The Hawaiian gazette., 1899-10-24
MARCONI SYSTEM.
To Be Tested by the War
Department.
After which the Uniied states Navy VIII
coasuet Q Series ct Scientific
Experlments.

NEW YORK. Oct. 7.--"Uncle Sam Is
making elaborate preparations to thor
oughly test the Marconi sys-
tenn" said prominent Gov
eminent Official today. Wireless te-
lcgraphy will mean more to the Gov
eminent than any other great inven-
ton OF modern times. Marconi will
show us some brand new inventions,
such as l have never yet seen de-
scribed, and which are improvements
on those used in his foreign exper-
ments. The War Department will give
him the first test The Navy and
Treasury Departments are arranging
to do so afterward. A proving ground
Is being selected for the purpose, and
balloons are being fitted out for some
new and fascinating experiments at
air vehicles will be small, capable of
lifting only forty or fifty pounds, but
will be ample to support the, necessary
wires and fixtures. 1t will not be nee
essary to send any men or Instruments
aloft. This by itself will be a great ad-
vantage over the present methods. The
most dangerous post in the signal SER
vice, IL not in the entire military Or
ganization, will thus be eliminated.
These balloons will be sent up to
various attitudes. They will be en-
ployed Instead OF high poles. which
Marconi has hitherto used. Some of
them will be covered with tin foil;
others will use plates. such as are now
attached to the tops Of poles. A few of
the famous Weather Bureau kites will
also be used. very probably. II SO, they
will be maze conductive by coverings
of foil. Since the height to which
these aerial crafts can be sent is very
great. the distance over which wire
less communication is now possible
will be enormously multiplied, provid-
ing sufficient potentials can be gener-
ated.
with the pole experiments the limit
thus far appears to be beyond eighty
miles, twice the distance of the first
telegraph line using wires. While Mar
conf was working in Europe 1t was
supposed that provision had to be made
to overcome the curvature of the earth,
but this no longer seems necessary
from facts have lately learned. l un-
derstand that an S0-mile message was
sent from a station only seventy feet
high, although the curvature of the
earth here was thousand feet. The
oretically, the balloons will make the
space possibilities almost limitless. Ac-
cOrding to the old formula providing
for the earth's curvature, two bal
looms, each a thousand feet high,
should send messages $500 miles.
I'VE also hope to prove the utility
of set of new devices not heretofore
used In any of Marconi's experiments.
Receivers and transmitters will each
be provided with refectors made of
metal and curved to the shape of hol-
low cylinder turned on edge. These
will be mounted in connection with
mariners compasses. showing exactly
the directions in which the reflected
rays are going or from which they are
coming. The enormous value of such
a combination can be seen at glance.
BY noting his angles the transmitter
can accurately aim at the receiver,
while the latter, by turning his reflect
or until the mixer begins to write, can
also note the angle at his end and tell
exactly where the person sending the
message is situated. A combination of
thCSC Will, Vi COuioc, up
pear when both a transmitter and a
receiver are installed at each end Of
the line. Each operator will then be
able to trace the movements of the
other, and troops can be Immediately
dispatched toward either when called
for. Furthermore, central station at
headquarters can constantly keep track
of the movements Of detachments in
the OutpOsts Of skirmish lines.
Doubtless the naval tests will prove
this apparatus of Marconi's to be of as
great. II not greater, value to that arm
of the service than to the army. You
doubtless wonder how any electric
system can be relied upon on board q
warship, where metallic armor and
equipments exert such distracting in
fluence upon the steering compass.
Large conductors near the instruments,
strange to say, make not the slightest
difference. In Italy Marconi placed a
transmitter In the fortress of San Bar
tolOmeo and a receiver on board the
ironclad San MARITIME, twelve miles at
sea. The receiver was placed under
the guns and In the engine rooms, sur
rounded by tons OF steel, yet the mes
sages were recorded with perfect ac-
curacy.
Il see that In one OF Marconi's recent
patents he claims that his apparatus
will transmit signals through earth. air
or water. and suspect that this Is no
exaggeration. We will test his claims,
at least. We want TO learn to what ex-
tent his wave vibrations will travel
through or over Intervening hills,
mountains and forests. which make d.
rect heliograph and semaphore signal
Ing impossible except over q minute
distance. The Isle OF Wight expert
ments show that messages can be re-