The Topeka state journal., 1909-02-06


apart by needle or spar Of wood. The
| wireless telephone, just as the wireless
| telegraph, depends upon the projection OF
electric waves that pass through the at
mosphere, and solid substances as well.
with the velocity of light, which is 10000
miles a second or more than seven times
the circumference of the globe.
The mechanical principles upon which
the wireless telephone depend seem to
| be simple enough, although there is q
great difference of opinion as to the act
ual explanation of the phenomena OF
wireless telephony. Speech is the forTna-
ton of very rapid complex and ever-vary-
ing series of vibrations of the air and
their measurement by the nerves of the
ear Owing to the resistance of the att
nrosphere these vibrations grow weaker
and at last disappear as we get further
from the source of disturbance. Tele-
phony is the art of translating these
vibrations of the air into vibrations OF
ether whose lesser resistance enables
them to be carried to great distances for
translation into air vibrations again. as
only the afr vibrations can be measured
by the ear. In the wireless telephone
the air waves are translated into ths
vibration of can electrical discharge
which oscillates the ether.
One exceptionally valuable feature OF
the wireless telephone, which the United
States Government is utilizing as rapidly
as possible, is it's adaptability to the
lighthouse and lightship service. Because
of the absence of wire maintenance
charges it costs no more to talk from
shore to a lighthouse or lightship than
1t would cost to talk between two blocks
of a congested city district and the light
house keeper or lightship people need
ate the apparatus.
Government Shows It's Appreciation.
At every turn the Government has
shown dts appreciation of the invention,
which, in addition to having been in-
stalled on the thirty odd battleships.
cruisers and torpedo-boat destroyers OF
the Pacific fleet before they started on
their voyage around the world, has also
been installed at Fortress Monroe, Mare
Island and other army posts.
Still another feature of the invention,
or rather the benefit that may be derived
from it, is for the supplying of music
and other forms of entertainment to
passengers travelling on the passenger
vessels. A service of this kind, aided by
huge receiver so that all of the passen-
gers gathered in a large salon could hear
the music or operatic airs simultane-
ously, should prove a most welcoms
innovation for steamship travellers. It IL
within the range of possibilities, at an
early date, that the traveller by Great
Lakes steamer may be able to spend his
evenings listening to the voices Of CarusO
or Melba simultaneously with the audIen-
ces who see the singers in person at
Covent Garden, London, or the Metro
poHtan or Manhattan Opera Houses In
New York
with the first great long distanos
wireless station nearing completion at
Toledo, with twenty-five other long dis
tance stations already contracted for
construction along the lake front. with
work going ahead on seventy-five srnaIls
er shore stations and with fifty odd nnorO
already projected, there is reason to ex-
pect that, by the time Great Lakes navi-
CATION opens in the Spring for the season
OF 1909, the wireless telephone system
viii be in full operation on the Great
Lakes with nearly 200 stations in use.
The central station of the system will
be located at Sault ste Marie, a contract
for its construction already having been
let Chicago, Cleveland. Detroit, Milwau-
kee, Duluth, Buffalo, Erie and Fittsburr
are among the cities being provided with
iong-distance stations, while among other
places for which minor stations are
either planned or under construction
are Sandusky, Lorain, Benton Har-
Der. Muskegon, Bay city, Cheboygan,
Manistee, Mackinaw, AIpena, Port Huron.
ashland. Dunkirlx. Superior, EAgIe River,
Marquette, Escanaba Bay, Menominee,
Marinette, Green Bay. Sheboygan, Racine,
Kenosha, Waukegan, Gary. Grand Haven,
Traverse City, Petoskey. ST. Ignace,
Grand Rapfd5, Ashtabula. Charlotte
oswego and 6asksttS' HarbOr.