Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-07-21
THE NEW FOGPHoNE,
Will Make Collisions at Sea Practically
Impossible.

Collisions at sea are made practically
impossible by the invention of the fog
phone. say the men who are introducing
that device. 1t is operated in connecticut
with a wireless current through the air.
or under water by means of bell. The
instrument gives the exact location of a
snip to another wireless-equipped vessel
The direction in which they lie in res
spect to each other and the directions Hetrs
IS taking also are made plain. By this
ingenious device ships in foggy weathers
may follow the course of every vessel
within sound or reach by wireless for
days, and thus every one will be aide
to avoid collision with any other. The
fogphone is the invention of Robert H..
Marriott, of Brooklyn. one of the scienSs
tific directors of the United Wireless Tele-'
graph Company. which controls the pa
been tested for a long time privately.
and its advocates assert it has proved its
efficiency and reliability under adverse
conditions.
fogphone in 20 ocean steamships equip
ped with the wireless telegraph. The in
vention is SO simple that many electri-
clans are e. why they had not
ate the little clock-like mechanism, and
arithmetical calculation does the rest.
The difference in time between the re-
ceipt Of the sound from a vessel equipped
with the distance detector and the send
ing of it gives the number of miles.
either by wireless or the submarine bell,
the operator knowing the rate at which
sound travels through the air or under
the water, as the case may be. Two ves-
sells thus brought into communication
cannot come into collision. Marriott the
inventor. says:
1.-The basic principle of the fogphone is
the fact that sound travels through the
air at a rate of approximately LOCO feet
a second. or through water at a slightly
greater rate of speed. and that when
sound is reproduced at distance by
means of wireless waves its velocitys.fs
practically that of light, or $4,000 ril1es
second.
This is how I have applied these two
well-known scientific laws: A bell ring
ing in the air. If the sound waves are
gathered by the transmitter Of the wire
less telephone. may be heard distinctly
in wireless receiver one mile distant In
1-1S6,0 600 of SECOND, or instantly SO far
as the human &enses can determine. The
same sound travelling through the air will
reach the same receiving point just five
seconds afterward.
These two sounds are Identical in
tone, and it is this fact which will pre-
operator in picking out particular bell.
The instant the sound of the bell Is
heard through the wireless receiver the
operator presses button, which starts
a device similar to stop watch. except
that the points around the circumference
of the dial, instead of representing sec
onds, indicate distances In miles and
feet.
The instant the sound of the bell reach
es the operator through the air or
through the mechanism of the submarine
bell he presses the button once more.
This stops the clock-like device and the
hand of the dial indicates accurately the
distance between the point where the
sound originates and the point of its re-
ception.
For example, should the sound of a
bell on board a vessel in a fog be heard
by means of the wireless telephone and
arrive seven and a half seconds ahead of
the same sound going in the natural wav
through the air or transmitted through
the water by means of the submarine bell
device. 1t Is simple matter to calculate
indication of the fogphone however gives
the exact distance in feet.
When the sound of the bell Is heard
next the operation is repeated and the
dial of the indicator shows whether the
point from which the sound emanates Is
This knowledge enables the man In the
pilot house to avoid all danger Of coll
fision. A bell ringing from station on
rock or other menace TO navigation Will
danger and make 1t an easy matter for
the pilot of vessel to steer clear Of It.
when It is desirable to reach out D
great distance for the sound OF the warm
Ing bell both receivers at the operators
ears are connected with the wireless tele-
sound Of the bell he presses the button
and this not only starts the measuring
device going. but switches the telephone
receiver from the wireless receiver to the
the sounds from the air or water. When
the signal is heard by way OF the water
or air the pressing OF the button regis
ters the distance separating the pointof
reception and at the same time switches
~" head telephone back to the wireless
C1rnl1if Z. :