Evening star., 1902-04-12
WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY
MESSAGES EXCHANGED BETWEEN
WASHINGTON AND BALTIMORE.
Communications Sometimes interrupt
ed by Contact With Another Cir
cuit-Efect of Induction Coils.

Between the two cities which Elijah
Morse selected for the first test of teleg-
raphy there is now In full operation a sys-
tenn of wireless telegraphy. the most re-
cent and possibly the most complete de-
velopment Of the great inventors method
Of transmitting messages. This new sys-
tenn Is SO far in the experimental stage
only. and no attempt has been made to
convert the two stations, one at Brookland
and the other at one of Baltimore's sub
urbs, into a commercial enterprise. But
for several weeks past the two cities have
been in instantaneous communication with
out the aid of wires or any other tangible
mode of transmitting words.
The plant Is the property of the Federal
Wireless Telegraph and Telephone Com
pany, which is a suborganization of the
American Wireless Telegraph and Tele-
phone Company. an association of Amer
lean capitalists chiefly from Philadelphia.
This latter body is an outgrowth of the
old Dolbear Company, the first wireless
telegraph company in the world, which
took its name from Prof. Amos E. Dolbear,
an instructor in Tufts College.
In 1886 Prof. Do!bear obtained the first
patent granted by the American patent
Office for the transmission of telegraph mes
SageS without wires. Whatever has been
done along similar lines since that year
according to the officers of the Federal
Company. has been entirely through adapta-
tions of Prof. Dolbears ideas.
When the Federal Company decided to
establish practical experimenting stations
Washington and Baltimore were chosen for
obviously sentimental reasons. Outside or
Boston Prof. Dolbear had made successful
tests at a distance overland of sixteen
miles. Subsequent patents made the Dol
bear Instruments sufficiently powerful to
compel the establishment of stations at
greater distances, and the distance between
Washington and Baltimore was chosen as
satisfactory for all practical purposes.
The Brookland Station.
The station in Brookland stands about a
quarter of a mile south of the Catholic
University and only a block or two north
of the new St. N:ncents Orphan Asylum
1t consists apparently of small dwelling
house and a tall mast about 100 feet high.
This is all the Federal Company desires the
general public to see at this time.
Inside the dwelling house are several In
struments on which patents are pending
and from which the local agent, Mr.. George
Nickerson, expects to prove very powerful
indeed, possibly as powerful over land as
those of Marconi have proven over sea-
Messages have been sent, 1t is claimed,
day after day practically without difficulty
from Baltimore to Washington and from
this city to Baltimore Occasionally there
have been Interruptions of very singular
character Now and then the operators in
the Brookland station would receive mes
sages manifestly not sent from Baltimore,
and yet of unmistakable wireless origin.
After several days the cause was discover
ed: The Brookland station was receiving
messages sent by government operators
from the stations established about Wash
ington by the Agricultural Department.
Another source Of difficulty is not 80
easily explained. Some one, 1t Is stated,
has placed induction coils heavily charged
at various places along the air line OF the
wireless circuit to Baltimore. The effect
of these coils is to make the receiving In
struments at the two stations buzz inter-
minably.