The Washington herald., 1908-02-06
A DECADE OF ACHIEVEMENT
By FREDERIC HASKIN.

That the present decade. beginning
with January /. 1901. will be the greatest
ten years Of achievement IN the history
Of invention Is the candid opinion OF
many who have the right 20 speak au-
thoritauveIy on the matter Beginning
with the perfection of wireless teIegraphy
and followed by demonstrations that the
inmost secrets OF aerial navigation cannot
much longer be held as a monopoly BY
the birds and the beetles that fy. the
present ten years seems 90 bid fair o.
become "a golden age Of invention; and
that ja spite % the fact that no era in
the history has been so fragght with in
vcnti0ns for the benefit Of mankind as
the fifty wears preceding the close of
the nineteenth century. The man who
would have prophesied En- 1900 that be-
fore seven years should elapsa wireless
telegrapby should have made IL possible
% talk a thousand miles through the air
would have been looked upon as the
veriest dreamer. as much OF a dreamer
ln fact as men believe the fellow 90 be
who predicts that we VIII yet be able
10 transmit electric power through the
ambient atmosphere as freely as we now
send signals.
The invention az a drug clerk in Phil
adelphia, who studied electricity as
pastime. promises to do wonders i1 max
ing &c a power that may hs "~ad in
every home The school girl who de-
fined electricity as "a force known only
hy its manifestations" gave q definition
about as scientific as the most skilled
electrician could frame. and il is this
lack OF ability 90 understand just what
fl really Is that makes the tvr3 in the
field of electrical science almost as
likely 90 discover some new and latent
power in 70 as the most scholarly in-
veutor For years and years the primary
battery has been in use. but IL was only
useful in ringing door bells. carrying
telephone currents and tJs like. where
dry batteries and Lalauca cells are
used. IL remained for Frank g. Decker
to give the world q primary battery that
can brine to q home in the wilderness
an the electrical advantages ~ "a nome
ia the city where electrical plants exists.
This battery may DE used to generate
lights 40 night and 20 run an automobile
in the daytime. In short. al a cost lower
than the cost To- the Individual for eiec-
trio power and light in any principal
city. one may have q little power plant
Of his own. whose first cost promises 20
be so low that any average man can at-
ford 10 buy l.. and whose cost of opera
ton is less than any other system Of
lighting or power. So impressed with 1T
was the Franklin Institute that it rec
commended to the city of Philadelphia
the bestowal upon Mr Decker Of the
John Scott Legacy Medal Tor the best
invention of the year. one Of the espe-
cial features which is commended is the
fact that whereas other primary batter
les soon lose their power when q short
circuit occurs, the Decker battery almost
thriyes on short circuits. For years
Thomas A. Edison has been trying to
perfect "a poor mans method Of get
ting electric power In his storage battery
but it is said to appear that Decker has,
/ 10 borrow an expression from the street,
| beat him 10 IT,
Perhaps even more remarkable than
the perfection Of wireless telegraph is
the invention of telephOtOgT8phy. To
think of seeing the image of some one
ten miles away by wire looks on its face
TO be thinking of what Is about IS much
Of a dream as perpetual motion. Yet the
method Of seeing by wire just as we talk
by wire has been perfected TO such de-
gree that in Germany they have been
able TO transmit photographs more than
ten miles. The end ut which the expert
mentors i'm telephOtography are aiming
is to produce a telephone through which
one may see as we'll as hear the person
Of Tr-fra flEssrr Trrc
by telephone is a simple process which
any schOOIbOy may understand, but to
think of seeing by the same method is
10 think Of the most wonderful incur
sion into the field Of discovery yet made.
For years men have looked at the
phonograph and wondered at the inge-
nuity that evolved the talking machine.
Yet the present decade has produced a
talking machine that promises TO prove
as superior 60 those heretofore in use as
the strains Of q church organ are super
Tor to music on tin pan. This inven
ton preserves the voice in pieces of
wire When il is started to talking, or
singing, instead OF the phonograph voice,
laden with all sorts of metallic screeehes.
tive purity It may be attached 10
telephone. and will record all converse
tions with the utmost fidelity. and in
such a way that the talk at both ends
Of the line is reproduced. Thus. when
a man has important business over the
telephone, and wants to have indisput-
able proof Of what was said, his little
machine will furnish it, Likewise, when
he wants TO be away, he can instruct his
callers to leave their messages with the
telegraphone, and the instrument viii re-
ceive them more faithfully than any Of
fee boy was ever known 70 do.
The wireless telephone has passed the
experimental stage in this country dur
ing the present decade, and while there
are yet many things in connection with
its use which viii have 20 be worked out
In the future. evidence is not wanting
| that the principles have been developed
and that only the details stand in the
way of successful use. The telhar-
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