The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1913-08-01
WIRELESS WAVES
The Electric Voice That Speaks
Through the Ether.
SETTING UP THE VIBRATIONS.
This 10 the Work Of tho CsoilIstor,
Which 10 tho Electric Mouth, and fts
Message 10 Caught by tho Resonator,
Which 10 the Ear Of tho Apparatus.

More truly than any other teie-
graphic device, the wonderful wire
less is a speaking voice. II makes
itself heard just as the human voice
does by series Of waves moving free
ly through space.
When l speak my voice In sent out
I'm undulations OF varying length and
frequency through the air. When the
wireless speaks" It's voice is conveyed
by unduations 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 IN a
mouth" sending out undulatlons In
the ether as our mouths send out un-
dulations I'm the air. and the resona-
tor OF the wireless II an ear" catch
ing the ETHEREAL waves as they i'm
pfnge upon It, AS our ears catch the
atmospheric waves that strike them.
We see nothing wonderful In vocal
sounds, because nature give VIZ In our
needs one instrument to produce them
and another TO receive them. But she
left us 10 fnd 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 waves seem 10 us marvel
Gus, although they are In principle no
m tho W nf air
Man began 20 use electricity for con
veying intell gcnce by sending cur
rent OF it along n wire. He pressed
button at one end OF the line. and the
electric current passing along the wire
induced corresponding motion In
Taper at the other end. II was
roundabout way OF employing an ngen.
cy which we now know can be EN-
ployed more simply and directly by
throwing away the wires and making
the electric waves "speak" straight
through the ether
IL IL true that the language employed
does not consist OF the words OF any
spoken tongue. but II IL one that can
be directly translated into any other
known to man, and so II Is the most
universal Of all languages.
Now, let us see how II IL employed.
First as TO the electric mouth When
n charge OF electricity Is accumulated
on a condenser" similar but oppo.
site charge Is induced upon another
condenser placed near. The air be-
tween them acts as an insu tor be-
cause Il IL a poor conductor OF electric
ity. But when the charge tains
certain degree OF intensity tn strain
upon the mir becomes too grea,, and
spark passes between the two con
densers. by which equilibrium Is re-
stored between them.
The passage OF this spark produces,
80 TO speak, shock I'm the ether,
which, like the explosion OF gun or
the utterance OF a sound, sets up se-
ries OF waves I'm the surrounding me
dium. which radiate away on all sides.
These waves in the ether produce the
electric voice" IL the sparks are reg.
ulated I'm number and frequency the
consequent waves are similarly regu-
lated. An instrument for the produc-
ton Of such waves is called al oscilla-
tor or EXETER. 1t is kind OF vocal ap-
paratus for speaking through the ether
instead Of through the air.
But Just as we should have no knowl-
edge OF the passage OF sound waves II
we were not provided with ears to hear
them, 40 the electric waves would go
unregardcd if we had no apparatus for
receiving them.
The receiving apparatus Is called
resonator, or detector IL may be sit
uated hundreds OF miles from the os-
cillator, but II will catch the waves
as they undulnte TO II through the
ether. and IL can be made 20 reproduce
them In an audible or legible form by
causing them to operate Morse dot
and dash instrument, rs In ordinary
tclegraphy 10y wire.
But the electric voice and the cleo
trio ear are I'm some ways more man
ageable than the human voice and ear
We can only produce and hear mir
waves of a limited range Of frequency,
and we cannot do much To alter that
limit
Sound waves vibrating less than
forty times "A second or more than lO,-
900 times are inaudlble 10 us. But cleo
tric waves varying in frequency from
a few hundred up 20 hundreds OF mil
lions n second can he rendered per
ccptible, and IL 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 he detected IL al
most infinitely greater than that "
ordinary sound waves. IL takes a
strong voiced man 10 make his voice
audible across little river. but. rs
| everybody knows. the electric cry OF
ship I'm distress can be electrically
heard from the middle of the Atlantic
ocean. And there are enthusiasts who
predict that before very long we shall
oe able 10 speak 10y wireless ~ some