The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-04-07

AYOuNG MAN SENDS ELECTRIC MES
sAeES THROUGH PLAIN AIR.

nous practical electrician was told thai
Tesla and other American scientists haC
almost opened the door which jhas so long
balled those who have sought the way G,
the transmission OF electrical cOmmunica
ton without the aid OF wires, he is report
ed 20 have said that there must lee haste ii
America Il 10 have that honor. He had IN
mind the labors OF young Anglo-It0lian
Manconi BY name, who, as II seemed "a
Preecc was on the threshold Of the great
discovery.
Proece himself had done a marvellous
thing for the British postoflice service, for
which he is the chief electrician His
achievement was a sudden one, due 20 an
emergency. The cable between the shore
of Scotland and the island of Null had
broken down, and there was need of in
slant communication
The electrician, without waiting for re
pairs, made use of such instruments as he
had and succeeded in sending through the
ether an ineligible communication with
the electric current 10 the Geographic Office
in Null, nearly five miles away.
That experience satisfied Preece that the
idea was 20 be a dream only little lon
ger, and although the instruments which
he used were only practicable for some
great and sudden emergency, yet, as these
agents could send message bearing cur
rent over the sea for a distance of five
miles, he was convinced that some one
would find the way 70 cheap and conven-
lent utilization of the grand circuit that
nature has already established
Reports brought by scientists who ar
rived recently from Great Britain seem to
confirm the prediction which Preece made
not long ago, and the reports have the au-
thority of Preoco's great name lie says
che thing has been done, He has seen it
done
He witnessed the sending Of a message
from a postotliCe station in London re-
Gently TO the main Office 1t was received
and as intellgibly recorded as though IL
had been sent by Morse instrument
through telegraph wire,
Yet there was no wire The transmit
ting instrument simply sent the message
free handed nd untrammellCd through
natures circuits, and IL was captured and
read in the main postotlice nearly two
miles away.
So, too, by the same instrument a mes
sage has been sent through space, even
through mountain, TO a receiving instru-
ment five miles away, and, when Preece
saw that done, he declared that the great
been performed and that before long the
world would recognize and acknowledge
the genius of the young man who had
made these things possible.
Detailed reports of these achievements
with some brief statement from Manconi
will probably reach this country in a short
time, and scientific and perhaps CONNER
cial interests may be as greatly excited
here as it is reported is the case in Lon
don.
Manconi, who according to these re-
ports has anticipated Tesla's performance
by proving the truth of Tesla : predictions.
is himself of about the age Of the tele-
phone. When Bell was showing his strange
instrument at the Philadelphia Centennial
exhibition in SIS, Manconi was just born
He is of English birth, but Italian pa
rentaec, and he like that other Italian
who gave his name 70 one OF the qualities
of electricity, Volta was absorbed ia scien
titic study even in his school days
ManCOni got his first hints Of the natural
circuit for electric communication from
and American, Joseph Henry, who dis.
covered indl ed electricity, but had not
sufficient opportunity 20 investigate its
cause or the science Of its operation That
Preece reports ManConi TO have done, and
in doing 10 received the first suggestion of
the capacity that lies in this inductiye
quality for the transmission of electricity
bearing an Intelligent message
He had the secret. as he believed, and It
remained for aim 70 invent the apparatus
which would make that secret serviceable
Tor men q use This. it is now claimed.
be has done
Az al events there is Preece' authority
for asserting hat Manconi ; apparatus has
delivered an Ineligible message by ma
lures circuit at the general postofice in
London, sent from a transmitting instru.
ment nearly two miles away, and has also
discharged message through a mountain
whose opposite sides are nearly five miles
apart
There seems, however 20 be some limi.
tatiOns. The latest word from London is
that Manconi's apparatus cannot be relied
upon 70 transmit message for greater
distance than 20 miles although he asserts
that large apparatus may be made capable
Of service for a much greater distance than
that
Moreover, there is at present no expla-
nation of the apparatus itself although 10
is said that this is withheld until the pro-
lection Of the patent Office may be secured,
a. ~ - IA iJiNNNh VIII rll'NN4lg bf Nlit NhSts
There is, then, no sufficient opportunity
10 test the commercial value Of the inven.
ton and discovery. The impression, how.
ever, is that If an apparatus not much
larger than a good sized hand bag may de
liver message intelliPibly for even 50
short a distance as 20 miles IL has Of itself
commercial possibilities and will IN al.
probability be developed until rs capacity
il fer far greater distances .,;ar -hat
a the electrical exposition held u New
York last fall the most striking impress
sion oi al the electricians seemed o. le
that we are on the eve Of the solution g
this problem Of the use of nature circuits
TOR the transmission Of intelligence
But the conviction was that Tesla was
likely TO be h0nored by this discovery lie
had already intimated that be believed that
there was no scientific or mechanical law
which would make such use OF natures
circuit impossible and there was fasci
mating and strangely romantic suggestion
in his idea that the time might come when
the ether, whether in the atmosphere or IN
the densest bodies might he made the
slave of 8uuaratue and bcor irnuinCra tile