The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1921-06-16

ed to be caught. AS the signals sent
out are gathered in by the antennae,
which can be strung on any light
poles reaching about 40 feet above
the ground, oscillations are started
in a local circuit, through an "eleC-
tron tube" This local circuit derives
its power from an ordinary storage
| battery such as those used in self
starters for automobiles The start
| ing of these oscillations releases
enough direct current from the bat
teries to operate small relay, or
magnet set in some respects like the
magnets in an ordinary electric door
bell, but capable of more delicate ad-
justment.
This relay, or magnet set, makes
and breaks power in another circuit
derived from second storage bat
terry. This second circuit operates an
other magnet set, to which the sty-
lus is attached.
The stylus in the present apparatus
is an ordinary fountain pen. 1t is
in contact with a revolving drum
which has sheet of paper placed on
it. The dots and dashes are record
ed as humps in the otherwise straight
line. Short humps indicate dots, and
long ones dashes.
The action can be readily likened
to that of machine gun which must
be cooked each time before it is fred
which action takes place automati-
cally and rapidly. The first circuit
fires the gun and pushes back the
hammer, ready to fire again, so to
speak. AS long as the circuit stays
| closed the "hammer" stays back. But
when the circuit is broken, CORE
spending to pressing the trigger, then
| the secondary circuit is closed and
the hammer or stylus goes on its way
to make mark.
The action of the mechanism is
very much more selective than the
receiving action not in use. It alb
solutelv eliminates any chance of the
message being garbled by wave
lengths even closely approXimating
those which it wishes to gather and
| record.
Permanent Record.
The record thus made on paper is
permanent, and the message can be
deciphered at leisure. In recent
test, signals sent out from Lyons,
France, 1000 miles away, were
! caught in the heart of the residential
district of Washington, and trans
ferred to a record which even a per-
son unskilled in the Morse code could
readily translate.
The machine, that morning had
| been in the bureau of standards
| few miles away. In the, afternoon
it was installed downtown, the an
| tennae were run up on light poles,
and the message caught m the draw
ing room of the house.
With this machine it is possible to
record simultaneously. with the same
pen, the records of local time. as
| furnished by the local standard
chronometer, and compare them with
| the standard time as SEM out Dy
wireless from observatories, without
anv errors incident to ''lag' of the
instruments.
In this way the latitude of spot
| for away from cables or wires, and
out of touch with the world, 2an be
determined to within two hunlreths
of a second of time, or about 33
feet on the earth's surface. This
makes the invention extremely valu-
able to geographers an! astronomers,
and surveyors.
A machine designed 10 perform
much the same functions has been
turned out in France. but its COM
plexity, and non-portability, together
with it's high cost, and irregular
action, prevented 1t from being more
than a laboratory experiment. Ger
| man scientists tried to work ant tfe
| problem during the last eight years,
but it remained lnsolved in any sat-
isfactory way until our own govern
ment scientists got in tbs joh.
The new instrument will possibly
play an important part in the lives
of many people living in isolated Sec
tions of the country. For example.
a trading post IN Alaska, apart from
civilization, lacking all news OF do
ings back home" may be able to buy
one of the machines when they get
the manufacturing perfected, Tor
about $500. The instrument could be
| L,,,ol b1, 10 in ar