The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1922-07-15

Prospects Almost Unlimited.
at was Sir Oliver Lodge who said,
following Marconi's ini;iai experiments
in wireless, that the day would CONE
.,hen Il man in New York or London
would be able to call to his friend In
Tokyo. Alaska. Russia, South Africa
or in any other part of the world. and
if the friend did not answer he woult
know that his friend was dead. That
was Il very broad statement, but 1t
may be true.
Most people seldom consider the
lack of progress made in the communi-
cation of intelligence between distant
points, for thousands and thousands of
years, and what strides awe been
made within the memory of men and
women now living. Not until 1914,
when Morse. surrounded by a curious,
skeptical company, received over Il
telegraph wire the famous message:
What hath loo wrought? did the
world obtain any mea of quicker
communication.
IN 1876 DR.. Alexander Bell showed
the world how to talk over a wire along
WHICH I'LL PltClllC tulIclll WIS DdSSlIlG
by impressing on that current varia-
tons corresponding to the sound wave
produced by speech. He was quickly
followed by a host of improvers. so
that today conversation is possible
over wires between almost every point
in any one of the civilized countries of
the world.
"a Spanish scientist, Saliva of Bar
celona, 125 years ago signaled across
water by making the water conduct the
current. Professor Morse, before he
completed his telegraph, conducted ex-
pcriments along the canal above
Georgetown. ID. c., and succeeded in
signaling without wires across the ca
nal by making the water conduct the
current. Efforts to signal between
ships in this way We're tried by DR..
Bell in 1882, and he succeeded In sig
mailing without wires between vessels
a mile and a quarter apart. \ Profess
sor Hughes of London in 1878 had IA
device with which he signaled a dis
lance by means of what we now know
TO have been true wireless or electro
magnetic waves. But he had never
heard of wireless waves and his scien-
titic friends did not think what he did
amounted TO much. 50 Hughes gave
It up.
"If W. would appreciate the fire and
the sun we must look ut the fire first,
so in this matter Of wireless, having
first looked mt the previous efforts to
signal without wires, we now look mt
the wondrous discovery of electro-mag-
netic wave transmission. The simile
IS not inapt when we recall that the
rays of light, those of radiant neat
and The Hertzian waves from the trans
hitting antennae of II wireless set, are
all electromagnetic waves differing
only in their length, and, of course, In
the frequency with which they are
emitted or given off. They all travel
at the same speed. 1S5,O00 miles n sec
ond, and can be reflected and refraetcd.
Marconi Is Pioneer.
1T was in 1896 that Marconi, whC
had beer experimenting with great
skill and patience on his fathers farm
in Italy, succeeded in signaling with
out wires for a distance of 100 yards.
One year later he signaled nine miles,
and in two months increased the dis
lance to II miles. In July, 1898, he
signaled 20 miles, and in 1901 his sig
nal crossed the Atlantic ocean.
AS is usually the case whenever n
great pioneer invention is made, the
success of Marconi caused a host of
inventors and improvers, including
some of the greatest electricians the
world has known, to take up the sub
ject from every angle and viewpoint.
The apparatus that Mareoni used Is
now of only historical interest. \
modern wireless set comprises nothing
similar to what he used. OF all the
changes that have been made, the new
things that the brightest geniuses of
the world have been able to produce.
the one that surpasSes all, and that
makes modern wireless telephony and
telegraphy what 1t is today, Is the
thermionic device, which is IA detector
Of the waves. an amplifer of their fee.
BILE energy, and Il generator of the
oscillatory currents necessary for send
ing the message.
"Some wires, generally three in mum.
Der. run parallel to each other and
supported on poles or a housetop,
which we call antennae-from the
analogy to the feelers of an insect like
a bug or cricket-constitute the feel
ers that catch the energy of the swift
" passing waves. This energy sets
up small, feeble currents in this Won
derful little thermionic detectOr. and
with a telephone receiver the operator
can listen to the message.
"The antennae wires. an induction
coil, a tuning coil and condenser, a
small source Of electric current and
this thermionic detector constitute.
with II telephone receiver, all that is
necessary. The transmitting device
includes again Il thermionic device like
thai used in he receiver, only several
are used II battery, Il telephone trans
mitfer. the induction coil. the tuning
coil, The condenser, and that is about
all.
"Today. with the development OF
the wireless. a development still in Its
infancy, a new world, hitherto "a world
of silence. has become a world OF
sound: sounds of human voices from
far across the lands and waters. and
Of human songs and sweet Instruments
coming through the night. One may