The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1895-04-04
TELEGRAPHY WITHOUT WIRES.
Using the Earth as a Conductor of
Electric Vibration.

~'S IIurtn as a Conductor of
Electric Vibration.
The promise Of coming electrical
achievement more marvellous than all
n Il has preceded it Is in the air. saws
the Boston Herald. Electricians who
have been admitted to witness recent
experiments in the laboratory of Nikola
Tesla have come away fully impressed
with the belief that the new wizard has
within his grasp the solution Of the
problem of transmitting intelligence
and power without the use of wires.
Tesla has long maintained that this
could be done. He declared in n public
address W. years ago that his convic-
tlon had grown so strong on that point
that he no longer looked on this plan
of energy or intelligence transmission
as Il mere theoretical possibility. but as
n serious problem in electrical engineer
ing which must be carried out some
day. He has been working at the prob
lem ever since, and the invention of his
"oscillatOr"-destined to be an epoch
making machine in the production of
power-has been merely an incident in
his patient, scientific search for the
period" Of the electrical charge of the
earth.
1t is on the existence of this charge
that the possibility depends Of convey
ing intelligence without the aid Of wires
and without respect to distance. Mr..
Tesla demonstrated some ten years ago
that the earth could be used as a con-
ductor of electric vibration, instead Of
the return wire long held to be indis-
p%ensable. His single wire motors gave
Il convincing practical demonstration of
that fact, and led to the farther conclu-
sion that it was not necessary to have
even a single connection between the
motor and generator, except. perhaps,
through the ground. But to utilize cleo
trio energy given off into space or trans
mitted through the ground is a problem
somewhat different from that Of pro-
curing at any point of the earth a re-
Spouse to the disturbance of it's cleo
trio charge at some other point. The
n turns on the question of how good
an electric conductor the earth may be
shown to be, the other on how nearly 1t
Is possible to ascertain at what period
the earth's charge Of electricity oscil
lates with respect to an oppositely cleo
trified system or known circuit.
The scientific basis Of the theory that
the earth is an electrically charged
body insulated in space is to be found
in the accepted view Of it's origin-that.
namely, of mechanical separation from
other bodies. But the important Ques-
ton was to discover what quantity of
electricity the earth containS-what, in
scientific language, is it's capacity"
and what Is the period Of vibration?
On the answer to that depends the pos
sibility Of disturbing the electrostatic
condition Of the earth as to transmit in
telligible signals to any distance simply
through the earth itself or it's environ
ing medium. Mr.. Tesla has succeeded
in raising that possibility to the rank Of
Il probability, if not of a certainty. He
has pumped electricity into the earth,
and has secured ~"renOnance' so power.
full as to manifest itself in lightning
flashes of considerable length and WV
idneSS. In other words. he has been
able to get Il response through the cleo
trical vibration which he has impressed
on the earth from the electric charge
which it disturbed there. The two
must, therefore. have something in COM
mon: must have Il certain degree of
rhythmical correspondence, however
wide of complete accord. They may
not touch more closely than would the
units which go to make up 1000 and
100000 if the former were distributed
Over a line formed by the units which
go to make up the latter. But as in this
case one in 100 would touch. and the
whole be covered ut certain fixed inter-
walls. so Mr.. Tesla's experiments have
led him far enough to show that he has
hit upon some harmonic correspond
ence between the known and the un-
known circuit. When he has succeeded
in bringing them into anything like per-
feet accord, he will be able, by Il gentle
electric tap, to send a note vibrating
Over the whole face Of the earth. as if it
lay before him like the frightened skin
of q drum.