The herald., 1913-11-13
WIRELESS WAVES
The Electric Voice That Speaks
Through the Ether.
SETTING UP THE VIBRATIONS.
This Is the Work of the OsciIlator,
Which Is the Electric Mouth, and lite
Message Is Caught by the Resonator,
Which Is the Ear of the Apparatus.

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itself heard just as the human voice
does by Il series of waves moving free
ly 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 undulations 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 un-
dulatiOns in the air, and the resOna-
tor of the wireless is an ear catch
ing the ETHEREAL waves as they i'm
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 10 us marvel
Gus, although they are 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 1t along wire. He pressed n
button at one end of the line. and the
electric current passing along the wire
induced corresponding motion in a
Taper at the other end. Ii was II
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 1t IS one that can
be directly translated into any other
known TO man, and so 1t 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 poor conductor of electric
ity. But when the charge attains a
certain degree of intensity the strain
upon the air becomes too great, and
spark passes between the two con-
densers. by which equilibrium is re-
stored between them.
The passage of this spark produces,
so TO speak, shock in the ether,
which. like the explosion of gun or
the utterance Of sound. sets up Sc
ries of waves in the surrounding me
dunn. which radiate away on 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 An instrument for the produc-
ton of such waves is called an oscilla-
tor or EXETER. Ii 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. 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 1t through the
ether. and it can be made to reproduce
them in an audible or legible form by
causing them to operate 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.
ageable than the human voice and ear.
waves of 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 40
600 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 1t 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 q
strong voiced man to make his voice
audible across a little river, but, as
everybody knows. the electric cry Of a
ship In distress can be electrically
heard from the middle Of the Atlantic
ocean. And there are enthusiasts who
predict that before very long we shall
be able to speak by wireless to some
other planet. II only there is somebody
there to hear and understand us!-
Garrett P. Serviss In Spokane Spokes-
man. Review