Omaha daily bee., 1897-08-02
MESSAGES WITHOUT WIRES
Wonderful Discovery that is Likely to
Revolution re Telegraphy.
RESULT OF A YOUNG LADS RESEARCHES
Collisions Mt Sea May he Prevented
and whole scheme If Modern
Warfare Chnngcd-Dctails
of the Discovery.

LONDON, Aug. 1.-(New York World
Cablegram-Specal Telegram)-A 2S-year-
old lad named Marcoui has revolutionized
telegraphy, has discovered a method of pre-
venting collisions at sea and has made com
munication so certain and so superior to
distractions devised by an enemy that the
whole scheme of modern warfare may be
changed thereby.
Although much has been printed about
him, absolutely the first authentic or author
lied statement given for publication to any
one, not excepting representatives of the pre-s
of his native country, has been given to your
correspondent today.
Marconis wireless telegraphy" has been
the scientific sensation of the summer Some
experts have professed to laugh at it, but
serious men, who have carefully investigated
1t, have taken 1t very seriously. The gov
ernmentS of three nations have spent thou
sands upon thousands of dollars experiment.
ing with it and each new experiment has
developed new successes
Marconi, who reached London last night to
prepare for the great experiment with this
latest wonder, said to me today: The great
est distance to which we have been able to
transmit messages by telegraph without
wires is twelve miles, but that by no means
nifies that existing appliances are not per-
feet. AT Spezia, l sent messages without
wires from the San Bartolomeo arsenal to the
war ship San Martino, twelve miles out in
the harbor without difficulty aud with abso-
Lutte accuracy. 1t was done before the royal
commission. Official experiments will be re-
newed when / return to Italy in September
! have successfully experimental also at the
ltal1an ministry of marine and at the
Qulrinal before the king and queen.
ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY.
Il made the discovery almost by accident
| had been studying electrical phenomena
three years, when two years ago | found
that by putting Herze's radiator to the earth,
connecting 1t with wire extended verti-
cally in the air and repeating the process S
with modified Brandy receiver, a current
could be transmitted about 100 yards without
connecting the wires Then / found that
without increasing the battery power. but
by simply increasing the height of the verti-
cal wire, the influence of the instrument
extended over a distance increasing in geo.
metrical ratio to the increased height of the
wire.
The wire, must extend into the air. A
coiled wire helps only as the coil is high,
not according to the length of the wire in
the coil. A wire inclined instead of vertical
has power equal only to that developed by
a vertical wire as much shorter as the dis
tance taken up by the inclination wire
ship ought to enable the captain to telegraph
a considerable distance. figuring that 100
feet in height Of the wire means twelve
miles In distance of communication. BY the
same processes magazines could be exploded
in time of war from a great distance and
signals could be sent so that the enemy could
not possibly interrupt communication. II
has been said that this would work both
ways, that a current radiates in all direc-
tions from the sending instrument and
therefore that a message would go to the
enemy's camp as we'll as to a friends. But
this can be easily prevented as l have
proved by means of electrical reflections
which would arrest the progress of message
in all directions but one.
II am not certain that / shall ever be
able to send messages across the Atlantic
but l can see no reason why l should not
do if | can increase the height of a
vertical wire enough. / am just as much
in doubt as you are as to the reason for
this strange influence of a vertical wire over
the strength of a current in this new de-
velopment of the most mysterious of all
agents electricity. 1t will not cost more
than half as much to install a telegraph
system on my plan as ii would on the old
system The instruments are slightly more
expensive, but | imagine a decrease in cost
would be brought about by the absence OF
miles of wires and poles.
That the invention is a practical fact is
shown by the formation o. a company
here Saturday controlling all the rights eX-
cept these of Italy, which company paid
Marconi SEQ, 900 spot cash and gave MIN
S4Oo 600 worth of shares.