The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-04-22

Writing BY Wireless.

Of the message being garblad !.
wave lengths even closely as.ro,i
mating those which it wisiss :.
gather and record. +"
Permanent Record.
The record thus made on n.,
IL permanent, and the mesaars -,
be deciphered at leisure. Ina,
cent test, signals sent out fas
Lyons, France, 1000 miles avss
were caught in the heart Of n.
residential district OF Washin,sss
and transferred to q record MIA
even . person unskilled In ~.
Morse code could readily trans.
late.
The machine, that morning h,a
been in the bureau of standard, :
few miles away. In the afternoo,
it was installed downtown. N.
antennae were run up on lisS,
poles, and the message caught IN
O~0Ak
the drawing room of the house
With this machine it is possih,.
to record simultaneously, with ths
same pen, the seconds Of local.
time, as furnished by the Local
standard thermometer. and com.
pare them with the standard tim.
as sent out by wireless from NJ
servatories. without any ersors in.
cident to lag" Of the Instruments
In this way the latitude Of a
spot far away from cables or
wires, and out Of touch with thu
world, can be determined to with.
In two-hundredths Of a second a,
time, or about SO feet, on the
earth's surface. This makes the
invention extremely valuable 10
geographers and astronomers and
surveyors.
A machine designed to perform
much the same functions has been
turned out in France, but its COM
plexity, and non-portability, to-
gether with its high cost, and II.
regular action, prevented it from
being more than a laboratory OK.
pertinent. German scientists tried
to work out the problem during
the last eight years, but it remain.
ed unsolved in any satisfactory way
until our own government scien,
lists got on the job.
The new instrument will possibly
play an important part in Thu
lives of many people living in iso
lated sections of the country. FoI
example, trading post in Alaska
apart from civilization, lacking al
the news of "doings back home
may be able to buy one of the ma
chimes, when they get the manu-
featuring perfected, for about $500
The instrument could be set u
and turned by q layman, in accord
, ance with marks indicating send
ing stations which could be place
on the head Of the condenser. B
setting the machine for these Ger
tain wave lengths, everythin
which that station sent out woul
be recorded, and the paper drur
| would mark off all the news of tn
day, as it was flashed from Wash
ington, Paris, London or Moscow
The record could then be decipher
ed at leisure.
Prices of farm products in cite
could be collected each afternoo
and sent out by radio under tn
supervision Of the department Q
agriculture.
Newspaper Offices will be able I
catch radiograms direct from dis
tant lands. transcribe the accurat
record and give. you even NOR
rapid service than under presen
conditions.
Warships, equipped with the re
corder, would avoid errors in tn
receiving of messages which ar
now possible. Should an admira
of the feet wish to send ratio
grams to the various ships tn
commanders will have a record 0
what was sent, which can be file
away and brought up in connection
with the orders should any Sill
occur. The responsibility nov
placed on the hearing of one o
more men, on the receiving en-
would be eliminated.
Merchant ships, by having tn
recorder placed beside the ship;
chronometer, would have an auto
matte check on their timepiec
every day when signals are sen
out from observatories.
The invention will mean muc
to ships lost or in distress. Eve
If the wireless man on board &c
seasick or died, the ship would b
able to receive information, by hav
ing certain marks on the condense
head showing where to turn to lis
ten for powerful sending station!
Even a layman could turn a kno
until the arrow pointed to An
napolis, Paris, or London, and tn
record would be taken down il
black and white, to be read or de
ciphered at any chosen time.