Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-09-15
A SUMNER WITH A
GREA! INVENTOR

: Marconi is spending much of his TING
this summer on the bit of beach lying
to the north of Poole Harbor-on the
English Channel-which he calls his
"laboratory.' 1t is the ~strangest lab
oratory ever established by any scien-
fist, and even those who are familiar
with the ordinary form of wireless tele-
graphic apparatus would scarcely be
able to recognize the kind of work he
does in it. For Marconi has changed the
form of his experimental wora-cylin-
drlcal tin sans make for him more con-
venient capacities and radiators than
vertical Wires-and tables covered with
tin acns, wires. and miscellaneous in
are scattered about on the
beach whenever he is at work.
Some who nave seen the apparatus
with which he is experimenting at pres
en- have taken it for a set of tide meas
urins instruments; others have supposed
his devices to be arranged for taking the
temperature of the sea water; it has
even been suspected by the fishermen
who have watched him with wonder, that
his tin cans and tables n wires formed
parts of some new tangled fishing ma
chine.
Marconi chose the strip of beach near
Poole Harbor because it is remote,
Here" he said one day. ~ can be alone
and do my work without fear of inter-
ruption, and wha I once do here on a
small scale, 1 can do anywhere in a
larger way" u.
THE FIRST MESSAGE.
, 1t is now almost a year since Profess
sor Fleming, of University College. Lon
don, addressed the British Association
for the Advancement of Science ON wire
less telegraphy, and, in sending greetings
by the Marconi system to the French
Association across the Channel, discov-
cred that some of the messages ex-
changed were detected fifty miles be-
NOnd their destination MaSCacaS semi
from Boulogne to Dover were read in the
stations at Chelmford, away across the
hills of Kent and beyond the smoke and
fog of London town. The achievement
was remarkable, even though the pub
lie refused to be surprised. Probably
nothing short of wireless messages half
way round the world would excite I'M
usual interest now, and doubtless many
are wondering whether anything more
will come of wireless biography than has
already been accomplished.
But Marconi has not been contented to
stop at the attainment of a hundred
miles. There We're and are still too
many problems unsolved for him to rest
from his labors. To prevent the inter-
ception of dispatches, and the JAM
hing of the instruments, to attain lon
ger distances, to master the secret of
tuned ether Waves land to apply the
system practically to shipping SO as to
increase the safety of vessels at sea-
these are a few of the things he has set
but to do. Already the little strip of
roast near Poole Harbor has witnessed
some of these solutions.
The writer had the pleasure of spend
Ing several weeks recently with Mar
coni at tn ePoole station, and of watch
Ing the work from day to day. Each
morning began with a wireless conyersa-
ton with the Isle of Wight station when
orders We're given to the man there to
"stand by" later in the day and mean
time look out for unusual "etheral' oc-
~currences. The English navy was ex-
~perimenting with wireless telegraphy at
Portsmouth. forty miles beyond, and the
isle of Wight installation kept up a live
y action While these experiments We're
going on.
DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME.
The most widespread cry against the
usefulness of wireless biography has
been based or the fact that intercept
.tion of dispatches was for a long time
possible. 1t may not have occurred to
the DIRECTORS that the same fault may be
found with the wire system of signalling.
But by mean of variable conductors and
capacities. Marconi has worked out a
system by which only certain instru-
nents can receive certain messages.
A hundred wireless Instruments tap
bing out a hundred different messages or
recording a hundred different dispatches
,rom as many different places ranging