Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1918-12-13
A PERFECT WIRELESS TELEPHONE Is
AMERICAS GREATEST WAR SECRET

eral maneuvers. forming righi lines
and left lines. Jtcaking of In differ
ent directions and swinging back into
line again. Everything was done with
perfect precision.
Colonel Culver explained that Major
Rossell was giving every order by
word Of mouth and that every man In
the fleet was getting orders ut the ex-
act instant.
Now If you want to you can stand
here on the ground and hear Major
Rossell give these orders, and you can
at the same time That you hear them
see them carried out" said Colonel
Culver.
lie led us to small shack from the
roof of which dwarf aerials project
ed, put receivers over our ears, aud
moment later heard strong voice
say:
By the right flank" Then there
was a second Of hesitation, followed by
a stentortan, long drawn-out Co." aud
away off In the eastern heavens | saw
the long line of small dots swing off
of sight. And those words came from
Major Rossell, spoken in an ordinary
! tone, 5000 feet in the air and fully
| five miles from where l was standing.
And | was informed that ii would
have been just the same II he had
been further away. However, the
range of the new wireless telephone
is one of the secrets that the division
of military aeronautics is not reveal
ing just now.
For more than an hour / heard
Major ROsseii put his squadron
through drill and at the same time
/ that | heard his orders | saw them
executed. These things took place
while these 10 airplanes were rushing
along at more than lundred miles
an hour at an altitutls ranging from
1000 to 5000 feet, anc with the man
giving the order fully two miles from
the nearest of his meI.
The apparatus used for wireless
telephoning is so simple aud SO COM
pact that one would never notice
either the transmitting or receiving
| devices on an airplane unless his at
| tention was called to 1t. With the
consent of General Kenly. Colonel
Culver gave me great deal of in
formation about these devices and the
following facts are the first published
about what perhaps is the greatest
| invention of the war.
Descrpt OF Device.
The transmitting set consists of a
power plant, set box, transmitter
! or microphone aud an antenna sys-
TEN. The power plant consists of a
| generator driven on the windmill prin-
| ciple by the passage of the airplane
| through the air =: Is placed some
where in the opeh, usually on the run
ming gear or on one of the wings and
its tiny propeller blade whirls vigOr-
ously as the airplane travels along.
| The so-called set box receives the
| power from the generator, converts il
and places it on thG aerlals in the
form of sustained or undamped waves.
| The voice entering the transmitter
varies the electric current on the
/ D.
ordinary telephone. In the set box
the variations received from the trans
mitter. are converted and act TO effect
| n meditation of the continuous or un-
! damped waves already referred to.
The antenna system consists of an
aerial of one or two trailing wires Of
approximately $50 feet in length.
strung out from the wing tips. This
is counterpoised by the wires and 9th
err metallic parts of the airplanes all
bonded together. These two elements
of the antenna system are analogous
to large overhead wires and to the
ground" of land wireless station.
The receiving set consists of re-
ceiving set box, head receiver, a
source of power and an antenna sys-
TEN. The latter is the same as the
antenna system In the transmitting
set. The source of power is IA small
storage battery The head receiver is
built into the aviator's helmet in such
n manner as to exclude sounds from
the motor reaching the pilots ear and
interfering with his hearing. The set
box proper contains apparatus quite
similar TO the receiving apparatus of
first-class wireless station. How.
ever, it possesses a number of refine
ments over these which increase the
audibiity of incoming signals, with
stand vibration and minimize weight.
ANN cnuTA