The Washington herald., 1918-03-13
PHONELONDON
WITHOUT WIRE
The Progress Of Invention
Makes This Possibility
Almost Certainty.

AAOol NSl loAillJ'
when DR.. Leo Hendrick Baeke-
land hrst undertook to discover the
means whereby a new material
could be created through the utili-
azation Of carbolic acid and for
paldehyde he labored for many
months without success, although
ne was faithful to all the prece-
oents chemistry taught and to the
instruction given by the text books.
AT last he determined to cast pre-
Cenuents aside and to pay no heed
70 text books He worked along
new lines established by himself.
finally he realized that he was on
She way to discovery. and in a
Hltle while brought forth an alb
solutely new material which is now
OF a worldwide commercial i'm
portance- He received honorable
tecognition from various scientific
Socfeties and has recently been
recognized by the United States
government as a man who can give
material aid to the government at
This time. He has become a mem
Der of one OF the important govern
ment commissions.
So also DR.. Lee de Forest some
years ago, when seeking to discover
a method whereby adequate tele-
phone service over long distance
could be obtained by means of re-
lay. at last abandoned the pre-
cedents. Other inventors, some of
them men OF the highest ability,
who bad been occupied for a long
time m an attempt to discover a
successful telephone relay. followed
the precedents- They consulted the
teXt books. They bound themselves
certain established factors in
pthe telephone. well enough in their
way for the short distance tele-
Phone, but not suitable for service
which, would make telephoning
practicable and at fairly reasonable
price, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific Many patents were issued,
thousands of dollars were expend-
ed in the variouNattempts to solve
the problem, and yet the research
based upon the precedents was un-
succce ssfuL
Prof. PuplRs Discovery.
At one time it was thought that Pro,
lessor Pupin. OF Columbia University.
had discovered a means by which it
could be- possible to convey messages
lntelligibly, through telephone wires
Tor d, distance Of a thousand miles or
even more and over cables for at least
twenty miles Professor Pupin dis
covered the sO-called induction coils.
Much was said about this discovery
and invention at the time announce
ment of il was made. 1t was regarded
as one OF the great wonders assO-
,Iated with the improvement in the
telephone service. 1t did do precisely
what Professor Pupin claimed for il.
buty nevertheless, it was found to be
commercially impracticable. The rea-
son. for that was that the cost of
installing the Pupin system of coils
pom long distance telephone wire
stretching across the continent was
20 gSeat as to be absolutely prohibi-
iycs
De-. dc Forest some years ago while
in laboratory experiments.
ii-ooyered that a certain heated gas
Mas Sensitive to the weak wireless
waves and could constitute a new de-
.etive for the use in radiotelegraph-
ing He also discovered that this
'niJpe. absolutely original device
ould, when properly connected in the
inc between a transmitter and a re-
'civer' greatly amplify the voice cur
entS or, as was said Of it give a
'eproductiOn Of perfect fidelity with
)ut a trace of lag or distortion, vet
with an increase in volume or in ten
ienGy."
This apparatus was adopted by
he telephone company so that as
Gently as 1915 the announcement
vas made that the long-hoped-for
rans-COntinental line was to be
ealized. 1t was realized and today
Jew York and San Francisco are
Practically brought into the same
elephone booth. 1t would be use
rss to attempt to explain to lay
0en the technical details of DR.. de
'oTest's apparatus. They deal with
ions" gas atoms. or sub-atoms-
1atter in its most tenuous form
what Prof. CrOOkes has termed
the fourth state of matter" But
or the layman and for the world
will be of great interest to learn
hat announcement is now made
hat the time is undoubtedly near
I hand when trans-oceanic wire
.ss telephoning will be achieved
nd as successfully as telephone
communication between New York
nd San Francisco has been achiey-
4. That has been one of the ideals
vcr since the transmission of in
eligible signals through the air
means of the Hertzian waves
,as made commercially practicable,
Already wireless messages are
eceiyed in New York and at the
reat naval station at Arlington.
"a. to the great qualification of
he government, from San Fran
isco. and even from Honolulu, in
he day time. Experiments are
ow under way for the purpose of
vercoming the only obstacle
rhich stands in the way of trans
ontinental telephoning without
rires. For IL experiments and re-
earch are able to develop a trans
hitter, voice controlled, which can
andIs so kilIowatts of electric
nergy. then this one obstacle will
overcome and there will be
ation-wide and ocean-crossed sys-
ems Of wireless telephoning.
1t is possible to telephone by
lbmarine cable provided the cable
supplied with numerous Pupin
Iductive coils and with the appar-
tus invented by DR.. de Forest, but
company would undertake to in
tall a plant of that kind since
lie cost of it would be so great as
make ii commercially impracti-
lbla On the other hand it Is now
ssefed that trans-oceanic wire
SIS telephoning is today almost
ithin reach.
Transatlantic Wireless Phone.
The De Forest inventions and other
VeHtions which represent the work