The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-03
SEES GREATER WONDERS
FOR WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY
DR.. Peter Cooper Hewitt Discusses
Its Present Achievements and
Outlines Future Possibilities
r. PETER COOPER HEWITT
lie one Of the men whose work
has contributed to make pos


sible the achievement Of
wireless telephony. by which the
sound Of a human voice was carried
from Arlington, Va, to Hawaii. a dis
lance Of 1900 miles. When asked to
discuss this feat he said:
From Washington to Honolulu by
wireless telephone Is certainly an i'm
pressive achievement in the art Of
transmitting the human voice. t'has
taken years of patient work and the
collaboration Of many men to make
this possible. or course. the public
Is caught by the spectacular side Of
the performance: but that is the
phase OF the work that makes the
least appeal to technical men who
have followed this effort from Its very
beginning.
e'"Surely. speech made audible across
. span Of 1900 miles Is astonishing.
TO the modern layman 1t seems little
short Of a miracle: and II the days
Of wltchcraft were still with us how
many tireless workers would have to
pay the penalty Of the stake for the
fruit OF their labors. This striking
climax startles Is less to-day because
We have grown fairly used to vast
scientific strides. and yet, as I see It.
Il 10 not this far funs carriage of
speech that is commercially the most
suggestive.
ITO me, this work Of the wireless
telephone unites prospectively every
scattered community In the whole
length and breadth OF the United
States. wherever these social centres
now have local telephone systems of
their own The wireless telephone
will span the gap between these sep
arated communities. and put them In
touch with one another without the
need Of binding metallic conductors.
A telephone transmission line is an
expensive thing to install and to
maintain in the country where sub
soribers are few and dispersed. This
10 20 ven where neighboring town.
sAaps and the like are only ten or hf-
toon miles apart. s-
"But commercially practicable sys.
tens feeding narrow zones Q still
be made proatabN~ md greatly wi
dened In their reach by recourse to
the wireless telephone. In this way
We have a low priced link. that crosses
the waste space and gives to the local
system the momentary or intermittent
dignity OF a toll line.
"Please keep in mind hat I am
talking about rural service and not Of
substitute for existing suburban con-
nections tributary to a large city.
Ocean spanning wireless telephony is
likely to be a luxury becaus', the de-
'nand will be low compared with the
cost Of equipment; but these objections
would not hold where the distances
were greatly reduced and the a of
more frequent vocal intercourse is
greatly multiplied.
Broadly speaking. the energy re-
CURED for wireless transmission aver
ages a watt a mile. and on this basis
watts would suffice for a distance
Of ten miles. Columbia University
10 shout Ave miles north from my ABB
Oratory here in the Madison Square
Garden tower. and repeatedly / have
telephOned to the university by means
Of an apparatus actuated by only eve
watts. The little incandescent bulb
Of the household calls for something
like three times this electrical power.
and the same current hat feeds that
lamp would answer admirably for the
purpose Of operating a wireless tcle-
phone reaching across space in n d.
rection for a distance OF twenty miles.
"Of course. this efficiency depends
entirely upon the character OF the
wave generating apparatus. for this
stands between the source OF
energy and the ether which Is 70 carry
the impulses Gro space to the re-
mote antenn@ Of the receiver. Indeed,
this broadly has been the prime crux
OF the widening of the reach OF wire
less telegraphy. The problem has been
10 find an efficient and, at the same
time. q relatively economical wave
maker and then a sufficiently sensi-
tive receiver capable OF simplifying the
feeble vibrations Of the air or, more
properly. the ether.
VIC iIllAul yAot 40 "OA NV O"s
general notion OF this part OF the
problem by starting with the wireless
telegraph and then working along to
the wireless telephone. The wireless
telephone Is, In truth. the logical con-
Of the wireless telegraph. The
more rugged dot and dash mechanism
has blazed the way for the radio trans
mission OF human speech In which a
far greater receptive delicacy and a
much more flexible transmitter are
needed. Indeed. tho order Of C
sion OF these modern applications OF
ether impulses or Hertzlan waves
really repeats the story OF the Morse
telegraph and then the advent Of Bells
telephone.
"Marconi began with the spark gap
method, and in this violent disturb
ances are needed initially to create
ether waves of sufficient amplitude to
spread long distance. In a way. this
system duplicated the work of getting
a swing in full motion by one great
effort instead of by means Of a sue
cession Of. far more moderate but
nicely timed pushes.
"The Danish inventor Waldemar
Poulsen, who followed Marconi. had
recourse to another device for Great
fng his ether waves. He took ad-
vantage Of the flaming arc, which Is
capable of passing on to the despatch
aertals q fuller measure Of tho
energy exerted by the generator.