Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-02-13
Great Progress Made in Wire
less. Work By United States
Signal Corps
KITES AND BALLOONS USED
Details of One companys Experiments
at Fort Leavenworth, In Kansas
First Messages Were Received from
Kansas City, Then st. Louis, Chi
caeo and Other Points.

army, the least known to the public
and the least spectacular, has stepped
into prominence, and its work Is being
heralded throughout the country be-
cause Of the remarkable progress i'll
wireless biography by one company
stationed at Fort Leavenworth, says Il
New York Herald correspondent. s
few men Of this company, under the
direction of Captain William Mitchell,
are making wireless experiments.
While Major George Squier, chief Of
the signal school for officers, and Cap
tain Mitchell were flying kites seven
feet high and five feet broad, connected!
with wireless instrument, they inter
cepted message sent from President
Roosevelt on board the West Virginia
going from New Orleans to Washing
ton, 1850 miles from Fort Leavenworth
The wireless operators caught mes
sage the same evening from young
woman Oh the Concho of the Mallory
line in the gulf of Mexico. 1t was in
tended for the wireless receiving sta
ton in Galveston, Tex, and was to be
forwarded from there to Austin.
Their greatest feat was intercepting
a message from the Standard Oil com
pany steamship Maverick, sent when
that vessel was of the coast OF Porto
Rico. The signal corps men would not
believe they had intercepted message
from so great distance until they had
10orpn1 fhOI
such dispatch had been sent.
When wireless biography expert
ments were begun in the signal corps
the officers knew practically nothing
Of it. They received instruments, both
receiving and transmitting, and began
work. Captain Mitchell rugged UP sew
eral telephone wires In front of the
company's barracks running up to the
roof, but soon learned that the main
thing was to get the wires higher Into
the air. Stations were built on the
high hills surrounding the fort, and
messages were received from rs far as
Parkville, Mo-, fifteen miles distant.
Two stations were necessary to COM
municate with the De Forest station.
in Kansas City, Mo.
A pole was constructed later that
could be taken down and loaded into q
wagon, but this was not satisfactory.
Sergeant King Of Company A then be-
gan experimenting with kites These
were made Of japanese silk stitched
to bamboo frames seven feet high and
five feet broad The whole weight of
such kite is less than two pounds.
The kites are used singly or in pairs,
or three together, in proportion to the
wind. In a five or six mile wind one
or two kites are used. They can be
used in wind of only two miles an
hour and will elevate the buzzer wire
to any height desired.
The difficult feature of the new APP
paratus was to obtain wire light
enough to be raised in the air to trans
NIT the wireless waves successfully
and under all conditions. Wire weigh
ing only six pounds to the mile was
tried with success. When there Is no
wind small balloons are used. After
kites were used messages were re-
ceived from Kansas City, later from st.
Louis, then from Chicago; later still
from the gulf Of Mexico, and now the
officers place no limit upon the dis
lance, especially since message was
intercepted from Porto Rico.
Cities having wireless stations have
towers Of steel and apparatus costing
thousands Of dollars. At Fort Leaven-
worth the entire wireless apparatus Is
carried upon the back of an army mule.
Experiments at Fort Leayenworth
are confined to what Is called field
work-that is, with portable apparatus
for what practical use the army
corps can make Of wireless messages
in time Of war will be dependent upon
their ability to set up their stations
wherever they may chance to be. On
til few weeks ago it required three
wagons and eighteen mules to carry
the signaling apparatus. Now, after
has perfected the arrangement which
permits it to be carried upon mule.
Company A Is equipped for establish
ing lines of information, such as tele-
graph and telephone lines, with an ar
my in the field. Photographs, acetylene
night lights, rockets, bombs and all
similar appliances for communication
depend for their successful operation
on wires, light or favorable conditions
of the weather. The heliograph re-
quires the sun, and in heavy fogs the
lamps and rockets are useless. The
company is now equipped with pack
train, field train and an automobile It
has wagons to carry twenty-five miles
of wire and two complete telegraphing
outfits. The field train Of the company
can keep up with an army marching
fifteen miles day
AT present the members Of the CON-
pany are experimenting on plan to
explode mines by wireless apparatus
The firing Of mines by direct electric
wire connection is old and easy to do.
but to explode one long distance
away would be new and valuable. A
box containing an explosive was re-
Gently placed on the main parade
ground at Fort Leavenworth by Cap
tain Mitchell and short wire connect
ed to it, and this to q buzzer. Fifty
feet away the signal officer took his
wireless apparatus. started the buEer,
,~A %lo oor