The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1915-11-25
TALKING ACROSS THE
OCEAN BY WIRELESS

Six months ago experts were talk
ing 81 the tremendous obstacles In the
way 81 transmitting The human voice
over long distances by means Of wire.
lets This seemingly impossible feat
has now been accomplished, and the
accomplishment has come with startl-
ing suddenness. On September 70, a
telephone message was transmitted
from the wireless station 81 Airing
ton, Va, 70 the navy yard at Mare
Island. near San Francisco, q distance
Of 900 miles Remarkable as this
feat seemed a, the moment, the actual
accomplishment was found TO be ire
mendously greater than supposed,
when, on the following day, cable
message was received from Pearl Har-
Dor, Hawaii about $500 miles from
the source Of the wireless waves, say
ing that the conversation had been
heard at that point Subsequently il
was found that several other distant
wireless stations, among them the one
one at Darien, Panama, had also pick
ed up the message. Three days later
when communication was established
with Eiffel tower in Paris, the first
wireless message was sent across the
Atlantic This message was also pick
ed up at Pearl Harbor. the voice at
Arlington being thus heard at two
points about 5000 apart. :.
A hint as to the revolutionary changes
likely to be brought about as a re-
suit Of these accomplishment is Civ
en- in a statement credited TO the sec
Rotary of the navy, in which il is pre-
dicted that as soon as the new appar-
atus is perfected il will be installed on
the ships Of the American navy, where
il is likely in large degree to supplant
the wireless telegraph. In this wire
less apparatus, as well as in the new
transcontinental telephone line, de-
vice known as the incandescent audion
amplifer is an essential part Of the
equipment
What is perhaps as striking fea-
ture as the distance over which the
voice was transmitted in the first test,
is the fact that the message was start
ed from telephone in an office build
ing in New York City and made the
first lap of its long journey over an
ordinary telephone line, the electrical
impulses carried over the wires being
automatically converted into wireless
waves by transformer at the Airing ,
ton station. Such combination of |
new apparatus opens practically I'M
limited possibilities.
An added touch OF interest is given
10 these various accomplishments
through the fact that they occurred at
the same time as the first successful ,
use of the long distance telephone by !.
Thomas A. Edison, an impossible pro-
seeding for the famous inventor, on
account of his deafness, until the
sound amplifer had been placed in
service. At the instant the first wire &
ess telephone massage was being G
transmitted to Paris, Mr.. Edison was l
alking from San Franciso with his
nome in Orange, N. j., and few a
later the line at Arlington
vas "cut in" with Mr. Edison's line, a
md he was informed of the feat. In
,is first talk across the continent the Ii
inventor used a line in which were s
many relics of the early days Of cleo i,
richly, among them being short
Itretch Of wire over which Samuel ;,
Morse sent his first Geographic mes !,
age, and another section Of wire used
" Alexander Graham Bell in sending
lis first telephone message-Joseph =
J. Murphy, in the December Popular i;
Mechanics Magazine. :,
. "a,