The New York herald., 1922-06-21
MARCON SAYS RADIO
WAVE CAN Be AIMED
like A SEARCHL|GHT
Latest Invention May Be
Used to Guide Sound in
One Direction.
BIG REFLECTORS DO 1T
Wireless Lighthouses Pre-
dicted Through Concen-
trated Beam.
WILL AID SHIPS IN FOG
Tells Engineers That Secret
Talks in Air Will Now
Be Possible.
WILL AID SHIPS IN FOG

Guglielmo Marconi calmly aston
ished the largest crowd that ever
wedged itself into the auditorium of
the Engineering Societies Building by
casually describing last night expert
ments with refiectors that will project
radio waves in precisely the same
manner that light is thrown out.
He declared that he could see no
reason now why there shouldn't be
radio lighthouses which would keep
ships informed of their position re-
garding other ships and the coast.
Briefly, he declared that it was en-
tirely possible for a ship entirely lost
and stripped of all its own radio equip
ment to be guided back, through the
thickest storms and most treacherous
shoals, to safe anchorage.
Mr.. Marconi would Go this with re-
Electors that revolve much as the light
in the lighthouse revolves. On the
stage from which he spoke he had
erected model of the reflector. 1t
looked like half of a squirrel cage
wheel laid on it's side. few meters
distant was the receiver (the ship in
distress). Near by there arose an
ordinary amplifying horn such as any
amateur radio operator might use.
The current was turned on and the
reflector turned From the horn there
came the singing Of the waves caught
by the receiver. The sounds ran the
full chromatic scale. Every ship In
radius of $50 degrees would have been
caught by the reflected radio beams.
Motor Interference.
Mr.. Marconi continued to produce
remarkable examples of what he has
learned in his more recent experiments.
For example, talking of his work with
the old Hertzian short wave lengths
which he has revived for some OF his
most recent experiments. he said that
he found static disturbances almost
= non-existent, but that interference was
bad from automobiles and motor boats.
He declared that only a few hours
before Alfred G. Goldsmith. chief re-
search engineer for the Radio Corpora
ton of America, had asked him why
the electric waves emitted by motor
could not be utilized by the speed low
ing driver to detect in the rear the
lurking or pursuing motor cycle cop.
IT think that would be entirelyl possi-
ble." laughed Marconi. But / am sure
that the New York police In the execu-
ton of their duty would somehow get
around that"
The auditorium in which Mr.. Marconi
spoke was built to hold 1000. Eleven
W crowded in.
And then the doors were locked. leaving
several hundred disappointed men and
women out In the halls. At the conclu-
sion of his address. Mr.. Marconi was
presented with the gold medal OF honor
NJ the Institute of Radio Engineers. Inc
meeting was held under the joint aus
pieces of that society and the Institute
of Electrical Engineers.
Mr. Marconi. in his appreciation, de-
,lared that he believed America led
che world in radio communication.
He began his address py declaring that
In ten years the speed OF radio operation
has increased eight or ten times that
possible in 1917.
Nes.nges Around the Esrth.
orhe question as to whether 1t would
=, nossible % transmit radio signals
around the world as far as the An
tipodes is one which has always fasci-
rsted me" Mr. Marconi confessed. He
addad that he had obtained results
(which go far to show the relative
Facility with which radio signals can
nou, he sent from England to Australia
and seem TO Indicate that there Is some-
thing In the idsa OF the wireless waves
travelling around the earth by various
ways and reuniting at the Antipodes.
Sometimes these radio waves, travelling
IL rfh n different directions.
reinforce each other when they meet Of
the receiver, said Marconi. and some
times they interfere with each other.
THE great station built by the Radio
Corporation OF America at Port Jeffer-
son, Long Island. the most powerful on
this continent. sent waves mat pre-
ferred to travel three-quarters OF the
way around the earth, rather than to
come by the shortest way around"
Mr.. Marconi pointed out that all his
early experiments had been conducted
with short wave lengths. In the deve!-
opment OF radio communication the
longer wave lengths have so much alb
sorbed the attention of inventors and
engineers that in Marconis opinion the
time has come 10 conduct research In
short wave length radio.
In wireless, electric energy is flashed
into space In waves. The distance from
one wave crest to another IL called "the
wave length" and Is usually expressed
IN meters. In these days, when radio
has become the hobby of millions. tbs
wave length used may vary from 200
meters TO 5000 meters. In other words
the ether of space Is shaken into ter.
rifle billows compared with which the
nnightiest upheavals of the ocean in d
storm are mere ripples.
Some years ago during the war; said
Mr.. Marconi. II could not help feeling
that we had perhaps got rather in a
rut by confininx all our res aarches and
our tests to what / may term long
waves or waves Of some thousandths