The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-04-02
WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY.
NLRCoNI'S sYSTE IN OPERATION
ON THE ENGLISH COAST.
Messages Already Sent Eighteen Milos-A
Yacht Race Reported - Messages from
the English Royal Yacht Osborne to

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Yacht Race Reported - Messages from
the English Royal Yacht Osborne to
shore-Ltghtship Crow Using the system.
In a paper read recently before the ~lnstitu-
zion OF Electrical Engineers in England. g.
Maraoni. the young Italian scientist. described
his wireless system OF teleRraphv and gave an
account OF what he has accom- plished In the
way OF bridging distance and sending clear
messages across space, with no other connec-
lions for his instruments than air and earth.
His success has not only been remarkable
from a scientific point. but the obtaining OF I'M
interrupted communication between the ahore
and isolated lightships of the coast. the re-
royting OF Yacht races from q vessel following
tts races and the keeping up OF constant com
munication between the English royal yacht
and Osborne House. even though high hills
intervened. wore all demonstrations OF high
value commercially or socially. Stations were
established and maintained eighteen miles
apart. on the English coast. which were kept
in daily communication with one another for
months. with no interruption OF any kind from
the weather. and messages averaging 1000
words a day were sent between them. Con-
sessions have Just been obtained for establish
ing q station on the French coast. and Mr.. Mar
conf said that international teleRraphing by
his method would he begun ut once.
The stations chosen for this new phase of
eNperlme ntlnH are 10 ne AT fClkbtOne anu
Boulogne. thirty-two miles apart. Il prefer
these positions to Calais and Dover" said Mr.
Marconi. because the latter are only sepa-
rated by u distance OF about twenty miles.
which Is only slightly more than we are doing
every day at Poole and Alum Bay"
The Marconi system Is based upon The utili-
Eation OF the Hertzian magnetic wayes.which
travel through the luminiferous ether with the
velocity OF light. and. In fact. were declared
by their discoverer. Prof. Hertz Of Carlsruhe.
TO be identical with light. EXCEPT that the
waves are OF greater length. Whenever an
electric srark is made to Jump from one cleo
trode to another. these waves are produced,
and their raoidity may be varied by variation,
in tho spark producing apparatus. 80 that in
struments used for sending and receiving sig
mails through their medium can be attuned to
one another and made invuinerable 70 the at
tacks n other waves OF dissimilar periods.
Wherever these magnetic waves reach they
affect all magnetic material. and thus make II
possible to use them as a means OF carrying
messages.
Prof. Hertz also discovered that tho waves
which bear his name. although radiated like
light. in all directions. IL set into motion from
n free source. can he reflected and directed.
just as light Is. by means OF mirrors. II. there
fore. you imagine an electric circuit IN a
house. with n key in It. Just like nm ordinary
Morse telegraph circuit. you have the basis OF
Mr.. Marconi's system. This circuit runs
through a spark coil with an oscillator or In
terrupter. TO produce continuous sparkling
so-long AZ the circuit is kent closed by
the key. and from this the secondary CIR
sparkling wire runs out of doors and to the pole
from which the messages are to be sent. The
two ends OF the wire terminate in small metal
spheres. between Which the sparks pass.
When Mr.. MarconI began his experiments
this was the complete form OF his sending an
paratus. and readable signals could only be
sent a few yards. In his present form Of ap-
paratus one Of these wires Is extended ~
the earth. and the other has an extension car
ried vertically into the air. and the length OF
this latter wire bears a direct relationship TO
the distance over which signals can be sent.
Mr.. Marconi also found the basis OF his re-
ceivinR apparatus already Invented for him by
Trof. Calzecchi Onesti OF Fermo and improved
and modified by others. This receiver is
what ia known as a coherer. The idea upon
which It is made is that II you take an ~electri.
call conducting material like iron and break
IL NJ into email particles like hlinz rs the inter-
walls which SEPARATE these particles would pre-
vent the mass from allowing any current from
passing through. Now. II you were to bring
s'mngnet near tothe mass OF filings. each par
ticle would become magnetic. draw itself close
to Its neighbors. and the mass would become
30 solidined as to establish through 1t an cleo
trical channel.
For his receiving instrument Marconi uses
just such an instrument. 1t consists OF a
small glass tube four centimetres long. partly
Mad with Nlings - nickel and silver. At
either end OF this tube and reaching into
fhe mass Of filings Is a terminal wire
OF an ordinary Morse relay magnet cir
cult. One wire runs to the ground and the
other connects with the magnet. the battery
and the ground. The armature OF the relay
magnet opens and closes a strong local circuit,
which in t'rn operates a recording instru-
ment and alsoa little hammer which continual
" taps the coherer to shake the filings apart
when they are not being held by magnetic
attraction. The coherer Is set up on a pole
side by side with the sparkling spheres. with a
similar vertical conductor. Tho Hertzian
waves have the quality OF a magnet In causing
the filings in the tube TO adhere to one another.
and the manner Of the operation OF tho sys-
ten is simple.
The operator presses his key. Just as in or
binary telegraphing. making his alphabet in
dots and dashes. As the waves shoot out and
with the velocity OF light reach the receiving sta
tion miles away. the filings In rhe coherer there
draw together. and a current passes through
them which draws up the armature OF the re-
lay magnet. This closes the circuit OF the re-
cording instrument. and although the Taper Is
set to work to shake the filings apart. the mag
netic waves come to It with such rapidity. each
one reGstaDlishing the Conference. that the
slower acting recording instrument is not dis
turbed. and II continues to record the signal
so long az the far away operator keeps his
finger on the key. The tuning OF tho coherer
to waves OF different freluencies is done by
attaching to each end Of It a copper strip. and
the length Of these strips determines their sus-
ceptibility to different wave tones. Just as the
length Of ar organ pipe fixes It's note. Mr..
Marconi said It had been discovered that tho
distance over which he could transmit mes
sages depended upon the height OF the YER
sical wires put up at the receiving and send
Ing stations.
Il Hnd." he said. that with parity OF other
conditions q vertical wire twenty feet long is
sufficient for communicating one mile. forty
feet for four miles and eighty feet for sixteen
miles. and so on. An installation Is now work
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