The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-01-28
HE LAUGHS LAST.


New Orleans Times Democrat.
'It is very seldom that any great inven-
tion becomes a source OF immediate proft
to the inventor" remarked well-known
New Orleans electrician yesterday. "One or
the most striking exceptions on record Is
the Marconi wireless Geographic apparatus.
and its history is a capital illustration OF
the desirability OF having little practical
business sense mixed up with pure genius.
Marconi is a shrewd, clear-headed young
Italian of about twenty-six. and when he
first announced his discovery. several years
ago. the scientists OF the world were In
clned to make light Of IL and TO regard the
whole thing as a joke This boy seems TO
be unaware that Hertz and others expert
mented with the same kind or electrical
vibrations, fully a quarter century ago.,
they said. There Is absolutely nothing
new about this wireless telegraphy OF his;
the only thing he has done has been to
make few trifiing changes in the appara-
tus.' This chorus of pooh-poohs and depre-
citation was so loud and persistent at the
outset" continued the electrician. that
poor Marconi was practically showed UNI
der, as far as the general public was con-
cerned, and there was considerable period
when little or nothing was printed In
gard TO him. Meanwhile he was indus
triously working on his apparatus, ana
finally IL dawned upon his critics that the
few trifiing changes which they had re-
ferred TO so contemptuously were the
very things that differentiated the entirely
impractical laboratory toys of Hertz and
others from a real ana tIcCuNc cfctcfn Dk
noiseless telegraphy. Then they made the
additional discovery that, while they were
laughing at him, this sagacious young Ital-
ian had been quietly taking out patents on
every detail of the plant, and had the pro-
cess fully protected in every civilized coun-
try in the world. That raised a grand
howl for IL was Immediately claimed that
many of the points covered by MarcoIi's
patents were not original with him; but he
had fortified himself with the best legal
advice before he made his applications, and
when the matter got into court later on hs
was sustained in every instance. BY that
time, of course, there were a dozen different
inventors with systems OF telegraphing
without wires, but every one of them was
Obliged to pay Marconi good stin royalty
for the right to manufacture his apparatus.
So I'm addition 10 the revenue which hs
derives from the installations Of his own
system he takes toll from everybody else's.
Wireless teegraphic instruments are being
installed the ships OF nearly all the
y.es OF the world, and the invention has
been a great commercial success. L read
the other day in European technical jour
nal that Marc0ni had already cleared fully
a quarter million dollars in cash and would
probably double that amount within the
next year or two. /. for one, am very glad
to hear It, Such combination OF the prac-
teal and theoretical Is very and de-
serves its reward. III Marc0nI hadn't jump
cd In and patented everything insight while
the other fellows were laughing at him.
doubt whether he would have made enough
out OF the scheme TO have paid for his wire
and acid"