The Washington times., 1903-01-15
NAVAL BOARD TESTS
A WIRELESS SYSTEM
DR.. De Forests Method Put
Through PAGES.
FIFTY MESSAGES ARE SENT
Inventor Says Communication With
Honolulu and Philippines Will
Be Established

Under the direction of a board OF
naval officers. appointed by the secre-
tary Of the Navy to examine into the
best system of wireless teIegraphy, the
system of Dr. Lee de Forest Of Chicago
was given thorough trial yesterday
afternoon at the navy yard. The test
does not mean the adoption Of the De
Forest system for permanent use in the
navy, but assures a thorough trial Of
the plan on vessels at sea. These ad-
ditionaI tests will be made on the Prai-
RE when it returns from the present
maneuvers in the South Atlantic ocean.
Lieut.. Commander W. e. Hogg, of the
navy. is interested in the de Forest
system and has discovered method of
non-resfstance, which will enable hun
dred OF more stations to continue in
the same territory without interrupting
each other The officer declines to dis
cuss the discovery at present. but he
assured a representative of The Times
this morning the plan has been thorough
ly tested and will be given to the public
in the near future.
At the tests made Yesterday more
than fifty messages were transmitted
between the Navy Yard and the sta
ton at Annapolis. Some were in cipher.
but the majority we're sent by the Con-
tinentaI code The Morse code was
used. too. and the rapidity Of trans
mission is estimated at thirty-fve words
a minute-the same speed attained by
the wire system used by the Postal and
Western Union telegraph companies.
The greatest distance test made by the
De Forest system is 125 miles, but dis
tance depends only upon the amount of
power used ii generating the cleo
tricity
DR.. de Forest is graduate of Yale
class Of 1895 Since that time he has
been experimenting in Chicago and New
York. Stations for his system have been
built at Coney Island and four other
points in the vicinity. The inventor
claims for his plan many Improvements
over that used by Marconi, among them
being the non-resistance scheme as dis
covered by Commander Hogg.
Speaking Of the success OF this plan,
DR.. De Forest said TO representative
Of The Times this morning: within
the next eighteen months, my system
viii be installed on the west coast of
the United States, and communication
will be established with Honolulu and
he Philippines. Stations viii also be
built at points in Guam, Porto Rico, and
Cuba The people Of the present day
demand cheaper and better system Of
communication with foreign countries,
and it can only be secured by wireless
telegraphy.
The tests made yesterday have proven
very satisfactory to me and to the
naval board as we'll In tests recently
made we communicated with vessels
equipped with the Marconi system 125
miles out at sea. The only thing to be
completed in telegraphy by the wireless
/ system is to prevent other vessels from
hearing these. Discoveries have been
made along this line, and they BilI be
/ perfected within a short time"
Dr. De Forest VIII remain here for q
/ few days longer. experimenting with the
plant established here, and then will go
/ to Chicago TO continue his laboratory
work. Lieutenant Commander Hogg VIII
continue his experiments here, and viii
make public announcement Of his inven-
tions in q short time