The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1917-06-15

pense with artificial batteries, but
use the free electricity of the at
mosphere, cooperating with that Of
the earth to supply the electrical dy-
mamie force or current for telegraph
ing and for other useful purposes,
such as light heat and motive power.
"As atmospheric electricity Is found
more and more abundant when mois-
ture, clouds, heated currents Of air
and other dissipatlng influences are
left far below and n greater altitude
attained, my plan Is to seek as high an
elevation as practicable on the tops Of
high mountains and thus penetrate or
establish electrical connection with the
atmospheric stratum or ocean overly
Ing local disturbances. Upon these
mountain tops l erect suitable towers
and apparatus TO attract the electric
ity, or In other words to disturb the
electrical equilibrium and thus obtain
a current of electricity, or shocks, or
pulsations, which traverse or disturb
the positive electrical body Of the at
mosphere above and between two
given points by communicating 1t
to the negative electrical body In
the earth below to form the electric
current"
After declaring that the inventor
did not utilize any new keyboard or
alphabet, the patent concludes with
the assertion that he claims:
"The utilization of natural elec-
tricity from elevated points by con-
Meeting the opposite polarity of the
celestial and terrestrial bodies Of cleo
tricity at different points by suitable
conductors, and for telegraphic pur-
poses relying upon the disturbance
produced in the two electrO-opposite
bodies (Of the earth and the at
mosphere) by an interruption Of the
continuity Of one of the conductors
from an electrical body being indi-
Gated upon its opposite or correspond
ing terminus, and thus producing a cir
cult of communication between the
two without an artificial battery or
the further use of wires or cables to
connect the cooperating stations"
The fate of the LOomis invention
His company was formed and expert
ments were carried on, but the lin this
day. manifestly impossible scheme
was soon found to be impracticable.
despite the several advanced ideas
presented, and the proposition pres
emily went to smash, adding another
name to the great roll Of disappointed
and disillusiOned pioneers.
Although LoOmis was the first man
to get recognition in the American
congress for wireless discovery, men
had inklings of the possibility Of
the thing 50 years before him. About
the first to take up the work was Doc
tor Steinheil of Munich, who in 1888
evolved some of the basic features Of
the science. Morse in 1S42 saw that
telegraphing without wires would some
day be possible, but he was too busy
with the wire method to spend any
time on the other plan.
The credit for the successful appli-
cation of the principles of wireless
communication of course belongs to
Marconi, who has had the wit and the
resource to employ the work of his
predecessors in the field and actually
to produce the now wonderful result.
MarcOni's real accomplishment is of
comparatively recent date and it owes
much even to the dreamings of Doc
tor Loomis, not to mention the expert
menting of such eminent minds as J.
Trowbridge in 1880, Sir w. H. Preece
in 1852, Willoughby Smith, Sir Oliver
Lodge, Alexander Graham Bell,
Thomas A. Edison and numerous
others who contributed to the general
result.
The employment of the Hertzian
waves, discovered by Hertz in 1886 and
1887, by Marconi and then the Ital-
ian's invention of the antennae, for the
detection of electric impulses, resulted
finally in the commercial wireless of
today, which in seeming perfection
is still but in its infancy. Greater
marvels are yet in store for the world
than even the direction Of torpedoes
by wireless and the sending of mes
sages from New York to Honolulu,
and than even wireless communica-
ton between fighting airplanes and
ground stations far back of the bat
tie lines. Yet these accomplishments
are far cry from that day in 1899
when two British cruisers at maneuv-
ers were able to communicate with
each other by telegraph and the world
thought that the summit of wonders
had been achieved.-New York Sun.