The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-07-23

.
become charged with atmospheric cleo
] tricity and the operator mlgnt
raceive A shock in making the
/ change from The transmitting to the
! receiver .circut, the air and earth wires
! being directly connected TO the receiver.
! This difficulty was obviated by insert
ing a small induction coil in the receiving
! circuit the primary of which Is connect
ed to the coherer and the secondary 20
the earth and air wires The ether waves
act on the coherer by induction and the
atmospheric electricity cannot coll ct
since it has free passage to the earih.
Another recent Improvement is modi-
fication of the Morse key by which the
"change-over from the transmitter 20
the receiver may be made automatically.
This prevents the operator from acciden-
tally operating the ransmitter when the
vertical wire is being used in receiving
Persistence, Patience and Pluck.
Marconi sometimes works days with,
out apparent result, but he is never dis
couraged
u am about as well satisfied said he
one day, when l fail in an experiment
as when I succeed, because if l try
thing faithfully once and II does not work,
l can dismiss that possibility. After
have tried a great many things that fan
! get the thing that succeeds, and don't
trials"
1t was interesting 10 watch him in the
tuning" experiments. There was as
much satisfaction in his face when one
OF his assistants signalled that no effect
was produced as when strong effect was
noted, he Simply varied capacities and
resistances until the right relation was
produced. Then he began another series
OF experiments. one day he was asked:
a
Isn't it earth leakage?" For answer he
disconnected the vertical wire and pressed
the key There was no effect on the re-
cever down the beach.
I'VE don't know all about this yet" he
said. hut we know the effect Of the few
things we have tried. | believe it is ra-
diation-ether waves The scientists have
theories about it," he went on, but very
little is known. II seems curious that
these waves should follow the earths
curvature, as we know they do. One man
believes they collect at point on the
other side of the earth-the antiro1al
point of the transmitter-and that may be
true"
In the evening Marconi reviews the
work he has done during the day, and
plans the experiments for the next. A
days work is valuable thing to him.
because ne has the feeling that tomorrow
may bring some great development. No
kind of weather hinders him. He viii only
stop work in the rain when it is severe
enough to short circuit" his batteries or
make a shock from the key possible, On
stormy days, when work outside is i'm
possible, indoor experiments are carried
on from one room 10 another. The spirit
of work is dominant. and it is always in
telIgent work. a. + routs us out at night
sometimes" said one of his assistants.
'sAt Salisbury we started work one morn
ing at one O'Clock because the nights were
good and the days bad" Persistence pa
tence and pluck are embodied in Mar
conf.
Dragged Miles by a Balloon.
The spirit with which he works is il
Illustrated by of his experiences at
Salisbury For days he worked trying e
periments with vertical wires held up by
balloons and kites. High winds playel
havoc with the kites, but there was no
giving up until good weather came so that
fair trial could be had. On one occas-
sion balloon broke loose, but Marconi
seized the trailing rope and thought to
make an anchor of himself by winding
the rope about his waist. The balloon,
however, was not 10 be restrained, and.
after dragging Marconi four miles across
country. it left him against a fence
which happened to be In the way l
haven't any proof, but ! venture to say
| that the young man made his way back
and went on with his work without the
interference of a surgeon. 1t would be
like HIM
AT present MGrconi Is busy with plans
for the extension of his work along the
line of greater distances than before at
tempted and with contracts for the use
of the system at sea- as well as on land.
where wire systems are not in use One
pleting the establishment of the installa-
lions for The North German Lloyd steam
ships and making stations at lighthouse
and lightship there. Another assistant is
locating stations on six of the Hawaiian
Islands and instruments for the complete
outfit are now on the way there.
The use of the system in South Africa
| has been chiefly confined to signalling be-
| tween the English ships along the coast
| and stations on land, though Lord Rob
! erts has made good use of it on land in
some instances. During the recent fear
of Boer plot to blow up the English ships
! the wireless system showed its advantage
! The International Company. recently or
| ganized In France, viii place the Marconi
| system in use along the French coast and
on the French naval fleet In addition to
all these operations. the installation of the
| system on forty English warships should
keep Marconi busy for some time
Certainly the wireless telegraph has
ceased TO be scientific toy; II bids fair to
be one of the most important elements of
| the future worlds work. But Marconi
| lakes IL all modestly.
Il don't think | have done very much
yet" he remarks but l am young and
perhaps I may yet do something worth
while" HERBERT Wallace.
TO TALK TO COTTON GROWERS.