The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-02-12
TELEGRAPHY WITHOUT WIRES.

From the Philadelphia Ledger.
There has been more or less talk for
many years about telegraphing without
wires, and Tesla has given mysterious
hints that he was about to perfect the
necessary apparatus, but nothing of i'm
portance has heretofore come from the
many attempts to solve the problems in
volved. Now, however, there is high au
thority for the announcement that teleg-
raphy without wires has been accom-
plished. W. II. Preece, the telegraph eX-
pert of the British postofiice, has given
unqualified endorsement to the invention
of Mr.. Marconi, a young Italian electrl-
elan, and has exhibited it in operation but
without explaining its details, as patents
have not yet been obtained. Nearly all
of the experiments heretofore conducted
have depended upon electromagnetic In
duction. Tesla, it was understood, was
dealing with electric waves of a very high
rate of vibration, and 1t is waves OF this
I kind that Mr.. Marconi utiliZes. Mr..
Preece intimates that the rate of vibra-
ton of these waves Is 25O,OOO,OOO second.
These electric impulses, he states, are
projected through space in straight lines,
but can be reflected and refracted like
light. Vibrations are set up in the trans
mitter and are taken up and repeated by
a receiver adjusted to respond thereto. NO
wires are used such as have to be en-
ployed in inductive apparatus. Mr. Mar
cOni'S invention was first tried on the
roof of the British postofiice, then over
distance of three-quarters of mile on
Salisbury plain and finally before an audi
ence in public hall.
Mr.. Preece states that no new electrical
principle Is involved in the apparatus, the
electrical waves employed being those
| which Hertz, the German physicist, taught
us to generate, but Mr.. Maconi mad m
vented ingenious devices for controlling
and regulating them. The British post
| office department represented by Mr..
| Preece) Is so we'll convinced of the practi-
cal value of the invention that 1t Will
snare no expense in carrying on the en-
periments.
| The value of such apparatus, even
| though it should not be able to do more
| than ring bell under influences eXerted
| at the distance of a mile or two, is meal
| culable If it could be used for telegraphic
| purposes 1t would, of course, lessen the
! cost of installation; but for mere signal
| ling purposes between vessels at sea, or be-
| twen lighthouses and vessels, 1t would be
! of the utmost value to naVigators. a Ves-
| sci approaching a dangerous shore ana
| having on board an electric bell respond
| ing to the vibrations of transmitter in a
government lighthouse would receive the
| signal notifying the navigator OF his ap-
proach to dangerous reefs, in a manner
! superior to any system of lights or fog
! horns Neither night nor day would make
and difference; nor would storm or fog IN
| terfere with the signals, unless, indeed,
! the electric waves should be detected, as
| Mr. Tyndall found sound waves to be de-
| Elected by strata of air of different densl-
ties The promise, however, Is that the
| apparatus will work under all KINDS OF
weather conditions, and permit commum-