Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1913-06-27
MARCONI TELLS
HIS LIFE STORY
Inventor, In Court, States How
Wireless Idea Grew.
SUES FOR INFRINGEMENT.

Dreamed Of the Possibilities OF His In
vention When Boy and Worked to
Develop lt--Aleses National Signal
ing Company Is Using Theories
Which He Patented,
Gugllelmo Marconi. testifying in New
York IN the injunction and damage
suit brought by the Marconi Wireless
Telegraph Company OF America against
the National Electric signaling com
pany briefly sketched che remarkable
career that made wireless telegraThy
and the name Marconi practically syn
onymous.
It WAS the life story of N well to do
Italian lad who had expanded the germ
OF an idea to worldwide proportions.
From a mere toy that spluttered feebly
across the length Of a dining room Ia
Bile he bad laboriously evolved the mira
Gle worker Of the present day, which
sends its message jumping across 6.0o0
miles
The idea wus not entirely new, he
said, but he insisted that the develop
ments covered by his patents bad made
wireless practicable aud lifted II out
Of the class Of scientific freaks to II
place among the commercial utilities
that are now almost Indispensable He
denied that he had taken his best IDEAS
from either Popon or Hertz.
inventor a Good Witness.
Marconi made good wituess. He
was as shrewd in appraising the ques-
lions Of the patent lawyers as he was
in weighing ana framing his replies.
He Is man of medium height and
build, dark or coloring, and the slight
nervousness he manifested seemed
characteristic rather than the result Of
the swiftly shifting and sharp attacks
he was subjected to in cross examins-
ton,
At one point he was accused of tax
Ing his idea for grounding wires from
the German scientist popoff, this ale
gation being based on the fact that
newspaper reports mt the time patents
were pending contained no reference
to this vital improvement In apparatus.
The lawyers for the defense took THIS
to mean that the idea Of grounding
came to him after he had applied for
patents Popon suggested such IN i'm
provement Just about that time
"Certaiuly not" Marconi replied
DO you think would be fool enough
TO give away one OF my very best ideas
heforp | had patented it,
Marconi is tIlrty-cight years old. al
though his appearance would indicate
that more than eleven years have
elapsed since be came over. mere
boy I'm appearance ana enthusiasm, to
demonstrate the practicabllity Of his
apparatus to the government and PEG
pie OF this country His mustache is
gone but seriousness has taken its
place He seems to have aged even
more than the passing of time would
warrant Cares have multiplied pro
digiously for the young man then less
than twentyl who in 1894 read Of the
experiments OF Hertz. the German
wireless inventor, and was fred to now
experiments with the apparatus he
had toyed with as schoolboy.
Experimental From eoyhood.
Most of the earlier experiments were
made on his fathers country estate in
Italy, which Mareoni described as two
and one-half miles long and half
mile wide He had been interested in
physics and electricity from boyhood.
he testified. and naturally paid most
attention to studies bearing upon the
subject His education along these
lines had not been exhaustive. how
ever, except in 50 far as he taught
himself, and it is to tbs self teaching
that he owes his title Of electrical en-
gineer. From the time he was twenty
he stuck perslstently to the study and
practical application OF wireless,
though frequently discouraged and
finally stumped for time
1t was not until he had elevated his
conductors and grounded his connec-
tons that he was able TO send over a
third Of u mile After that ii was an
almost uninterrupted march TO fame
and fortune. extending from the Eng
fish postofiee experiments in 1897
down to the present day The Brit
fish navy was the first TO take II up
then the Italian navy The American
navy has a system OF its own which
will be put out OF business. the de
PENDANTS say. If the AIarconi people
win their suit