrangement can be made as safe as the alphabet. Could there be, better abandon our present letters and adopt the dot and mark for our school books. The House instrument is as much superior to any other as the common alphabet is to the Egyptian hieroglyphics, and is no more fit to be compared with them than an elephant to a boot-jack. Two hundred and forty letters can be transmitted in one minute, dropping the same number of copies through any number of offices.

This line will be opened from this city to Rochester within two weeks, when we shall be happy to show its operation to any one who may chose to call.

F. M. EDSON.

Buffalo, June 18, 1850.