The Irish standard., 1914-11-28
Priest Invents
Pocket Wireless
Father Argentine Uses Cupola o
Church as Station for Wireless.

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The Aquila priest, Don Domeni Ar
gentieri, generally known as Prof. Ar
gentieri, as he teaches history and
Hebrew in the seminary of Rome, de-
clines to give any additional details
about the portable wireless receiver
which he has invented. Even during
the recent experiments in the pres
ence of several well-known persons
he insisted on hiding his apparatus
under a sheet of paper, so that no.
body so far has actually seen it.
He consented, however, to explain
how his discovery was made.
Il started studying autobiography
two years ago, after having concluded
my studies in Rome" he said. II then
had a wireless apparatus manufac-
tured by MN. Ducretet, a French firm.
This apparatus had been sent to
Father Alfani, who had invented an
other wireless apparatus, and he was
asked to try it. When he was on the
point of sending it back to France he
suggested that should buy it and I
obtained it for $48. 1 then set up an
aerial $50 yards high on a hill near
Rocca di Mezzo and started my ex-
periments.
II had no end of trouble with the
authorities, as my aerial was visible,
and after five months l was warned
by officers that unless l obtained a
special permit from the Ministry of
Posts and Telegraphs would not be
allowed to use my wireless installa-
ton.
When l moved to Aquila l found
no place high enough for setting up
the aerial, and after studying long l
decided to try new system of aerial
which would not be visible from the
outside. l placed pulley inside the
cupola of the Church Of St. Augustine,
as am it's parish priest, and by
means Of two strings l used to hoist
at night two wire nettings about ff-
teen yards long, the ends of which
kept apart by means of cane. These
nets were connected to an ordinary
electric light wire which passed
through window to my study.
Father Alfani had succeeded in in
tercepting messages in a similar man
ner through the walls of the Church
of Santa Maria Novella of Florence,
which is ninety-one yards high. After
some time succeeded in doing away
with this arrangement and l invent
ed an instrument capable of intercept
ing or rather receiving messages
without any aerial. My receiver is a
portable object of small dimensions.
An ordinary telephone receiver is at
tached to it and limited number of
wires are used to connect it's different
parts. The instrument can be used
anywhere provided there is an cleo
trio light.
"By unscrewing the bulb of the
lamp and connecting the wire of the
instrument with the current, even
without the necessity of depriving
oneself Of the light, the apparatus is
placed in working order. 1t obviates
the necessity of tapping the wires in
order to intercept ordinary kilograms
in time of war, and my receiver, ow-
ing to its simplicity and its cheap
ness, can be adopted on a large scale
to transmit orders in the field or to
different localities in time of peace,
as for instance in the meteorological
service.
There are other systems for inter-
cepting wireless messages, but so far
not one besides mine that has been
able to intercept messages from dis
lance of 1000 kilometers. With my
receiver can obtain messages from
Norddeich, near Wilhelmshaven. on
the Baltic. My receiver does not need
to be tuned in order to pick up the
wave trains. 1t costs only about "a.
A good telephone receiver can be had
for about $3.50, while the wires and
other component parts Of my receiver
costs only about 81.
after I had invented the apparatus,
and when had started successfully to
intercept wireless messages, the war
broke out. and as the police had orders
to seize all wireless installations, and
it was known that had one, of course
my house was searched, but the police
found nothing to seize. The officers
in charge asked me where my appar.