in early life he was apprenticed to a carpenter, but showed a taste for
chemistry, and at the age of twenty-one he went to Oberlin College,
where he studied for five years. At the age of thirty he turned his
attention to electricity, and invented a relay which adapted itself to
the varying insulation of the telegraph line. He was then led to devise
several forms of automatic repeaters, but they are not much employed.
In 1870-2, he brought out a needle annunciator for hotels, and another
for elevators, which had a large sale. His 'Private Telegraph Line
Printer' was also a success. From 1873-5 he was engaged in perfecting
his 'Electro-harmonic telegraph.' His speaking telegraph was likewise
the outcome of these researches. The 'Telautograph,' or telegraph which
writes the messages as a fac-simile of the sender's penmanship by an
ingenious application of intermittent currents, is the latest of his
more important works. Mr. Gray is a member of the firm of Messrs. Gray
and Barton, and electrician to the Western Electric Manufacturing
Company of Chicago. His home is at Highland Park near that city. End of Project Gutenberg's Etext of Heroes of the Telegraph by J. Munro
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