Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-11-01
Wireless Telegraph.

Columbia correspondence NEWS au''
Courier: Major Benjamin Sloan, pro-
fessor of applied mathematics and
physics at the South Carolina college,
recently bought set of the Marconi
wireless telegraph instruments. The
instruments consist of transmitter,
or sending instrument, and a receiver,
and are very simple in their construc'
ton. The cost of the instruments is
$40; but persons acquainted with the
construction and cost of manufacturing
telegraph instruments, say the real cost
of the manufacturing of the Marconi
instruments cannot exceed IS. The
transmitter looks like the ordinary tel
egraph relay, except that the induction
coil is about eight times greater in size.
The key and transmitting col, or relay,
are built on one base. The receiving
set of instruments is made up as Il
combination set and all placed on one
base. These, too, are simple in con.
struction, the receivi 6; relay being an
ordinary telegraph relay of small
.ize. On The receiving set is vibra-
tory bell, which rings whenever the
receiving relay is in action. Major
Sloan understands thoroughly the
working aud principle of the system.
The instruments were set up by him
self. The battery used is the ordinary
dry cell battery, only about ten cells
being used. After having worked the
instruments successfully for few days
Major Sloan invited party of Colum.
bia telegraphers, consisting of Mana
ger J. r. Gray, Thief Operator Chas
Boyd and Operator Hale, of the West
ern Union Telegraph Office, to visit his
his laboratory at the South Carolina
college and see what they could do
with the system. Major Sloan had
placed the transmitting instrument in
one end of his large laboratory and
had running out and up from the rods
on the large induction coil an ordinary
copper wire, about seven feet long. In
the lecture room adjoining the labora-
tory, and about IS feet from the trans.
hitting instruments, was placed the
receiving instruments, with another
copper wire running about seven feet,
the same as that from the transmitting
set. These two wires are positively
all that is necessary to work the wire
less telegraph. There is no connection
of any kind between these two verti-
cal wires. The electric wave goes up
and out on the transmitting set wire
and the signals are caught by the wire
on the receiving set. Messrs. Sloan,
Gray and Hale went in the laboratory,
where Mr.. Gray successfully transmit
ted Morse characters to Mr.. Boyd IN
the lecture room. Then Mr.. Boyd went
to the laboratory and transmit ID words
to Mr.. Gray in the lecture room. MIR.
Hale also sent and received the Morse
characters in the same manner. The
words or letters, which contain dashes
and spaces, could not be successfully
received, as the bell on the receiver
destroys those characters; but words
made up of dots only, such as is, sis,
sip, pie, ship and other words like Mis-
sissippi, etc, were successfully trans
mitted and received by sound in the
Morse characters. The Marconi sys.
TEN employs register, such as was
used in the early days of telegraphy,
by which the characters are received
and an impression made on paper tape,
and it was only as an experiment that
this party of gentlemen worked it by
sound. Buildings, walls, mountains
nor anything else can stop the electric
wave after it leaves the transmitting
instrument. In the above instance
there was solid wall between the two
rooms. Professor Sloan has ordered a
register, and after installing this part
of the receiver he will have his sys-
tenn complete and can then receive the
signals the same as Professor Marconi
does. All who have been so fortunate
as to see the system in operation are
thoroughly convinced as 10 the truth
fulness of Marconi's claims; but as to
the praclicability of its use time can
only tell.