The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-06-16

make the device a perfect one.
1t IS now believed, however, that this
great problem in warfare is about to be
solved and that the solution is to come
through the agency of that much her
aided and extremely mysterious science,
wireless telegraphy. The man who
claims to have this century old puzzle
and who is only waiting the opportunity
to put his theory into practice is William
A Eddy, the American inventor whose
experience in kite flying has proved of
such incalculable advantage to the scien-
titic world
According to Mr.. Eddy's theory it will
be the easiest thing IN the world to APP
ply wireless telegraphy in the work of
dropping explosives into beleaguered
towns from passengerless war balloons.
In the wireless telegraphy the signals
involve only the clicking of an ordinary
Morse sounder and he insists that such
click would spring a delicately adj
listed catch, which in turn would operate
TO release stronger spring that would
drop the heavily explosive bomb from
the balloon. This dismissal could be ar
ranged to occur at any distance within
from thirty-siX to forty-five miles at sea
but at much shorter distance above the
land
While it is true that the exact distance
made in transmitting Marcograms over
the earth is as yet undetermined, signals
were sent from Blue Hill Observatory
to Boston a short time ago by means of
kites at Blue Hill, the receiving station
being at Harvard College, Cambridge,
and the distance about ten miles On
the occasion of these experiments it was
found that many of the signals were
made unintelligible by trolley sparks,
which were positively traced as the dis
turblng cause, near Cambridge. and it is
possible that other disturbances might
have been made by other sparks many
miles away.
Mr.. Eddy has made a most careful
investigation Of his theory before publish
ing 1t to the world and he firmly believes
that not only would the bombs be dis
charged by the Marconi key on land,
but they would probably be discharged
TO a great distance on the ocean While
1t IS true that passengerless balloon
would drop its bombs blindly, yet it must
be remembered that fifty or sixty fire bal
looms of paper, even when of large diam
eter, cost but little money, and that
many of them could be inflated and sent
alott at one time by a besieging force.
Mr.. Eddy has not the slightest doubt
but that the pressure of the Marconi
key would drop the bombs all at the
same TINE In using them they would
be confined on the windward side of a
| besleged force and the starting point for
| the balloon would be such as to cause
them to sail directly over the point to be
attacked The fire balloons would rise
to great height Immediately upon being
relieved of the weight of the detached
bombs, and this ascent would be an in
fallible signal to indicate the exact point
Of the attack.
In mis- experiments at Bayonne, n. J.,
Mr.. Eddy has sent up a large number
of fire balloons, both released and cap
tured, and he has found that it would
not be a difficult task to estimate the
! direction of the wind with sufficient ac-
curacy to make the desired attack at
almost every given point. In fact he has
found that winds Of varying direction
are exceptional, and that winds that re-
verse or blow in the opposite direction
within few moments occur so rarely as
scarcely to be worthy of consideration.