Rushes Pictures By Wire.

New York Times 100 years ago today, January 19, 1913:
French Invention Makes Possible a Transmission in Four Minutes.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
    PARIS, Jan. 18.— Edouard Belin, a French inventor, has succeeded in telegraphing a photograph from Bordeaux to Paris in the record time of four minutes.
    M. Belin's process differs radically from Korn's method. Instead of using selenium he prepares a photographic plate, the basis of which is bichromated gelatine and the surface of which is uneven.
    A small metal point, passing over the uneven surface of the plate, causes a variation of the electric current, which renders possible the transmission over a telegraph or telephone wire of the lights and shades of half-tone plates and is attended with remarkable regularity and speed.
    The most interesting feature of M. Belin's invention is that it is possible to carry about a small apparatus, weighing about 16 pounds, and immediately attach it at any telephone station. This renders possible the telephoning of pictures over long distances.
    In the experiment made this week a photograph, 6 inches by 5, was sent by the portable apparatus from Bordeaux to Paris. An hour was occupied in preparing the plate with the uneven surface, but only four minutes were occupied in the transmission of the photograph thereon. The results obtained seem to be in advance of anything yet done in this direction from the point of view of the clearness of the pictures transmitted.