Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1913-09-11
WIRELESS Waves
The Electric Voice That Speaks
Through the Ether.
SETTING UP THE VIBRATIONS.

This Is the Work of the OscilIator,
Which Is the Electric Mouth, and Its
Message Is Caught BY the Resonator,
Which Is the Ear of the Apparatus.
More truly than any other tele-
graphic device. the wonderful wire
less is Il speaking voice. 1t makes
itself heard Just ais the human voice
does by Il series Of waves moving free
~ through space.
When | speak my voice is sent out
In fluctuations Of varying length and
frequency through the air. When the
wireless speaks" its voice is conveyed
by u%ndulations in the ether. which is
a more refined medium than air, carry
ing the waves of light and electricity
as the air carries those of sound.
The oscillator of the wireless is a
mouth" sending out undulations in
the ether as our mouths send out IN
dulations in the air. and the resona-
" VA INV "ACICSS 10 al Suis SolSh0
ing the ETHEREAL ave as ttaY i'm
pinge upon it. as our ears catch the
atmospheric waves that strike them.
We see nothing wonderful in voca
sounds. because nature gave us in our
needs one instrument to produce them
and another to receive them. But she
left us to find out for ourselves how
to produce and receive vocal" waves
in the ether. Since we had to make
the instruments that deal with them
the etheric I've seem to us marvel
GUS. although they are in principle no
more marvellous than the waves of air.
Mar began to use electricity for con-
veying intelligence by sending a cur
rent Of it along a wire. He pressed a
button at one end of the line. and the
electric current passing along the wire
induced a corresponding motion in a
Taper at the other end. 1t was Il
roundabout way Of employing an agen-
cy which we now know can be en-
ployed more simply and directly by
throwing away the wires and making
the electric wave "speak" straight
through the etQeF.
1t is true that the language employed
does not consist of the words of any
spoken tongue. hut it is one that can
be directly translated into any other
known to man., and so it is the most
universal OF all languages.
Now, let us see how it is employed.
First as to the electric mouth" When
a charge of electricity is accumulated
on a condenser a similar but oppO-
site charge is induced upon another
condenser placed near. The air be-
tween them acts as an insulator be-
cause it is a poor conductor Of electric
itv. But when the charge attains a
certain degree OF intensity the strain
upon the air becomes too great. and a
spark passes between the two con-
densers. by which equilibrium is re-
stored between them.
The passage of this spark produces.
so to speak. a shock in the ether.
which. like the explosion OF Il gun or
the utterance Of a sound. sets up a Sc
ries of waves in the surrounding me-
dium. which radiate away on all sides.
AACSC waves l luc cluCl piOuuSC tuN
electric voice" If the sparks are reg
ulated in number and frequency the
consequent waves are similarly reSu,
lated. An instrument for the produc-
ton Of such waves is called an oscilla-
tor or EXETER. 1t is Il kind of vocal APP
paratus for speaking through the ether
instead OF through the air.
R,1t i,,Sf &c uo chn111 horn NJ, l.nnwi.
edge of the passage of sound waves if
we were not provided with ears to hear
them. so the electric waves would go
unregarded if we had no apparatus for
receiving them.
The receiving apparatus is called a
resonator. or detector. 1t may be sit
uated hundreds Of miles from the os-
%cillator. but it will catch the waves
as they undulate to it through the
ether, and it can be made to reproduce
them in an audible or legible form by
causing them to operate a Morse dot
and dash instrument. as in ordinary
telegraphy by wire.
But the electric voice and the cleo
trio ear are in some ways more man
ageabIe than the human voice and ear.
We can only produce and hear air
waves Of Il limited range Of frequency.
and we cannot do much to alter that
limit.
Sound waves vibrating less than
forty times q second or more than 40
900 times are inaudible to US. But cleo
trio waves varying in frequency from
a few hundred up to hundreds of mil
lions a second can be rendered per
ceptible. and it is also possible SO to
construct the instruments that they
will send forth and receive particular
ranges Of waves and be mute and
deaf to others
Then the distance over which the
electric waves can be detected is al
most infinitely greater than that Of
ordinary sound waves. 1t takes a