The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-26
SYSTEM WILL REyoLUTIoNIZE SEA-
FARING AND LESSEN WRECKS.
A Practical Scientist Thinks 1t May
Also Open the Way for Inter
planetary Communication.
Bayonne On. j. Letter in Philadelphia

a thing is possible"
Thus spoke William E. Eddy. business
man and scientist. to-day. Mr.. Eddy is
best known TO the scientific world by his
experiments with kites in determining at
mospheric and other conditions at great
heights. He has been in communication
with Marconi and is familiar with every
step that has been taken by this inventor
and others I'm establishing a system OF wire
less teegraphy
Mr.. Eddy is engaged in business in New
York and his experiments in the realm of
aerostatics are the recreation of his leisure
hours For fifteen years he has expert
mented with kites in the interest of science.
He has covered in his own way, the field
OF atmospheric electricity His deductions
are therefore not those of dreamer.
THE beneficent possibilities Of Marco
mis- discoveries. entirely aside from the
commercial, are not fully appreciated even
by those familiar with his work. The de-
velopment of wireless telegraphy will de-
crease the number of shipwrecks. The mys-
ferrous disappearance of steamers leaving
no trace behind will be at an end Tour
lists on shipboard on any ocean will, in
the future be completely in touch. so far
as communication is concerned, with the
rest of the world as though they were on
a railroad train.
Eddy, az have received electrical signals
over the wires from kites at attitudes
varying from 1900 feet to two miles They
have been unmistakable distinct and Wis
ible. Others besides myself witnessed
this phenomenon during my experiments
last winter. Where did they come from?
l confess l do not know. 1t was the letter
s repeated at regular intervals. The kites
were flying over the city OF Bayonne. The
signals came out of space; possibly they
were fugitive signals from some wireless
tA11 Ill aicrhf have
come from interplanetary space. / have
never claimed that they came from any
where. | only know that the signals were
received"
when you speak of a signal service at
sea, do you mean that there will be reg
ular stations established over the oceans
of the world?' was asked.
1.-THE time will shortly come when every
regular ocean steamer will be a floating
signal service station, equipped with all
necessary appliances for the reception and
transmission of wireless Geographic mes
sages. This is being done now, and trans
atlantic liners have communicated intel
lightly with each other at distance OF a
hundred miles and more.
KITES ARE INVALUABLE.
THE limitation of wireless telegraphy
between ships at sea is the height of
their masts. To extend the service for
almost incredible distances it is necessary
to get into the higher atmosphere, and
this can be done only by kites. 1 have COM
municated to Mr. Marconi a plan for the
establishment of wireless signal stations
at points on boths ides of the Atlantic,
from Labrador to Cape Horn, and from
Cape Town to the North Cape. These, OF
course, would be kite stations
MY experiments have demonstrated that
it is possible to fly kite in all kinds OF
weather except nurr1c S na I'VE, A tbe
velocity of the wind averaging fifty-ive
miles hour.
'The records of the Signal Service Blu
reau will show that IL is rare thlnS
for a storm with high winds, to cover a
greater area than 400 miles In diameter.
With my proposed kite signal stations, at
the Atlantic coast line, there would always
be at least three-fourths of them able TO
maintain kites in the air and to receive
messages from greater distances.
would not considerable difficulty be ex-
perienced in flying Geographic kites on
ocean steamers as you propose?'
There is no difficulty in that line that
is insurmountable Kites can be sent up
from any steamship In almost any
weather. About as severe test or this
as possible was made in my experiment
of sending up a kite off a sailing yacht.
On the 18th of October, this year, flew
a kite from the sailing yacht Romola.
and kept it up all day. with hehograph
attachment. In severe stress Of weather
smaller kites could be used in comparative
Gains the larger kites.
1.-The time is coming when no seafaring
executive or navigating officer on any
steamship will be given a position with
out having at least a rudimentary know
ledge of wireless telegraphy. The immense
value to life and property of having such
a large body of trained men the ships
of the world is apparent l think, to the
most obtuse
I'm less than ten years from now
look for the full realization OF my pre-
diction The government Weather Blu
reau is experimenting in the same direc-
sufficient
flciently delicate instruments and with a
kite at a height of 5000 feet, it will be
possible to send a message from the shores
of Patagonia TO Cape Town. A ship In dis
tress in mid-Atlantic would be able to COM
municate the fact to two or three stations
on either hemisphere.
WHY BALLOONS FAIL.
would not captive balloons be preferable
to kites for the transmission and reception
of wireless teegraphic messages?'
by no means. Balloons would be use
less in an average high wind such as would
keep a kite steady in the upper air. In
1893 a New York newspaper endeavored
to report the international yacht race Of
that year by means of a balloon. There
was a good yachting wind. but the force of
ii was such as to press the balloon down.
ward and force the gas out OF the neck.
thus rendering it imperative. The same
fatal effect characterizes the German kite
balloon and the alternative is that IL must
either lose its gas burst.
Il believe that Mr.. Marconis results in
! Newfoundland would have been more
conclusive and convincing if he had sent
! his kite to the higher strata OF air. one
/ reason why so many electricians are skep-
tical about this triumph is that his signal
! was the letter s. Preece, the English cleo
/ trician, declares that the letter s is a con-
! slant signal so much so that 1t amounts
! to a nuisance.
81 have offered TO send up kites from
/ New York or Bayonne for Mr. MarcOni's
/ experiments. One cause for the nonsuc-
/ cess of his experiments on land is that
/ mountains, high buildings and similar OBJ
! structions are constantly drawing of the
/ electric strain on the charged layers Of
/ air. BY sending up kite TO a height Of
/ piano wire for strings l believe that the
/ results would be perfectly satisfactory"
"In what way has Marconi opened the
4 door for interplanetary communications"
! If" said Mr.. Eddy with great earnest
/ ness, "other planets in our solar system
/ are inhabited, and by races as intelligent
i as ours, who, as some investigators have
I ina gined, are trying TO communicate
/ with US across the infinite gulf of space
| then ii must follow that If electrical sig
+ nails can be transmitted under certain
conditions for distance OF 1900 miles
under heightened conditions IL may be
possible TO communicate 10000, 600 miles"
II believe that light waves and electric
waves are infinite in their influence and
/ ce-penetratng power. III that theory
I be correct then the secret of interplanetary
/ communication must be sought along the
line that Marconi has followed the projec-
/ ton of signals through space on electrical
/ waves.
1 .ba prasapf time eli a,d