The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1902-02-26
A QUESTION OF MONTHS
eoR MARcoNrS MARVELLOUS lNVEN-
TON TO Be IN OPERATION.

Garrett p. Scrviss. the writer on
scientific subjects. had an interview
with Mr.. Marconi snd made doubly
clear the conviction that he was not
deceived about those signals trans.
mitted from England to Newfound.
land
$50 there is no question about the
result OF the Newfoundland expert.
ments'' None
And we may expect TO sec your sys.
TEN OF transatlantic signalling in com.
mercial operation soon?' 81 hone so.
| am going to England to arrange for
1t as soon as | can get away"
Can you say how long a time will
elapse before actual messages may be
transmitted across the ocean," NO,
not exactly. But probably it will not
be long. 1t may take three or four
months TO make the preliminary ar.
rangcments."
Where will your stations be
placed?' In Nova Scotia and at Cape
Cod. on this side; in England and
probably in Belgium. on the other
side
How about transmitting such mes.
sages from and to points at q distance
from the seacoast; do you think that
can be dono?" Il think so. but more
experiments must first be tried. We
90 not yet know all the data of the
problem But | think eventually 1t
can DC done"
You mean that when the system
is perfected a message might be sent.
for instance, from st. Petersburg or
some point in the heart Of Europc di.
rect through the air to New York
without being interrupted and with
out tle use OF any relays "Ycs. I
think it possible that that may be
done"
How about the transcontinental
business? Do you intend to try to send
messages, say. from New York to San
Francisco?" "Oh. cannot say yet as
TO that. We have not yet gone far
enough with our experiments. But |
think IL might be done; do not see
any impossibillty in it,"
$50 you think you could send a
wireless message from the Atlantic to
the Pacihc?" Yes. but it would re
ouire more power than over the ocean
lust how N.Y. more 1 am not pre-.
pared to say.
There is no difficulty then as to
obtaining the requisite energy to send
messages across the widest oceans. or
even all around the carth?" mo. tho
range of energy needed is within easy
practical reach. It took, think. about
100 times as much energy 10 signal
across the Atlantic as it takes to run
a single arc light"
when your signals were sent
across the Atlantic. did they 60 in
tho air or through the earth. or how?"
"They went through the ether"
THE ether is supposed to interpenc-
trate all substances as Well as to fill
all space. But, practically. are there
not reslstances. etc, which would
make the waves choose some particu.
lar path in preference to others?"
Yes, and I think the waves followed
the curvature of the earth"
I'm regard to the very important
question of making the messages en-
elusive so that anybody might not
pick them up and read them in their
Hight, what Is to be said?" "They can
be made perfectly exclusive" he re.
piled, "by having the tran3mlttcrs and
receivers Hned in unison. Then only
the properly tuned receiver can take
the messages, and all other receivers
would get nothing"
How great a range is there at YOUR
disposal in tuning the Instruments?
Can you make as great variety of
tuned transmitters and receivers re.
spending only to one and another as
a manufacturer of Yale locks can
make of locks that will open only to
their proper keys?" well. I cannot
Vet say how great the range is. but it
would seem to be very great. because
we have millions oa vibrations to
choose from, and even If Il were nee
essary to have one thousand vibra-
tions covering the field of each set of
instruments, yet with millions TO Sc
lect from thousands of such sets. aaca
independent of all the others. could
be made. Suppose, for instance. we
had ten million vibrations available
and we allotted them IN sets Of one
thousand to different instruments,
then We could make ten thousand in.
dependent sets of instruments"
"Will you abandon the use of kites
in your later eXperiments?' "Yes, We
shall use masts."
How high will the masts have to
be in sending messages between Cape
Cod and England?" about 150 feet.
Messages have been sent 20 miles
from an elevation of only two feet.
The distance increase as the square
of the height of the masts There is
probably slight absorption of the en-
ergy In the atmosphere, and it is nee
essary to make allowance for that"
"But. of course, the height of the
masts has nothing to do with the cur
vature of the earth, or with the get
ting over intervening obstacles?"