Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-01-21

Without the aid of cable, tele-
graphic messages have been sent
across the Atlantic. The news, not
unexpected by scientific electricians,
strikes the ordinary man with won.
der. As usual, there were predic-
tions that the attempt must fail, and
scientific reasons were given why it
would prove impossible to commune
cate through eighteen hundred miles
of space; but on December %, the
announcement was made by Signor
Marconj, that he had sent to King
Edward of England and King Vic
tor Emmanuel of Italy, messages of
congratulation, and had received an
swers. An achievement 30 momen-
tous marks new era in telegraphy.
1t opens boundless field. of further
discovery and will probably be the
precursor of rnimagined triumphs.
The messages were sent from Table
Head, Cape Breton, to Poldhu, Corn
wall, the most westerly point OF
England. AT the former place Sig
nor Morconi occupies station built
expressly for his use at a cost OF
100000. 1t consists of foar wooden
pillars 225 feet high,, which have
been erected on the bluff, itself
seventy-five feet above the level OF
the sea. The pillars stand at the
corners of square, in the center OF
which is the operating room. The
towers are connected near the top
by wires, from which hang large
number of copper wires, the ends Of
which enter the operating room. In
this room is transmitter of tremen-
dous power and receiver of exceed
ingly delicate capacity. There is nc
other instrument nor any apparent
connection between the operator and
the person he is talking to eighteen
hundred miles away. Yet there is
no doubt as to the fact, for the mes.
sage to the King of Italy was sent
by an operator who did not know
the Italian language and was received
in England by a clerk also unac-
quainted with it, yet every letter
was absolutely correct.
The beginning of the experiments,
which have now had so triumphant
an outcome, was made in 1896, on a
farm near Bologna, Italy. William
Marconi, then youth barely twenty
years of age, set up two poles eighty
inches high and 100 feet apart. On
the top of each pole he placed tin
box, from which a, wire ran to an
ordinary telegraph instrument at the
foot of the pole. There was no wire
from one pole to the other, but sig
nails made at one pole were received
at the other. This was the key to
the great discovery. 1t was O. vious
that the electric current could travel
at least for short distance, without
the wire we had deemed essential for
its journey. The next step was to
discover the conditions by which that
distance could be increased. Mar.
conf doubled the length of his poles
and placed them farther apart. They
were shifted as far as the signals were
received, until he found that $40
feet was the distance that they would
travel from poles thirteen feet four
inches high. The principle was thus
established, that, under ordinary
conditions, the higher the pole the
longer the distance electricity would
travel without wire for its convey
ance.
With this discovery Signor Mar
conf went to England to secure aid
in its development. Experiments
were made with balloons and kites,
which, while not producing practical
results, proved the soundness of his
deductions, and established the prin-
ciple of the distance being depend.
ent on the height Of the transmit
ting and receiving stations. They
also showed that the distance in the
higher attitudes was much greater in
proportion than in the lower. The
distance increased not according to
the increase of the height of the pole
but according to the square of the
height of the pole. Thus, doubling
the height of the pole, increased the
distance four times, and by treb.
ling its height increased the
distance nine times. 1t was also