Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-01
Phone Across Atlantic
the Next Big Step
pecial Correspondence OF The Star.

special correspondence OF The Star.
LONDON. September Il. 1911
C1NCE the first announcement to the
- Royal Society few weeks ago OF
Grindell Matthews discoveries in wireless
telephoning. that young English engineer
has been making such rapid progress with
his experiment that he now makes claims
which, if proved. would indicate that the
world is on the verge OF one of those
epoch-making discoveries which ami
hflate space and distance. oven Mar
coni's wireless telegraph fades into in
significance beside Mr. Matthews aero
phone" by the use OF which It is posi-
BILE that friend may talk Familiarity to
friend across the Atlantic.
OF course. Mr. Matthews is secretfye
about his apparatus. 1t hasn't been per-
fected yet. and, therefore, hasn't been
patented. and, moreover. the British gov
eminent Is so impressed with its posi-
biiities that il has arranged for ex-
haustive tests and may acquire the sole
right to use 1t for war purposes One
can readily imagine the advantage that
would be possessed by army whose
generals could communicate with each
other freely at any distance with
no fear of wires being cut or couriers
captured All that is known now is that
the apparatus consists of box contain
ing the battery, motor and transformer
SO small that a man can easily carry il
about with him. Thus a business man
could carry his own telephone In his
pocket. and If he couldn't come home to
dinner could call up his wife and tell
her So Even if she were out shopping he
could communicate with her, for the in
struments are SO tuned TO transmit
the voice only to other instruments
similarly adjusted. This makes II alb
solutely impossible to tap a message.
A few days ago Mr.. Matthews gave q
remarkable demonstration of the value
or his discovery to a small committee OF
London business men. He was locked up
In the strong room of a bank. lined with
nine inches of armor Steel nine inches of
frebrick and six feet Of concrete, and
thence he talked freely to an opeartor In a
room on the other side of the building.
Even the ticking of his watch could be
heard
Since then he has been carrying on his
experiments at Chepstow on the Wye,
where mountains of rock alternate with
valleys, and where he conditions are
ideal for a severe test. He has managed
to speak distinctly for a distance of six
miles, and in few days he will try TO
project his voice eleven miles through the
rock. A forty-mile chat is next on his
list. and he sees no physical impossibility
In talking for unlimited distances. II is
all matter of perfecting the instru-
ment, and when the perfect instrument
comes Mr.. Matthews is confident that the
stock Spectator in Park Lane, London.
will be able to discuss the market and
give his orders viva voce to his broker
in Wall street. New York, without leav
ing the breakfast table.
In the present state of high politics in
Europe 1t isn't surprising that a num-
Der of foreign-looking men have arrived
at Chepstow and tried to scrape ac-
quaintance with Mr.. Matthews and his as
sistants. Mr.. Matthews. however, Is an
old army man. and is his guard. He
served with the Royal Engineers through
out the Boer war, and as he was at
tached to the telegraph branch he learned
something of the methods of the '1ntelli-
gence department"