The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-04-03

The use Of this remaining box and
other improvements and alternative
arrangements form the subjects Of
patents.
One Of these improvements consist:
IN n use of an induction coil of <pecia.
design, the vertical wire dischargins
through the primary to earth and the
coherer being aetuated by the second
airy, which discharges itself into a con
denser. This arrangement improves
the signals. and it is said, also, that
the use Of this coil prevents TO a great
extent any interference which might
be caused by electrical atmospheric in
h~uenceS" These atmospheric influences
are considerable If the vertical wire is
Ions. In experiments with kites at Blue
Hill a 500-foot wire gave great trouble
from this cause, and the conclusion
was reached that for successful work
ing the wire should be less than 200 feet
high.
Other Systems.
Other systems than Marconi's are in
use, but no other is so prominently be-
fore the public, and no other. so far as
IS known, has been operated to such
great distance. Ledge has used a diff
ferent form of oscillator and Il different
circuit, operating with the third har-
monte Of an alternating current. With
a frequency Of this order, either a CO.
herer or a telephone may be used as a
detector. Kiesee has found the tele-
phone TO act in place OF the coherer,
and others have used cOherers of vari-
ous design. Almost any metallic micro
phone will work. It is announced, also.
that q relay has been invented, but its
construction is not divulged.
Performances of the Marconi System.
Communication has now been steadily
maintained for two years over q dis
lance of eighteen miles, and Marconi
states that in his opinion there is no
Kind OF matter which can stop or seri-
ously interfere with the working Of
such an installation" MESSAGES were
first sent across the English channel
about a year ago, a distance of thirty
two miles. and it is stated that the
signals have been detected at ninety
miles. The system has now been adopt
ed by two lines of channel steamers.
The performance at our yacht race
last October was not up to this stand
ard, although it was successful for the
purpose. Tests were afterward made on
vessels Of navy. The trial board
reported that the system was well
adapted for use in squadron signaling.
and the signals were unimDaired bv
rain, wind, fog and the motion of the
ships. The distance attained was six
teen to twenty-five miles. Between
large ships, with masts of 40 feet. and
torpedo boats. with masts of forty-fve
feet, the signals can be read on the
ships at eighty-five miles and on the
torpedo boats at seven miles.
The system is adapted for use on all
I-nCCnFz IF the now SlzT--Ig-- -
boats and dispatch boats, patrols and
scouts, but is not practicable in a small
boat. 1t was recommended that the
system be given a trial in the navy.
It is to be tried, also, as a method Of
signaling between lightships and the
shore, which has been successfully
pTacticed in England for more than a
year.
Suggestions As to Future Develop
ment.
Professor Elihu Thompson has sug-
geSted that if two vertical wires were
placed at a distance apart equal to half
a wave length, without earth connec-
ton, they would enhance each Others
effect. This arrangement would give.
also, a partial control of direction, as
the disturbance would travel principal
Iy in a line perpendicular TO the plane
passing through the two wires. Such a
transmitter would be tuned to a def
mite frequency and the signals would
therefore be ~selective. The wave length
should not be too short.
F1Osenden is reported to have devel-
oped a receiver which is 1000 times as
sensitive as the coherer now in use.
By means Of this detector, according
to a newspaper interview, he hopes to
send messages across the Atlantic.