ROUTING TRAFFIC

Initially, each Internet system was a dedicated installation, constructed for a single purpose and used exclusively by its owner. Each steam pipe was an individual end-to-end connection. This simple arrangement was sufficient in the early, pioneering days of the Internet but as the great industrialists began to expand its range and see additional applications, it became inefficient.

Belkin 8-port Router, 1901

Rather than having to add a completely new steam pipe for every application and between every two locations that needed to be connected, the industrialists wanted to be able to share a single steam pipe for multiple applications and between multiple locations.

This requirement quickly gave rise to complex systems of valves, switches and interconnections referred to as Internet "routers". The term "router" is another which has survived in Internet parlance to this day.

Section of large interconnect outside Philadelphia, circa 1905

As the Internet underwent the "Great Expansion", these interconnections became increasingly large and complex. Some of the biggest in metropolitan areas sprawled over almost 2 square miles, the biggest of all being the infamous "Spaghetti Junction" in New Jersey.

A PRESSING PROBLEM

A massive problem in the steam era was that of maintaining an appropriate pressure level - too little and data transmission speeds would drop, too much and a safety valve might be tripped or, worse still, there could be an explosion.

The pressure problem was further compounded by the switching and routing of traffic between lines. Pressure had to be continuously monitored and carefully equalized to avoid disequilibriums at any intersection. If too large a pressure difference existed at any router or switching point, the switch itself could be irrepairably damaged when the next switch occurred. Such an event was accompanied by a characteristic loud popping sound - a sound that struck fear into the heart of an already overworked network administrator.

System Management Console (undated, but typical of the early 1900s)

The problem of pressure balancing gave rise to a new breed of Network Engineer, the "Pressure Balancer". A Pressure Balancer spent hours, often in cramped and dark conditions, slaving over myriad gauges, levers and valves, fighting to keep pressure at an interconnection within acceptable tolerances.

These skilled pressure balancers were some of the most respected and feared Network Engineers of their day.

ON AUTOMATIC

However, try as they might, no human being could keep up with the complexity of balancing pressure within increasingly complex Internet routers and interconnections. "Blow-outs" were commonplace and the only way to avoid them was to reduce the pressure to such an extent that traffic speeds were seriously impeded.

By the early 1910s, this had become a serious issue for Internet Service Providers and was starting to directly hit their profitability.

Fortunately, a plucky, brilliant, young German engineer called Fritz Klanker came to the rescue. From a very early age, Klanker had had a passion for trains. After completing school in Hannover, he attended the famous Bressinger Engineering School just outside of Schleisweg Holstein, and then took a job at the Bavarian Rail Works, which was at that time was at the leading edge of steam train development.

The Bavarian Rail Works had been an early adopter of Internet technologies and by this time used the Internet extensively for a wide range of business functions ranging from production line control to workers' sandwich orders. During the course of 1912, whilst Klanker was working on the suspension system of a new high-speed train for the German army, he became increasingly frustrated with the late and sporadic delivery of this favorite pumpernickel pickle sandwich. Internet connectivity between the Bavarian Rail Works factory and the local sandwich shop was unreliable and sporadic and the situation had been going steadily downhill for the past 6-months.

Klanker vowed to use his engineering brilliance to find a solution. In his spare time he digested all the information he could find on network engineering and the pressure regulation problem. Using his experience with steam systems, he began to tinker with various designs and prototypes. He quickly realized that the key to the problem was to install a system inside a transmission pipe which measured and automatically adjusted the pressure relative to the next section. The system had to be cheap enough to install at regular intervals inside transmission pipes and fast and compact enough to not interfere with the free flow of network traffic.

After several failed attempts, included an accident which left him with serious steam scalding, Klanker came up with what much later came to be called the Klanker Pressure Regulator.

Interior section of Internet backbone clearly showing Klanker Pressure Regulators

Klanker presented his design to his superiors at the Bavarian Rail Works expecting to be rewarded for this innovation. Instead, he was fired for wasting his time on the job, although the company still kept and used his idea. Fritz Klanker died a penniless man in a Paris sanatorium in 1934.

Despite this tragic story, the Klanker Pressure Regulator was an incredible success and within the next 2 years allowed the Internet industry to reliably and safely increase transmission speeds far beyond what had been possible previously. The Klanker Pressure Regulator was extremely lucrative for the Bavarian Rail Works that by the end of the First World War in 1918, they had abandoned the steam train business altogether and renamed the company to Bavarian Dampfwerk.

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