Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-02-13
THE WIRELESS TELEGRAPH.
The Transmission OF Messages by the
Marconi System Cheapness of the
system.

Marconi System Cheapness of the
System.
To one of the polished brass balls wire
is attached. which runs up "A high mast,
or hangs from IA Kite, says the Review OF
Reviews. The electric pulsatons, set up
when a spark leaps from one ball to the
other. run along the wire and are tn, nee
radiated off into space. just how large
role this suspended wire plays in the send
ing IL not yet very clear. Maybe some day
1t will not be needed. The sending inatru-
ment might be located in the cellar. for
these lcCtric waves seem to go through
brick and stone. and almost everything,
save the metals,
1t is clear enough that If the sending
operator can open and close his circuit as
he likes, he can make the series of sparks
long or short as he likes. SO you have q
long or short series of waves llyi
through space at the speed of light. While
SiGnor Marcon waited in Newfoundland
with the telephone at his ear, this Is what
his operator at Cornwall was doing. In
Newfoundland was an arrangement of At
little different sort.
Here were batteries, and circuit. ] st
the same. But instead of the Transformer
and the polished brass balls, a little glass
tube makes a part of the circuit. into
this runs the two ends of the wires from
the batteries. In the gap between the two
are some nickel-silver filings. Ordinarily.
battery pass. The path Is blocked.
Rut if this little tube, about as Zig as
quill toothpick, be attached at tn same
time to the receiving wire, which runs out
through the window and up the mast, n
curious effect Is observed. When the waves
strike the high wire, ana are absorbed,
they come running down in way to CO.
here, and in such way as to let the other
current from the batteries on the floor,
flow through. Why nobody knows. Give
the tube little tap, and they fail apart
again. 1t is the oldest sort of IL pcrfor-
nance, and was quite unhoard of until
Professors Branlys discovery, ten W al 3
ago.
When Professor Lodge heard of the
Brandy experiments, he fixed up little
automatic Taper 1t worked on the same
principle as an electric door-bell q won icr
how many people ever stopped to tn nix
how even that simple everyday affair op-
erates). The effect of this tapping arrange
ment was to give the sic nder tube or
filings a smart jog every time the cleo
trio waves made them cohere. 1t was a
decohcrer.
The rest was simple If the battery on
the floor could be made to operate the
Taper 1T could also set a common Morse
printing instrument going According as
the series of waves coming down the re-
cciving wire WAS short or long. the ma
chine prints a dot or a dash. These you
quotations on stock ticker, only YOU
have to know the Morse alphabet to un-
derstand
Ordinarily. the waves are strong enough
and their effect clear enough, so that no
telephone attachment is needed. The clicks
can be read off by the ear just as ordinary
biography. But the waves seem to weak
en- with the distance, and those which had
Travelled :. 900 miles. from Cornwall to New
foundand. were faint indeed. That was
why Signor Marconi held an instrument to
his ear. 1t is rather needless to say that
Marconi's splendid demonstration of trans
oceanic signaling means, in the near fu-
ture a big reduction in cable tolls. Mar
conf himself gays that a cent a word is
within sight. But even this is a purely
arbitrary figure.
In England, where the public telegraph
is not run to enrich rich people. 1t Is pos
sible to send a twelve-word message any
where in the kingdom for sixpence. There
is no good reason why. with healthy COM
petition, a twenty-word message from
New York to London, Paris Manila
, should not be sent and delivered for q
dime or. for that matter, anywhere in the
. United States.
The first cost is small. A wireless tele-
: graph station is more complicated than an
ordinary Morse station and costs more
= But. needing neither cables, wires, inSul
ators, nor poles, the stations are practi
, Gally the WnOle OF the expense. SuCn dL
installation those of the Marconi com
pany on board the ocean ships probably
costs between two and three hundred dol
lars. at retail. The largest expense Is q
good induction coil which, for twelve
inch spark. costs between $3.50 and 5000; the
rest Of the apparatus, any clever mechanic
once he has seen it and read the descrip-
lions, of which the scientific journals
, teen. can rig up for himself.
And the field is free. The shower OF
patents has been large; Signor Maroon
alone has taken out 1872. But they relate
/ chiefly to minor improvements and specil
devices which, while doubtless often OF
= individual value, are not a block to others
, to try their hand. If, for example. Pro
; fcssor Brandy had patented his discovery
and had applied 1t to the reception of sig
l mails himself, instead OF leaving that tC
{ Professor Lodge and others, then We m gh
r have had another Bell Telephone monop
} oily. As it is. wireless telegraphy has b er
. made possible by men who do not take on
t patents, and whose work is not done fo
z money.