Also (less correctly) teleautograph. [f. Gr. τῆλε far off (see TELE-) + AUTOGRAPH, after telegraph.] A telegraphic apparatus by which writing or drawing done with a pen or pencil at the transmitting end is reproduced in facsimile at the receiving end, by means of an electric current conveyed along a wire, and (in the usual forms of the instrument) communicating movements to the receiving pen corresponding to those made with the transmitting pen or pencil. Hence Telautographic a., pertaining to the telautograph; Telautography, the use of the telautograph.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Supp., Telautograph, an electrical device for transmitting autographs, or copying designs…. The possibility of deception and the impossibility of automatic unquestionable record … are removed, it is said, by the employment of telautography.
1887. Tribune (Chicago), 25 June. Prof. Elisha Gray … is perfecting an invention with wonderful possibilities…. The ‘Telautograph’ is the name by which the instrument will be known.
1888. Daily News, 9 Aug., 5/7. What is known as the telautographic system, invented by Professor Elisha Gray.
1894. Westm. Gaz., 20 Dec., 7/1. The electricians … were shown numerous slips of paper covered with autograph writing traced by the telautograph receiver in Paris, in obedience to a person writing in London with the telautograph transmitter.
1905. Daily Chron., 10 Jan., 5/6. Some very successful experiments in telautography were made yesterday between the Paris Central Telephone Office and the Rouen Bourse Exchange.
