The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-11-19
No WIRES WERE NEEDED
KELSEY MAKES AN IMPORTANT
DISCOVERY IN METHODS OF
TELEPHONY
USED ORDINARY INSTRUMENTS
He is the First in the United States
to Accomplish This Feat-Re-
suits May BE Far
Reaching.

TeIephcning without wires by means Of
the ordinary telephone instruments was
done III this city yesterday. The shores
of POwderhorn lake were selected for
the experiment, and stationed on either
side of the lake, a distance of 600 feet
apart two men had no difficulty in car
rylng on conversation. The distance
selected might have been much greater.
but the six employees of the Northwest
ern Telephone Exchange company, who
had decided to see if it were possible to
conduct a wireless telephone conyersa-
ton, made the first trial on q small and
crude scale. While the result in a.
measure justified their expectations, they
We're little fearful that if too many
people knew what they were about they
might be made the butt of ridiCule in the
event of failure.
The promoter of the experiment is
James Kelsey, the electrical manager Of
the Northwestern Telephone Exchange
company and he was assisted by Frank
Flanagan, William Reed, Edward Reed.
E. r. Jones and Edward Cracraft all
employees of the company The an
paratus used was property Of the COM
pany.
For some time Mr.. Kelsey has felt
certain that wireless telephony was pos
sible with the ordinary Instruments. He
is aware Of the fact that William Preece.
the English electrical engineer has been
successful in establishing wireless tele-
phony between London and lighthouse
in the English channel, but a special ap-
paratus IS used there. The method of
using the ordinary instrument Mr.. Kel-
sey feels satisfied, Is new, and with
further development he recognizes that
it has great possibilities.
Saturday Mr.. Kelsey enlisted the serv-
ices of five of his fellow employees, and
4 70 !, Ia,
Ter
Mr.. Kelsey arranged the apparatus on
the east side OF the lake, and William
Reed went to the other side The prelim-
mary work consisted of arranging what
is known as the parallel wires" For a
distance of 100 feet from where the bat
terry is placed an ordinary wire Is strung
along the shore on each side Of the
lake.
HOW IS IT DONE.
Wireless telephony, according to Mr..
Kelsey, is only possible by means Of two
currents one which is conduced, and the
other induced. By the grounding of the
ends of the parallel wires, the conducive
current is taken by means Of which it Is
possible to hear the rumbling of dis
tant train by placing the ear to the
ground. But in the case of telephony,
and where it is desired to receive articu-
late sounds from a distant point, an in
duced current must be created to rein
force the conduced current. The con-
duced current may be better understood
as a leakage current. This not only
goes through its own circuit, but through
the water to the opposite side of the
lake. Alone 1t will not produce a fair
talking" current, and the paralleling
is therefore resorted to, and a fair cur
rent created. Not more than 10 per
cent of the current sent over the wire
is used in conversation. The electric
current rushes back and forth over the
wire, but enough escapes to reinforce
the conduced. The current leaves the
wire in much the same fashion asSsmall
waves that result from pebble being
thrown into the water, but at a rate of
$4,000 miles second. Mr.. Kelsey speaks
Of these waves as '1oops" Mr.. Kelsey
made the matter clear to one not
initiated into the mysteries of electricity