Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-09-02
WIRELESS WAVES
The Electric Voice That Speaks
Through the Ether.
SETTING UP THE VIBRATIONS.
This 10 the Work Of the oscillator,
Which Is tho Electric Mouth, and Its
Message 10 Caught BY tho Resonator,
Which Is the Ear Of the Apparatus.

graphic device. tile wonderful Wire
less Is Il speaking voice. 1t makes
itself heard just as the human voice
does by il series OF waves moving free.
" through space.
When | speak my voice is sent out
In undulations OF varying length and
frequency through the air. When the
wireless speaks its voice is conveyed
BY fluctuations 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 fluctuations in
the ether us our mouths send out un.
dulations in the air. and the resona-
tor OF the wireless Is an ear" catch.
ing the etherial v as they im-
pinge upon it. as our ears catch the
atmospheric waves that strike them.
We see nothing wonderful In vocal
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 waves seem to us, marvel
Gus. although they : in principle no
more marvellous than the waves Of air.
Man 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 a
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 waves 'speak" straight
through the ether.
1t is true that the language employed
does not consist Of the words of any
spoken tongue. but it is M that can
be directly translated into any other
known to man, and 10 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 q condenser" q similar but oppo.
site charge is induced upon another
condenser placed nears The air be-
tween them acts as All insulator be-
cause 1t is a poor conductor Of electric
ity. 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 a gun or
the utterance Of a sound. sets up a Sc
ries of waves in the surrounding me-
dium. which radiate away OH all sides.
These waves in the ether produce the
electric voice" II the sparks are reg
ulated in number and frequency the
consequent waves are similarly regu-
lated. IAN instrument for the produc-
ton Of such waves is called an oscilla'
tor or EXETER. It is a kind of vocal mp.
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 If
we were not provided with ears to bear
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. It may be sit
uated hundreds of miles from the os-
cillator. but it will catch the waves
they undulate to it through the
ether, and Is 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 elec-
trio ear are in some ways more man
ageable than the human voice and ear.
can only produce and hear dir
waves of q limited range Of frequency.
and we cannot do much to alter that
limit. .s, 5g
Sound waves vibrating less than
forty times q second or more than 40
300 times are inaudible to us. But cleo.
trio waves varying in frequency from
\ few hundred up to hundreds Of mil.
lions a second can be rendered per.
ceptible, and it is also possible Sc to
construct the instruments that they
will send forth and receive particular
Of waves and be mute and
deaf to others. G
Then the distance over which the
waves can be detected is al.
most infinitely greater than that Of
ordinary sound waves 1t takes a
strong voiced man to make his. voice
audible across a little river, but, as
knows, the electric cry Of. a
hip IN distress can be electrically
heard from the middle Of the Atlantic
,cean., And there are enthusiasts who
that before very long We shall
20 able to speak by wireless to some
,ther planet. il only there is somebody
here to hear and understand us!-
Garrett p. Serviss In Spokane SpokeS.