The Irish standard., 1903-01-10
THE mARCoNI MARyEL.
HOW a Wireless Message Traverses
the Ocean.

In view of Signor Guylielmo Mar
cohl's recent triumph in sending wire
less messages across the Atlantic it is
OF interest to know that when a wire
less teleSraphy message is sent across
tne ocean an electric spark is made to
snap between two brass balls. The
sparks may be said to make n splash
| in the ether, the high wire taking the
place OF the stone which when drop
pea III Il pond causes ripples to flow
outward in every direction, saws the
New York World. The electrical rim
pies similarly stream out from the
wire i'll every direction at the speed of
light, which is $4,000 miles a second.
The number of waves which stream
from Il Marconi pole is from 100000
TO 2ooo,0OO per second. These waves
are not to be COMPOUNDED with the air
waves which cause sound, though for
he purposes of explanation they NAV
be compared to them. When a poker
is struck, the vibrations of the steel
rod transfer themselves to the sur
rounding air in the form of waves in
he atmosphere.
Wireless telcgraphy waves travel
not by means of the atmosphere. hit
through the far more intangible sub
stance ether, which is held to fill up
space and penetrate all matter. Even
in ordinary biography the current
flows through the ether surrounding
the atoms of copper rather than
through the wire itself. In wireless
tclcglaphy the current does not flow
through wires, but from wires, using
the ether which penctrntes the atmos-
plcrc as Il medium through which to
flow
Many years ago 1t was found out
that electricity passed through the
space separating two long parallel
wires. When current of electricity
was made to flow through one wire,
Il magnetic influence spread out from
the wire and ON reaching the ether
induced in ii Il state of electricity
similar to the current flowing in the
first wire. The current was transfer
rcd, as il were, across a bridge OF
| magnetism.
TIL" waves which fly from the trans
uniting station almost instantly reach
I he distant receiving wire. The waves
arc then feeble and could not operate
an instrument. so that II "collrrer" and
"rrky' have to hr used. The CO.
hrrrr consists of metal filings which
| remain separate from one :lnot her and
offer resistance To II current until the
llcrtZinn waves strike the aerial.
Then the filings press together and
the obstruction is hridyrd. The relay
current can then act, and Il strong cur
| rent instantly flows through the cir
cult and operates the machine which
prints the code on paper tape.
II has been said that two stations
might hr placed back To back and the
around The world. This would require
waves OF very great length in order to
overcome the great curvature Of the
earth.
Tl" curvature between I'oldlu,
| Cornwall. and Cape Breton. n. S.,
| overcome the other day. is sufficiently
! great. \ mound of earth ANA water
| ~ mites high rises brlw the two
! stations.
| The induction method was the one
used hy all the earlier experiments
with wireless tclr..rnply. ana ii was
rot until Hertz published his expert
nIcntS with the waves caused by the
park gap method that IlrrtZinn waves
became the more popular field of work
With electricians. Mnrconi studied
these waves under Professor Right,
himself an expert i'm them.
Allrcoui is generally recognized as
The first to max" use of IIrrtzian
waves for he basis of II system of
biography, property so called. MIR.
Marconi's progress has been from tens
to hundreds, then from hundreds to
over I 600 miles, and now he has
sIannrd the Atlantic, n distance of