The Washington herald., 1915-10-31

phone company's service, sat waiting for
the message. And the receiver clamped
on his ears did actually receive the
message. Espenschied even recognized
Mills voice. He took down the message
sent by Mills. and cabled 1t back to
Arlington. where II was found the en-
gineer far out on the bosom OF the broad
Pacific had heard word for word the
messages and figures started from Ar
lington. 1900 miles away. The aerial
telephone message had crossed the busy
United States and carried far over the
rolling sea to EspensChied's ears.
DR.. Peter Cooper Hewitt's invention of
the mercury vapor arc had much TO do
with making aerial telephony possible
The mercury vapOr arc is used at both
ends of the wireless circuit" on the
transmitter and on the receiver. The arc
acts much as an amplifier does to the
ordinary telephone wire. The weak i'm
pulses received are bolstered up until the
impulse is made even stronger than 1t
originated.
But the science OF aerial telephony
must remain a mystery to the layman.
II is too intricate. too technical to be
understood. BY means of the vapor mer-
curry arcs, the electrical impulse carry
ing the voice is strengthened and with
the aid Of other technical apparatus. pro-
jected through space. The amount of
power needed is about watt a mile.
Then. when the original electrical wave
carrying the human voice reaches the
end OF its Journey, weak and faint, II Is
picked up by special apparatus. revived
and strengthened by the mercury vapor
arc and heard by the human ear through
the ordinary telephone receiver. But
scores Of delicate. sensitive instruments
are necessary to amplify the work of the
mercury vapor arc, the transmitter and
the receiver.
Bancroft Gherardi. engineer OF plant
OF the American Company, and Mr..
Carty's right hand man in the develop
ment OF wireless telephony, in declaring
it was impossible to explain, so that, the
layman would understand It. the ap-
paratus now in use, or the principles IN
DERIVING its development. said:
The whole scheme Is made up of alb
stract inventions and their development.
that only the scientific mind would un-
derstand. In general terms there are
three principles involved.
I'VE have succeeded in perfecting a
means to transmit the voice from the
ordinary telephone land line into the
wireless tower. There we have an ap-
paratus at the transmitting end which
sends the sound waves to the final desti-
nation The voice. OF course. is carried
between towers by the same electrical
waves as are used in the Transmission of
wireless telegraph messages. One Of our
new principles lies in carrying these
waves with greater intensity"
What are the commercial possibilities
in connection with the new SYSTEM" he
was asked.
Mr. Gherardi replied: ''At the present
time we are not looking for commercial
possibilities. Just what will come in the
future remains to be seen. The uses Of
the wireless telephone as We see 1t now
lie In the possibility Of reaching what.
at the present time, are inaccessible
phases. such as for instance, where 1t
would be impossible. or too costly to
provide land lines or cable. It will not
be used for ordinary business. Where
telephone circuits can be put In, that Is
the better scheme. There are also diff
culties In the way Of wireless telephony.
as there are in the way Of wireless teleg-
raphy.
There can be no secrecy with either.
In talking by wireless a man Is prac-
tically shouting to the whole world. Any
station In tuns With The one that b trans