Editing Ticker tape (section)

==Technology==
[[File:Hughes telegraph.jpg|right|thumb|Hughes telegraph (1866–1914) transmitter keyboard to send text over telegraph wires to be printed as text on a paper tape. Manufactured by [[Siemens & Halske]], Germany; range: 300–400 km]][[File:E-ticker.jpg|thumb|A ticker monitor, as shown in this picture on the [[Australian Securities Exchange]] trading floor, simulates ticker tape but uses a different method.]]

Stock ticker machines are an ancestor of the modern [[computer printer]], being one of the first applications of [[teleprinter|transmitting text over a wire to a printing device]], based on the [[printing telegraph]]. This used the technology of the then-recently invented [[Electrical telegraph|telegraph machines]], with the advantage that the output was readable text, instead of the dots and dashes of [[Morse code]]. A special [[typewriter]] designed for operation over telegraph wires was used at the opposite end of the telegraph wire connection to the ticker machine. Text typed on the typewriter was displayed on the ticker machine at the opposite end of the connection.

The machines printed a series of ''[[ticker symbol]]s'' (usually shortened forms of a company's name), followed by brief information about the price of that company's stock; the thin strip of paper on which they were printed was called ''ticker tape''. The word ''ticker'' comes from the distinct tapping (or ''ticking'') noise the machines made while printing. Pulses on the telegraph line made a letter wheel turn step by step until the correct symbol was reached and then printed. A typical 32-symbol letter wheel had to turn on average 15 steps until the next letter could be printed resulting in a very slow printing speed of one character per second.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prc68.com/I/WU5A.shtml|title=Western Union 5A Stock Quotation Machine|work=prc68.com}}</ref> In 1883, ticker transmitter keyboards resembled the keyboard of a piano with black keys indicating letters and the white keys indicating numbers and fractions, corresponding to two rotating type wheels in the connected ticker tape printers.<ref>[http://www.officemuseum.com/communications_equipment.htm "Sending Messages over Ticker System,"] '' Scribner's Magazine'', July 1889</ref>

Newer and more efficient tickers became available in the 1930s, but these newer and better tickers still had an approximate 15- to 20-minute delay.  Ticker machines became obsolete in the 1960s, replaced by [[computer network]]s; none have been manufactured for use for decades. However, working reproductions of at least one model are now being manufactured for museums and collectors.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stocktickercompany.com/stc/universal|title=Stock Ticker Company: The Universal Stock Ticker|work=stocktickercompany.com}}</ref>

Simulated ticker displays, named after the original machines, still exist as part of the display of television news channels and on some websites—see [[news ticker]]. One of the most famous outdoor displays is the simulated ticker scrolling marquee called "[[Motograph News Bulletin|The Zipper]]" located at [[One Times Square]] in New York City.

Ticker tapes then and now contain generally the same information. The ticker symbol is a unique set of characters used to identify the company. The shares traded is the volume for the trade being quoted.  Price traded refers to the price per share of a particular trade. Change direction is a visual cue showing whether the stock is trading higher or lower than the previous trade, hence the terms ''downtick'' and ''[[uptick]]''. Change amount refers to the difference in price from the previous day's closing. Many today include color to indicate whether a stock is trading higher than the previous day's (green), lower than previous (red), or has remained unchanged (blue or white).