Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-10

potential 0lIIeTellCe OF IHe OStllldliOllS
to be greatest on either side of the coil,
for which reason the aerial and ground
wires are placed on opposite sides of
the coil, where the resonance is at a
maximum. The potential may be fur
ther stepped up to 100000 volts or even
more by an auto-transformer.
New Attachment Invented
A subsidiary piece of apparatus, and
yet a very important one, is the re-
sonanee tube devised by Collins for
the instantaneous visual determination
of the values of induction and capac-
ity of the closed circuit when the cur
rent is in tune" with the aerial wire
system. 1t consists of an exhaust
glass tube. thin, and thirteen inches
long, in the ends of which are platinum
wires one-sixteenth of an inch in dia-
meter, sealed These wires extend
longitudinally through the tube and
the outside terminals are connected in
shunt with the induction coil.
With the first feeble oscillations the
inclosed wire ends begin to glow. AS
the strength of the current increases
the oscillations increase and the glow
extends further and further. Thus the
tube becomes a measuring apparatus,
and the milameter usually employed
is not needed. If the oscillations are
positive the light will appear wholly at
the end of one of the wires. and when
the current is reversed, on the opposite;
but il the current is oscillating with
equal electro-motive forces there will
be the same intensity of light on both
wires.
Dissecting Oscillations
A revolving mirror segregates the os-
citations, rendering it easy to decide
whether they are periodic or continu-
Gus and if the latter, to analyze the
wave form of the spoken words. In
laboratory test before DR.. Leois Bell,
a famous consulting electrical engi-
neer, and Professor Kennedy head of
the department of electrical engineer
ing at Harvard university. the rotat-
ing mirror showed the spark of A.
Frederick Collins to be like one con-
tinuous band of light.
Unique among the many instru-
ments exhibited at the Seattle worlds s
fair Collins telephone stood out as a
feature in that it was the most pow
erful wireless telephone transmitter
in the world. 1t is designed to stand
almost unlimited high potential
strains and is made up of three parts
the rotating oscillation arc. variable
tuning transformer and auto trans
former. This instrument is now in
Los Angeles in the Office of William A.
Mears, Citizens National bank build
ing, and will be used in Los Angeles
for long distance tests now being ar
ranged by the inventor. 1t is a SIM
pie and compact device, made of
brass, nickel and ebony, and is the
only instrument, scientists claim.
capable of generating continuous os-
citations and of reconverting the re-
ceived oscillations into audible ar
ticulate speech.
Horse Power of Energy
There are two fundamental factors
of electrical power-one is what we
term voltage and the other amperage,"
says the inventor. 1.-The voltage is the
unit of electrical pressure, while the
ampere is the unit of electrical current
or quantity Now, in order to ascertain
the actual work a current of electricity
is capable of performing, it is only
necessary to multiply the volts by the
amperes, that is to say, the pressure by
the quantity. The unit of electrical
work is called the Watt, and this is
obtained when we multiply the voltage
by the amperage. There are 746 Watts
in one horsepower. An ordinary 16-
candlepower incandescent lamp re-
quires a current of one-half ampere at
q pressure of 110 volts to bring it to a
So Watts, or almost 14-100 of one horse
power. In our ordinary wireless tele-
phone work we use about 500 volts, and
from about six amperes, which is
equivalent to $50 Watts, or about two
horsepower. OF course this low voltage
is stepped up to about 100000 volts and
the current decreases pFoportionately.
Indeed it could not be otherwise, for If
the current remained constant and we
OF 10 wa hnn
be gaining in energy. under which con-
ditions perpetual motion would be pos
sible, and this would be in direct viola
tion of the inflexible law of the conser-
walton of energy"
Predicts Revolution
collins is revolutionizing commune
cation" said William Morris. a wealthy
New Yorker, after talking without
wires through sixteen feet of solid ma
sonry, "and future generations will re-
gard him in the same light as they do
Franklin, Edison, Morse, Bell and Mar
conf"
Ex-Mayor Clifford of Portland, Me-,
where the first commercial station was
opened, talked around to the islands of
Casco bay. where on account of the
rocky bottom no wires had ever been
stretched. At Arlington, N. j., Gov
ernor Fort, in the presence of $4,000
persons, talked over the wireless tele-
phone, as did five New Jersey mayors
and other prominent officials. In Bos-
ton when the test was being made,
talking across the Charles river, the
prominent men present were elated
with the success of the first experiment,
those present being X-Congressman
Sleeper, Boardman Hall, Frank A. Win
ship, DIR. A. C. Loewehjelm Kopp of the
University Of Copenhagen, DIR. Louis
Bell, Prof. Kennedy and other promi-
nent educators in the city of culture.
Was Calculus Fiend
When Collins was a student at the
old University of Chicago science and
mathematics took his entire attention.
He solved many of the great problems
of calculus, and his professors said of
him that there was no problem in the
whole mathematics that he could not
unravel. In the making of mechanisms
he excelled all of his fellow students,
and he made most of the instruments
he used in the laboratory of the uni
VersitW In that early day he gave
wireless matters his attention, and later
evolved the instrument that is now ac-
cepted as the only wireless telephone
that makes articulate wireless COM
munication possible. Since 1901 Mr..
Collins has lectured for the board Of
education of the city of New York in
Wireless Telephone He is the author
of five books on wireless; he has con-
tributed over 500 original scientific
articles to the technical magazines of
the world, and one of his most notable
is "rhe Discovery of the Effect of
Electric Waves on Brain Cells"
Iiiebi IIees InefrunoAnf