Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1920-01-10

direction of radio waves from another
ship. This device. very briefly. coz
sisted of an electrical coil turning on a
perpendicular axis. If the radio waves
strike the edge of this coil, a current
is started and the operator can rec
ognize the fact by the loud buzz which
ii gives off. If the waves hit the fla
side of the coil. there is no current
and no buzz. BY turning the coil until
the point is found where the buzz Is
loudest or least. the direction from
which the radio waves are coming can
easily he determined. In this way, our
ships often located enemy ships
Another use of this direction finder
Immediately suggested itself. A snip
going into a harbor in a fog would
send out radio message to a shore
station The shore seation would get
the direction of the ship by this direc
ton finder, and having this direction.
by process OF triangulation. it could
| determine the ships position and com
municate it to the ships captain by
| wireless.
This method has been in use for
several years now, on all coasts AIDE
! quately equipped with wireless sta
! tions, and by both naval and merchant
ships. 1t not only helps a ship TO enter
n harbor, but it enables a ship within
60 miles Of coast to determine its
position even when the stars are not
! visible When you understand thai
/ nearly all wrecks are caused by ships
running ashore in the fog, through ig
norance of position, you appreciate the
value of this method 70 vessels travel
/ ing near the coast II means that the
toll of life and property taken by dan
gerous capes like Hatteras is greatly
reduced.
But this method did nothing for this
mariner far at sea. He could pick UP
/ the wireless messages from the shore
I T1.v4 he M IN NG
sages in return, because the puny
/ wireless on board 4 ship is only re
/ liable for distances less than a 1Ob
miles. It is hard TO explain this ma
! ter TO a layman especially Tor anothe;
J layman), but suffice il 10 say that IN
/ order TO compute his position by trig
/ onometry, the computer must have a.
I least one known distance. That Is
where the shore station comes i'll. The
shore station knows its own position,
/ and the distance to some other point.
say another shore station. 1t can ger
the direction of the ship. The com
/ puter on shore can then draw two lines
of a triangle. BY trigonometry he can
1 compute the third line. and complete
1 the triangle. The position of the ship
I is the apex Of the triangle
Whether this is clear to you or not.
! YOU will understand that the mariner
! in mid-ocean lacks the two positions
He could find out: with his little di-
rection finder, in what direction some
shore station lay. for his wireless could
/ always pick up messages from shore
/ stations. He could locate that shore
station of the map. He then had one
point and one direction. He could draw
/ one lire of his triangle and that is all
| He could say with certainty, for ex-
ample, that the station at Old Point
Comfort was due west OF him, but he
could not tell how far west.
! The contribution of Clements con-
sisted in pointing out the simple fact
| that the mariner did have. all the time
another known point on the face of the
earth. TO wit. namely, the North Pole
He had but to look at his magnetic
compass the sole reliance of mariners
for 50 many years, and he could draw
another line of his triangle, due north
from him. He could then draw two
lines of his triangle, as before. He had
all the materials necessary for finding
his position, no matter whether he
| could see the stars or not.
This new method makes the mariner
forever independent of the weather
and of the stars 1t IS. of course. really
the work of many men, including those
/ who devised and perfected the direc
ton finder. But perhaps the most re
markabIe thing about il is that re
I tired financier with a taste for trieo-
nometry brought it to its highest de-
Velopment.