The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-11-20
PERFECTS WIRELESS
BY HIS INVENTION
Marconi Chief Engineer Over
comes Estate" and Makes
Continuous Service.
USED BY q. S. IN WAR
Tall Steel Masts No Longer
Needed-DiscOvered New
Law Of Nature.

When the war Is formally ended and
| the nations give UP their secrets a stoop
| shouldered young man. laying aside his
beloved briar pipe. will get up before
some scientific society and read a sober
paper telling how he made the wireless
perfect means OF communication by sow
ing the puzzle Of ''static."
Until then Roy A. weagant chief en-
gineer OF the Marconi company, Is bound
not to disclose what all the scientific
world and most ignorarhuses want to
know. What is the new law OF nature
no has dlscovered7 Just how did he ap-
ply It in finding the way OF overcoming
the interference Of static electricity, that
ethereal pest which heretofore has be-
devilled the best efforts Of the radio men
for large part OF the day and a large
part OF the year by so messing up the
HertElan wavesA that messages came
through as mere gibberish or didn't come
through at all?
o WnI Cut Cost of Plants.
That weagant has done this there is
! tho word of Edward J. Nally. vice-presi-
conf Wireless Telegraph Company OF
| America and the word Of weagant him
self The perfected wireless has been
used by the United States Government
since II got into the war, and probably
by the Allies. as all our Information was
given to them.
Hereafter. say the Marconi people. the
cost OF wireless operation will be greatly
/ reduced. and Of messages somewhat.
ONprx ,tn etc xx,It Nhntr O.,
tennee will not be needed for receiving
stations. for poles twenty-five feet high
will do as we'll Long distance word
carrying, both telegraphic and tele-
phonlc, will be longer than ever.
Messages can be sent and received at
the rate Of 200 words a minute all the
day and all the year around. in every
sort of weather, without interruption.
The Weather Bureau may have to recast
its methods, for this man Weagant, who
hates to be called a wizard" or any
thing like that, has found out. among
other things. that he con detect coming
atmospheric changes long before the
usual symptoms are observed.
In short, Mr.. Nally. who is not noted
for rash speech. said yesterday that no
more long ocean cables would be laid,
as the steady reliability which has given
them preference had now been achieved
by the wireless
Ever since the genius of Marconi
made wireless telegraphy a fact" Mr..
Nally said. "the only limitation of this
method OF communication was the deadly
phenomenon OF static conditions 1t
was 'static'-the presence of large
amount of uncontrolled electricity In the
air--that at the beginning OF the war
often entirely FRUSTRATED the wireless
service even between the most powerful
stations erected in Europe and America.
static conditions were responsible for
abnormal delays and for the mutliation
or words in wireless messages.
so battling was the problem that
MarcoDi issued PERSONAL appeal TO
every wireless operator in the world TO
record his observations and TO collect
data on the subject 1t remained for an
American radio expert, Roy A Weagant,
chief engineer OF the Marconi company.
to discover the solution OF. the static
problem weagant practically had de-
voted his life to study OF this per
picking phenomenon. and the result Of
fifteen years of experimental work was
about to be published to the world when
the United States entered the great
war"
Works OF "statfc" Problem.
Wengant studied at Stanstead College
and then at McGill University. which
gave him the degree OF Bachelor OF
Science. =, He worked for the Montreal
Light. Heat and Power Company, the
Westinghouse company at Pittsburc. the
De Laval Steam Turbine Company, the
National Electric Signalling Company,
which used the old Fessenden wireless
system. and in 1912 Joined the Marconi
"omWny. For ten years he has worked
at the irritating, fascinating problem OF
static"
Static you know" ne said. "is the
most exasperatlng electrical manifesto
ton there Is In a. wireless receiver Il
sounds sometimes like a handful OF peb-
bles thrown against a window, some
times IL is n crashing noise sometimes
raspinR or scratching or squealing For
twenty years wireless engineers have
been trying to get hid of IT, MANY OF
them have given the thing up as imrus-
sible.
THE trouble is at It's maximum from
June to October. but every day II starts
TO get bad about noon and lasts until
sunrise. In the tropics It Is perpetual.
being aggravated by the suns heat and
evaporation OF moisture.
Every line of approach to the prob
lem proved TO he wrong The trouble
upon static electricity as one OF natures
few freaks. something that couldn't be
controlled, that was without rhyme or
reason.
81 came to the conclusion that there
must be some law OF nature that had
not been discovered. Everything else in
nature was rational: this must be ra
Nonal, too. SO all did was to set out To
discover the new law of nature and
mpke it work for man. and that's all
have done, l set up all sorts of hy-
potheses and constructed all sorts OF an
pa atuP. and when one theory wouldn't
work | tried another. II was like falling
In 999 ways and finding what you're
after on the thousandth attempt"
And what did you find out? What is
the new law?' the intervlewers naturally
asked.
81 can't say at this time. am re-
strlcted until the peace compact is
signed" Weagant said.
lie was asked to STATE some OF the
practical results that might he expected.
Helped I'm ArmisUce Work.
Well" he said, "the North Atlantic.
which has been tho hardest TO bridge by
wireless because of static conditions: il
now easy Before tho war We were Inn
tied to six or seven hours communca-
ton a day across the Atlantic and across
the 5000 mile stretch from san Francisco
to- Japan Now We can uss the wireless
continuously. Before tho war il would
have been impossible to get all tho
news which the German wireless tried
to scatter over the world. Now we can
get IL all.
II am not privileged to say to what