The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-02-04
TELEGRArHING WITHOUT WIRES.
Are We ON the Verge of n Solution OF
the Great Electrical Problem.


Boston Herald.
The promise OF coming electrical achieve
ment more marveious than all that mas
preceded it is IN the air. Electricians who
have been admitted to witness recent ex-
perimepts IN the laboratory of Nikola Tesla
nave come away fully impressed with the
grasp the solution of the problem of trans
hitting Intelligence and lower without the
that this could be done. He declared in a
pubic address two years ago that his con-
vlction had grown SO strong on that point
that he no longer looked on this plan of en-
ergy or intelligence transmission as a mere
theoretical possibility. but as a serious prob
lem in electrical engineering which must
be carried out some day. He has been work.
ing at the problem ever since, and the in
vention of his soscfllator'-destined to be
an epoch-making machine in the production
or power-has been merely an incident in
his patient scientific search for the .'pe-
1t is on the existence of this charge that
the possibility depends of conveying intelli-
r Tenes wi to dIst ane a'd M pr T Tesla a dem mlsnqn.
TED some ten wears ago that the earth could
be used as a conductor OF electric vibration
Indispensable. His single wire motors gave
a convincing cor, practical al demonstration
tt fher ths Conclusion aast; a that ie 4 IS n sos n aee-
essary to have even a single con-
nection between the. motor and generator.
except, perhaps through the ground. But
to utilize electric energy given off into
space or transmitted through the ground -
a problem somewhat different from that
of procuring at any point of the earth n
response to the disturbance of its electrical
charge at some other point. The one turns
on the question of how good an electrical
conductor the earth may be shown to be.
the other on how nearly II is possible to
aSee eIestrle it w dseill pe,lod w tns e 1arnset c fa ge
oppositely electrified system or known cir
The scientific basis of the theory that the
earth is an electrically-charged body in
sulated in space Is to be found in the &C
cepted view OF its o~rigin-that, namely. OF
mechanical separation from other bodies.
But the important question was to discover
what quantity of electricity the earth con-
tains; what, in scientific language, is its
capacity and what is the period of vi
bration. O. the answer to that depended
the possibility of disturbing the electro
static condition of the earth so as to trans
nit Intelligent signals to any distance SIM
ing medium. Mr.. Tesla has succeeded in
raising that possibility to the rank of a
probability. If not of a certainty. He has
secured resonance so powerful as to
manifest itself in lightning flashes of con-
words. he has been able to get a response
through the electrical vibration witch he
has impressed on the earth from the cleo
two must, therefore,, have something in
common-must have a certain degree OF
of complete accord. They may not touch
more closely than would the units which
former We're distributed over al a line y formed
by the units which go to make up the lat
ter. But, as in this case. one in a hun
bred would touch and the whole be covered
at certain fixed intervals, SO Mr.. sTesla's
experiments have led him far enough to
show that he has hit upon some harmonic
correspondence between the known and the
unknown circuit. When he has succeeded
in bringing them into ANYTHING like per-
feet accord, he will be able by a gentfe
electric tap to send a note vibrating ever
the whole face of the earth. as If it lay
before him like the frightened skin of a
drum. n