El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-06-25
War Signaling by Wireless Teleg.
raphy.
st Louis Globe Democrat.

st Louis Globe Democrat.
While all manner of electrical de-
vices are being discussed in their bear
ing on war purposes, a great many of
these ere impracticable and visionary.
Great stress has been laid, for instance,
on the immediate and valuable use
which can be made of the Hertz wave
in signalling or. as it is generally
called, wireless telegraphy. Charles q.
egraph is certainly not vet
ready for service as q military
auxiliary. The present methods
for communication by land forces com
prise the telegraph, the heliostat, flag
signals and messengers. Telegraphs
and telephones which require the lay
ing OF Q wire can not always be in
operation at the moment, and their
signals are liable to be Intercepted bv
the enemy. Flag and helioetat signals
are visible to every one in sight of the
sending station, and messengers NAV
be intercepted or delayed, besides be-
ing relatively very slow. On all &C
counts the electric wave signal system,
which will, of course, work in
the dark, when heliostats and flag
signals are useless, would be an ad-
mirsble resource If the claims which
have been made for it could be made
events, it has fatal Limitations and
weaknesses. A military signal sys-
tenn must be. above all, reliable, as on
the certainty of its action most vital
issues may depend. The wave siQns
apparatus is much too delicate for the
roug h-and-tumble treatment it would
receive in the field, and it
would quickly get out OF order the
ordinary conditions of army opera
Th0Pn h l.
an induction coil of large size, q suit
able battery for working it, or . small
dynamo and its motive power, q ssco-
herer," a captive balloon or kites, and
the usual telegraph relay and sound
er with their local battery. This outfit
would require for transportation sew
ersl wagons and corps of q dozen
or more men. Some sort of gasmak-
i haze m se be would ss1siea also iso
the balloon, for Q balloon is the on
~ means of surely and certain estab-
fishing the upper terminal of the in
ducing and receiving lines. The in
struments would have to be protected
BY waterproof coverings, and the
fluids for the batteries would have to
be kept in proper receptacles. If q
dynamo and engine we're carried, the
whole outfit would have to be protect
vehicle would be necessary. After
all this paraphernalia had been
and it was desired to
establish communication with q distant
point, q thunder storm might bring
every thing to q standstill, or even at
discharges might make the
accurate working of the system impos-
sible. If the weather were fine, and
all the conditions were favorable, the
range of the apparatus would be about
twenty miles. Mr.. Child points out
that this distance could be covered,
along decent roads, in two hours by q
messenger on q horse or bicycle. A
field telegraph line could be strung in
three hours. A heliostat could be got
to work in ten minutes and could be
carried away by two men in ten min.
utes more If need be. Then again, the
balloon for the wave apparatus would
have to be duly inflated and debated
when raised or lowered. and while in
the air it could be seen by the enemy
at a considerable distance. 1t is more
than probable that the army will. for
some time to come, at all events, be
content to make the best OF the sys-
TENS they have and let wireless tele-
graphy alone.