What Burlingame Did

What Burlingame Did is the title of a small hardbound book that I recently purchased in an Ebay auction. This book was written in 1908 by Robert Cleveland, and the sub title is "A True Story of a Young Electrician".

It is interesting to note that it was published by the "Burlingame Underwriters". It was apparently written to generate interest in the purchase of stock for the Burlingame Telegraphing Typewriter Company". Unfortunately, this book is long on rhetoric and miserably short on facts about the equipment. It provides little information about the device which is my main interest.

The book goes on to describe all sorts of uses for the machine. These include credit checks, the stock market, the prevention of railroad wrecks, reporting fires and broadcasting information to police officers on the beat. It is interesting to note that it is stated that "the system will work by wire or wireless" though it gets wonderfully vague at that point.