The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-04-28
Prof. Fesssndsn's System Of
Wireless Communication.
APPARATUS IS VERY COMPACT.
Successful ErperImanls Along The Coast Of
North caTsIiaa May Telephone 200
MIles-DeiaIIs are SimpIlfIsd :.

weirs Point Roanoke Island, ~. c.,
April 2S-Down among the sand dunes
and pines Of this quaint little island.
where Virginia Dare the first white child
on the American continet was born, Pro-
fessor r. l.. Fessenden. Of the United
states Weather bureau. has been con-
ductirg series of experiments in wire
Quoting a series of experiments in wire
have proved far more successful than those
OF Marconi
For more than two years, these expert
ments have been conducted with the mt
most secrecy under the supervision of
Chief Moore of the weather bureau.
Tests yesterday between the station on
the northwesterly point of this island and
another point ten miles below the Cape
Hatteras lightship, distance OF 6S miles,
were witnessed by Lieutenants Berther
and Hudgins. the wireless telegraphy ex-
perts Of the navy department. These tw"
officers unequivocaly pronounce Professor
Fessendens system the best they have
ever seen.
Every test was complete success ex-
cept in one instance. when a passing
thundershower temporarily disabled his
receiving apparatus. Messages and sig
nails were received by Professor Fessen-
den with as much clearness and dispatch
as in commercial business on the
ordinary telegraph line
The first thing TO meet the visitors
eyes was a mast towering above the tops
of the tallest pines This mast is l40 feet
in height, and radating from IL like the
ribbons OF May pole. are six guy ropes
AT the foot OF the mast Is the operating
house, I'm which the wireless messages
are received from the other experiment
station below Cape Hatteras. From the
top of the mast single yard is extended,
on which are strug five wires whic.. run
down TO the operating house. The COM
bined collections OF electricity OF these
wires are united and taken into the oper-
ating house on "A single strand.
Professor Fessenden, because OF the alb
sence or patents both In the United States
and abroad. is reticent In giving techni-
cal description OF his system. He has
applied for patents and is waiting for
grant before making public his secret
His receiving appartus Is a small, COM
pact instrument TO which Is attached an
ordinary telephone earpiece. The instru-
ment is mounted upon hard rubber
plate about by inches to which is at
tached one dry-cel battery, a coil OF fine
iy wound wire and a dellcatey adjusted
little instrument which so magnifies the
effect of the ether waves as to make them
plainly audible In the elephone earpiece
attachment.
Professor Fessenden's system differs
radically from all others in that he uses
no coherer. which. experience has demon-
strated, cannot be relied upon, and which
has been known even to furnish OF its
own accord the dot and dash equivalents
of signal letters and words.
USED oUARTER-INcH SPARK.
The II o'clock test was the most severe
of the day. The operator at the Cape
Hatteras station was ordered by Profes-
ror Fessenden TO send all messages from
that hour until noon with what Is tech
nically known as "quarter-inch spark
The test was most satisfactory. The
naval experts declare IL was the most
wonderful thing they had ever witnessed
Other experimenters have found that
sparks from two to three inches in length
are necess sary TO drive the waves.
The sending appartus is even more
simple than the receiving. IL is no larger
or heavier than the ordinary box relay
used by the commercial systems. IL con-
sists of the ordinary key, such as is used
in all telegraph Offices and an induction
the sparks jump from a line point 10
small disk connected with the vertical
wire from which they are driven into
space TO be taken up and carried on 10
the next wireless station where the In
struments are in tune with the instrument
from which the message is sent. Three
small dry-battery cells are all that are
required 10 transmit the messages from
Hatteras TO the Weirs Point station. TX
cept Tor these batteries the apparatus
for sending does not weigh more than
two pounds.
Five years will witness the abandon
ment OF the ocean cable declared Pro-
fessor Fessenden last night.
Professor Fessenden. the inventor of the
system. is n big, blond, hearty, matter-of-
fact man. He was for years the chief
chemist in the Edison laboratory.
PROF. FESSENDEN'S STATEMENT.
Professor Fessenden dictated the follow
ing statement directly after completing
his successful tests
The essential difference between my
system and AIsrconis is dificult 10 de-
scribe. because in no point arc the two
systcms alike. Maiconi uses an air
transformer az tho sending end. and con
centric cylinders arranged in a certain
way / use neither OF the above
AS regards wireless telephone work
the results OF our experiments were
communicated TO electricians about two
years ago, Nhen we succeeded IN teie-
phoning a mile We have pursued the
subject further. and from our recent
work II can be definitely stated that tele-
phoning without wires up 20 a distance OF
about 300 miles is absolutely certain OF
accomplishment This II great advan-
tage for wireless work. as in many cases
the captains OF vessels viii not wish to
empoy a trained telegrapher and our sys-
TEN of wireless telephonlng will permit
the captain himself 10 talk with the shore
from n distance Of g TO 20 miles"