The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1905-07-13
WIRELESS TELEGRAPhY.
A Defense from Yale Of DR.. Lee DeForest.

attention was recently called to the very
exhaustive letter published in your issue Of
the list of June regarding wireless telegra-
phy in general and Marconi wireless in par
tcular. AS a Yale man | feel the slurs
which have been cast upon DR.. DeForest
by the writer of this article, and which |
know every Yale man in the country will
be glad to see controverted, not to speak OF
the intelligent readers of your paper who
are doubtless DESTROYS to learn the truth,
and the whole truth, regarding wireless te-
legraphy. AS lover of fair play l would
like to publish through your correspond
ence columns a counter article to the one
referred to above. l appreciate the fact
that foreign name in connection with any
subject of artistic or scientific interest is al
ways name to conjure with, but the re-
cent progress in all scientific lines by ma
tive Americans during the past quarter
century is gradually dispelling this illusion,
so that now man can gain reputation as
a scientist with the great public of Amer-
ca, even if he has not formidable looking
European name. Witness the use of auto
mobiles. When they were first introduced
man was not considered to possess a real
"devil-wagon" unless it was of foreign
make. But ali this is rapidly changing.
And so it is in wireless telegraphy. | firm
ly beieve-and think upon careful inveS-
tigation You will find that this opinion is
held by the majority of practical scientists
and eltctricianS-that the name of DeFOr-
ISt do a { D1Tpb .Onyjnaa the
world that this country can turn out great
scientist, as did the names of Cyrus Field
and Thomas Edison. | think every patriotic
American citizen will rejoice to learn that
this young Yale graduate by the lame of
DeFOrest' to quote your correspondent, is
not Il mere borrower of Marconi's nven-
tons, but has conducted his researches
along the fundamental lines laid down by
the great German physicist, Hertz All
honor be to this same Hertz, who was the
first to embark upon the sea of discovery of
these ether waves.
DR.. Lee De Forest was graduated from
the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale Uni
versity in 1886. lie had studied all through
his course with the view to entering the
tItld VI INV tlllItl4 dIltl SIdiudllUu. lie
spent three years after graduation along
the line Of the Hertz waves and in 1899 re-
ceived lis degree Of Doctor of Philosophy
from \ ale for a thesis on HertZian waves.
This was at the very time that Marconi
was beginning his own experiments, so the
statement Of your correspondent that Dr..
De Forest simply appropriated Marconi's
III ~ 60 l.
Yale he went to Chicago and worked on
the Western Electrician. Here he pursued
his experiments relentlessly, and it was
here that he discovered the principle upon
which the receivers, now used by the De
Forest Company, are made. This receiver
is absolutely distinct and different from
that used by Marconi, which is an extreme
ly clumsy and slow working device. This
coherer of Marconi's must be tapped every
time one OF these waves passes through it.
Now anyone with half an eye can see that
this tapping takes time. By DR.. De
Forests invention nothing of this sort is
necessary. The fundamental basis of his
receiver is an electrolytic solution, whose
composition is Of course secret and fully
covered by patents. By this receiver he
can take messages three or four times faster
than Marconi's old styled coherer can
negotiate them. To complete this improve
ment he also uses telephone receiver
which is fastened to the operators head.
and by means of which he can hear the
very faiDtest indications of waves, thus
making it possible for the De Forest opera
tor to catch messages which, owing to pc
cuiar atmospheric conditions and inter
ference Of all kinds, would be absolutely
lost on the receiver of a Marconi station
80 much for the first triumph of American
brains over Italian Nor is this all, or the
most important. By using alternating cur
rents, instead of the direct as Marconi does,
messages can be sent for distances which
would make the Marcon operator rub his
eyes Nth amazement. The fact that mes
sages have been sent continually from Key
" est to Chicago.a distance of 1900 miles over
land, should demonstrate this to the most
hostile mind. De Forests tuning device
is also much superior to that of Marconi's.
In Illustration of this is the recent accident
10 the CuLard Liner "Caronia' of which
your correspondent speaks with pride,
which ran aground near New York during
fog and sent message after message out
into space, but all the time the Marconi
station was sublimely ignorant of the fact
that vessel equipped with their instru-
ments was signalling for help. Not SO the
De Forest. In spite Of the fact that the
message was intended for the Marconi
station and not for the De Forest, it was the
De Forest station at 40 Broadway that re-
ceived the message. Upon investigation in
to the actual facts of the Nlarcon system
great many Incidents of this same type be-
come apparent. This article which | have
referred to several times speaks of the wire
less bulletins issued daily to travellers on
ocean liners. Any one who has travelled
on one OF these boats knows how much
this amounts to. If the "World's happen
ingS on sea and land consisted of no more
world would indeed be an idle and dull
place. \ few facts which have been re-
laytd from ship to ship and finally reached
the one in question are set down for the
editicaton Of the traveller The New York
Presss comments on this particular feature
of the Marconi system are decidedly to the
point "a recent copy of the Cunard Daily
Rulletiu. issued on the Ftruria hardly