New-York tribune., 1901-10-20
WIRELESS TELEGR4PHY.

A demonstration of what purported to be
new system of wireless telegraphy, of which
young Swede is the inventor, was given in Lon
don il few days ago. The public was made to
understand that a marked advance upon past
achievements was thus indicated. hut scrutiny
of the published accounts does not estaDlish
confidence in that opinion. The control OF
torpedo boats movements without wires IS a
rather sensational feat. but not at all new. Sew
eral electricians on both sides of the Atlantic
have shown the possibility of performing it
within the last three years. Nor is there any
great novelty in telephoning from one ship TO
another by connecting the apparatus on each
vessel with the sea.
The most notable difference which is alleged
to exist between Marconis and Orlings appa-
ratus is that the latter does not require tall
mast but employs the earth as a conductor
Now the young Italian has developed his mech
anism good deal since he began to attract
attention And one of his latest Improvements
is the substitution of metal cylinder that can
be housed in the operating room for the tall
vertical wire at first employed and even yet IN
service Furthermore at the outset Marcohi
did not extend any wires from his instruments
to the earth but did so afterward, ana thus
greatly increased the efficiency of his system
While somewhat puzzled at the erect ne was
inclined to think that the earth as well as the
ether came into play.
But in this important particular Tesla antlcl-
pated Marconi, just as Marconi anticlpateu
Orling. Tesla has not made public his latest
work in telegraphy yet, but as long ago as 1875
he described in a lecture in st. Louis plan for
conveying Ineligible signals, Of which the use
of the earth as a conductor was an essentlai
feature While therefore, the methods OF these
three men doubtless differ in details, they nave
at least one point in common, and the American
was the first to propose it.
Remarkable as are the achievements or the
last few years. the utilization of those eiectro-
magnetic vibrations which Hertz did SO much
to exploit must be regarded as still In lts IN
fancy When Gramme, Siemens, Edison, west
inghouse and others undertook to emDody III
+he DYNAMO and electric motor the principle dis
covered by Faraday and Henry thelr TASK
nroved far from easy. number of unforeseen
difficulties were encountered Eacn IN turn WIS
overcome eventually but progress was slow. 1t
has taken nearly forty years of development
and the combined efforts of many great minds
70 perfect these two machines. For that mat
fer, the Morse system Of communication with
metallic conductor more than half century
old, is even yet undergoing evolution Minor
inproyements in methods and results in wire
less telegraphy are reported every few weeks
Only a few days ago, for instance, 1t was an
nounced In England that message had oeen
sent three hundred and fifty miles or nearly
double the distance covered by the record per-
formance Of last February. These facts JUSTIFY
expectations Of substantial. not to say starthnS'
advances during the first quarter OF the TWEEN
tieth century In the line Of work with which
Narroni Lodge, Tesla Fessenden. Slaby and
Braun have been so conspicuously identified.