The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-06-06
TESLA GRIPS THE O R
HIS WIRELESS TELEGRAPH PER-
FECTED AT LAST.

uhuntCNthou W. M uEhAu HAHNh - ~
Earth without wires the Possible Outcome.
At last Nikola Tesla has reached a point In his
investigation OF the possibility Of telegraphing
without wires to make q positive announcement
of his achievements. 1t has been one Of his
dreams for years. Ho has worked at the prob
lem long aud anxiously. Rut his talk has always
been guarded and indefinite. He spoke of the
possibility that the thing might DO done, and
once, u few months ago. he went so far as to call
It q probability. He was more positive and san
guino then than ever before. but still he
was not ready to talk Of achievements.
But at last the work has reached o stage
where the modest attitude OF uncertainty
and hope gives way to positiveness and
assurance, and the definite announcement
OF success is made. Mr.. Tesla declares that he
has produced electrical devices with which he
can actually send and receive messages by a
system which can be so applied as to make it
possible for an operator in New York to COM
municste with ease and certainty with the peo-
Pile OF any part Of the earth. and perhaps. even
with those Of the stars, II any of these are in
habited.
THE machines which l have completed Mr..
Tesla said yesterday, will carry messages
through the earth for a distance OF twenty miles
or so. l have sent and received signals with
them, and I feel confident that 1 am not mis-
taken in saying that the problem upon which I
have spent many days and nights is solved. or
course 1t is possible that l an mistaken. have
made mistakes before, but not many. shall at
once make machines which l expect will enable
me to telegraph to any part OF the earth as
readily as l can within q limited distance by
means Of the ones l have.
"If l have a II machine which will throw Q stone
from here to there" continued Mr.. Tesla. point
ing from the floor at his feet to tho door of his
laboratory. then | do not need to doubt that l
can make one which will throw the stone fity
miles II l can control the necessary power"
Mr.. Tesla was not ready TO explain in detail
the devices which he uses for telegraphing
without wires, but he talked freely about the
principles which were involved and made it
clear that the results were obtained BY the use
OF some form of his electrical osciilator. recently
patented. As long ago, he said, as when
he was putting up telephone wires in
Budapest he observed that electrical i'm
pulses were carried long distances without the
intervention Of wires. There was a telegraph
cable one and q half or two miles away over
which messages were being sent by the Morse
code, and at times ho could read these messages
through the telephone. This set him to investi-
eating the electrical condition Of the air. He
became satisfied that the messages were con-
veyed to the telephone wires by induction.
In 1890 he announced his belief that by means
Of electrical impulses Of an extremely high rate,
never yet attained at that time. bright light
might BIO obtained from Crookes tubes, and in
1891 he made this announcement in London.
Il believed at that time that teleSraphing
might DO conducted through the earth without
wires, he said yesterday, but / was afraid to
say so for fear l should be laughed at and dis
credited BY the older Gn.l ADLER mon who were
the leaders in electrical science"
It was not until 1888, when he appeared before
the National Electrical Lighting Association at
st. Louis, that he first declared his belief in the
possibility OF teleRraphing over the whole earth
without wires. Then he explained the general
method which he believed would make this pos
sihie, II he could got q machine which should be
able to disturb the static electricity Of the earth.
In that year he had an electrical exhibit at tho
Worlds Fair in Chicago and among his visitors
was Prot. Helmholz.
" Ispoke of my project to Prof. Helmholz, -
Mr.. Tesla said yesterday, and told him how I
thought It might be accomplished. Yes, 1t is
possible. he said. but 1t would take much
power was very much pleased with this ad-
mission By this great master, and grattaed that
he did not condemn the idea, as many OF my CO.
workers had done. / did not tell him then that
I had already solved that part OF the problem
The solution to which Mr.. Tesla referred was
brought about through the work which he had
done in developing his electrical oscillator
which he was working upon particularly in con
nection with the production OF light from thu
Crookes tubes. The energy OF the electric current
like that OF flowing water, 10 displayed only
when the current is interrupted. A familiar ex
ample Of this may be seen in the common medi
cal battery where the current flowing from one
pole TO the other may DO passed through thE
most sensitive parts OF the body, and yet not b
felt. Pas the same current through o Ruhm
korff coil, interrupang the secondary current b,
tho vibrations Of tho commutator. and 1t will
twist up the muscles of the strongest man and
make him powerless.
Before Tesla's time Interruptions OF this sorr
had been produced only by mechanical meanl
and could Number only a few hundred a second
His electrical o~scillator acts upon the principl,
OF a bell, where u single stroke OF the hammeI
sets the metal vibrating Wit a rapidity com
mensurate with its bulk and these vibrations cal
DO continued indefinitely by repeated stroke
Of the hammer at slow intervals. Mr.. Tesll
now makes oscillators which will interrupt tn,
current millions OF times in q second. In ex
planning the theory upon which his new device.
for teiegraphing over the whole earth works
Mr.. Tesla used a simple smile.
Suppose the whole earth" he said, ito b,
J like a hollow rubber ball filled with water. AM
at one place / have . tube attached to this. witt
a plunger In the tube. Ii / press upon tn,
! plunger the water In the tube will DO driver
into the rubber ball, and as the water is prac
, ticslly ncompressihle, every part OF the SUI
face OF the ball will DO expanded. II
withdraw the plunger. the water follows 1t an
every part OF the ball will contract. Now. II
pierce the surface OF the ball severa
. times and set tubes and plHngers a
a each place the ~plungers in these will v
2 brate up and down in answer to ever
: movement which ! may produce in the plunge
a of the first tube. III were to produce an Q,
plosion in the centre OF the body Of water in tn
ball, this would set up a series OF vibrations /
the whole body. II l could then set the plunge
In one OF the tubes TO vibrating in consonanc
: with the vibrations OF the water, in a littl
while and with the use OF a very little energy
could burst the whole thing asunder."
. This. Mr.. Tesla said, would explain In a rud
. way how he proposed to set the whole OF th
> static electricity OF tho earth in motion. for telt
. graphic purposes, by taking advantage OF tn
u copnpraaaiLflt and aIaaIipitv NJ tho ala,,r