New-York tribune., 1919-02-15
By Jack r. Binns
Wireless Expert who has just served
as an Instructor in the Wireless
School of the ROYAL Air Force

Copyright 1919. New York Tribune Inc.)
Wireless telegraphy has been COM
pletely revolutioned during the war.
Its development brought about trans
formation in the aerial services Of the
Allies, turning them from haphazard
operations into highly organized fight
ing forces. It is the one thing next
TO actual flying that will make COM
mercial aviation possible.
The story of its remarkable devel-
opment and effect upon the war is now
told for the first time.
At the very moment when the armis-
tice was signed squadron of super
Handley Page bombing acroplanes
were awaiting orders to bomb Berlin.
These giant machines were equipped
with wireless in such a way that the
German wireless station at Nauen
would nave unwittingly navigated them
in a direct line to Berlin.
It's achievements in connection with
aviation include the following:
1t has made ntercommunication be-
tween aeroplane and aeroplane pos
sible over q distance of 400 miles
with less power than is used by a
ship at sea to communicate 200 miles
Aided Aerial Navigation
1t has made aerial navigation pos
sible irrespective of weather condi
tions.
1t has made the transmission of
human speech between the occupants
of one aeroplane to the persons or
another aeroplane possible over a dis
tance of 20 miles.
Of these its effect upon aerial navi-
CATION is the most recent and most
phenomenal of the developments aris
ing out of the welter of war.
On all the great HandleyPage anC
super Handley Page aeroplanes in the
British Air Force the so-called Chand
ler "direction finder has beer
equipped This Is one Of the mos
closely guarded secret inventions 0.
the war.
With its aid the navigator of one O
these giant machines can pin down upol
a chart the exact latitude and longi
tude of the aeroplane within five min
utes of commencing the observation
Moreover, this navigational work can b'
done while the machine is in a dense
fog
The most remarkable thing about this
invention is the fact thatV the large
aerial which makes a wireless station
~ missing. In its place two moderate
sized coils OF wire are fitted into the
nacelle of the machine.
1t is at this point that the remark
able and astounding feature of the in
vention becomes apparent. The amour
of current picked up by these coils il
so infnitesimal that no human com
putaton can realize i. There is NJ
apparatus known to science delicate
enough to measure II.
How then can it be utilized? Her
it is that human ingenuity has riser
above natural obstacles in an almost un
beievable manner, and has in fact prac
tically unlocked the illimitable energ,
stored up in the atom.
How Minute Currents Work
When a soldier pulls back the ham
mer of his gun before firing he trans
fers energy from his own body am
stores it up in the spring that control
the firing action of his rifle. This en-
ergy remains stored up in the sprin,
until it is released by pressure on tn
trigger, and the gun fired. Now, tn
amount of pressure on the trigger j
very light, really only enough to re
lease the stored energy in the spring
The main fact is that the pressure &C
tually pu. on the trigger would neve
explode The cartridge.
It is Just this same action that make
the direction finder on an aeroplane
useful Invention TO man. The minut
currents picked up by the coils canno
be recorded because they are far to
weak to actuate any known apparatus
but while too weak to operate any re
ceving apparatus they can be utilized t
release energy stored up in the ma
chine until sufficient amount has bee
obtained to record their presence. Thi
is done by an electron relay that split
atoms and molecules into units of elec
trcal energy.
Such is the operation of the inven
ton. Its application to aerial naviga