The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1919-01-18
A PERFECT WIRELESS TELEPHONE IS
AMERICAS GREATEST WAR SECRET

| field the squadron went through sew
eral maneuvers, forming right lines
and left lines, breaking off 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 at 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.
He led US to small shack from the
| roof Of which dwarf aerials project.
ed. put receivers over our ears, and
a moment later heard q strong voice
say:
by the right flank" Then there
was second Of hesitation, followed by
stentorian, long druwn-out &C., and
away off in the eastern heavens saw
the long line of small dots swing off
to the right, and for the moment, out
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 l was informed that it would
have been just the same If 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 I heard
Major ROssell put his squadron
through a drill and at the same time
/ that l heard his orders l saw them
| executed. These things took place
| while these 10 airplanes were rushing
| along at more than hundred miles
an hour at an altitude ranging from
1000 to 5000 feet, and with the man
giving the order fully two miles from
the nearest of his men.
The apparatus used for wireless
telephoning is SO simple and so COM
pact that one would never notice
either the transmitting or receiving
devices on an airplane unless his at
tention was called to it. 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.
Description Of Device.
The transmitting set consists of q
power plant. set box, transmitter
or microphone and an antenna sys,
TEN. The power plant consists Of g,
generator driven on the windmill prin-
ciple by the passage Of the airplane;
through the air. 1t Is placed some
where in the open, 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 it
and places it on the aerials In the
form of sustained or undamped waves:
The voice entering the transmitter
varies the electric current on the
ordinary telephone. In the set box
the variations received from the transy
mitter, are converted and act to effect
a meditation of the continuous or un-
damped waves already referred to.
The antenna system consists Of an
30 TWO nf
approximately $50 feet in length,
strung out from the wing tips. This
Is counterpoised by the wires and 9TH
er metallic parts Of the airplanes all
bonded together. These two elements
Of the antenna system are analogous
to large overhead wires and to tho
ground" Of land wireless station.
The receiving set consists Of a rel
ceiving set box, a head receiver, a
source of power and an antenna syS-
TEN. The latter Is the same as the
antenna system In the transmitting
storage battery. The head receiver is
built into the aviator's helmet in such
a manner as to exclude sounds from
the motor reaching the pilots ear ind
interfering with his hearing. The Set
box proper contains apparatus quite
similar to the receiving apparatus of
first-class wireless station HowI
ever, it possesses q number of refine
ments over these which increase tho
audibility Of incoming signals. with-
stand vibration and minimize weight. :.