The Bingham County news. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1918-1930, 1923-02-16
Electricity Takes Place of Sunlight.

and other plants by means OF eiec
trio light and without sunlight hav'
been obtained, in accordance with re
ports from Minnesota.
At the laboratory of the University
of Minnesota, Dr. R. B. Harvey, of thu
Department of Plant Pathology ant
Botany, has, for the first time, &C
cording to his statements, produced
this result without any use whatso
ever of sunlight. Spring wheat pro-
duced ripe seeds in ninety days OF
continuous lighting. DR.. Harvey be-
lieves that this means that several
crops each year should be obtainabie
The experiments we're made in the
basement Of the college. Illumina-
ton was secured from nitrogen-filled
tungsten electric lamps burning twen-
ty-four hours a day. In these tests
wheat, barley, oats, rye, buckwheat,
clover, fax, beans, peas, lettuce, and
radishes were successfully grown,
ripened, and terminated.
Thus another prospect added to the
present uses of electricity, and a new
indication of the interrelation of the
electrical industry and other bust
ness. Electricity has become the
greatest servant Of mankind and now
finds itself prominent in many fields,
from the operation Of battleships, the
illumination Of our communities, the
motivity of our industries, to the DOS
sibility Of greater service to our
farms.
It's development and distribution
are 80 intimately associated with
business and social life that the pros
perity Of our state and the prosperity
Of our electrical enterprises must al
ways march together.
Wireless.
A wireless telephone expert states
that the President of the United States
soon will be able to address the en-
tire populace of our country-by
wireless.
be permanently connected by wire
less telephony. Since the recent news
telling of the messages sent by Presi-
dent Thayer, of the American Tele-
phone and Telegraph Company, from
Long Island to Guglielmo Marconi,
the inventor Of radio, in England, adj
ditional information has been given
out, according to the New York Times.
Months of research and develop
ment work will take place before the
wireless telephone, successfully used |
between New York and London, is |
put into commercial use, according to |
officials Of the American Telephone |
and Telegraph Company.
Sending apparatus will be set up
in England during the next few weeks
to make possible conversations by |
trans-oceanic radiophone. The re-
cent demonstration consisted only of
the sending of messages from here to ,
England, the replies coming back by
cable.
One of the phases for future devel-
opment is that of daytime operation. |
The sun kills radio transmission over
great distances, but the American
Telegraph and Telephone officials
hope to produce instruments which
will keep radio communication open
around the world twenty-four hours |
a day.
One Of the important developments |
making possible high-power radio
telephony is the production of vastly |
more efficient vacuum tubes, which |
develop gh-frequency, alternating
currents. Irving Langmuir had de-
veloped at the laboratories of the Gen.
eral Electric Company a large va
cum tube which is called "a bottle |
that does the work of $4,000 worth Of |
electrical machinery"
DR.. Lee De Forest, inventor of the |
audion tube, told in a statement re-
Gently Of the development of a new |
tube of this kind.
The new tube used by the tele-
phone company in sending messages |
to London was produced in the labor
atories of the Western Electric Com |
pany and the Radio Corporation Of |
America, it's distinctive feature being |
a new water-cooling system which |
enables it to transform powerful cur
rents without melting or breaking |
from heat.
From the standpoint of wireless |
telephony the development of these |
high-power tubes gives us the posi- !
bility of using very much greater /
amounts of power than have ever |
been readily available before.
And now comes the recent and |
startling news of the transmission of |
wireless power by the General Elec- !
trio Company, which reports power |
having been transmitted through |
space across a river without wires.
It makes us realize the tremendous
strides we are taking. The old fairy |
stories become second-raters when
compared with our modern everyday
affairs. and Jules Verne was only an
Z rnateur visionary.
The tireless research work Of our
experts and the immense amounts OF
that have been expended by
the large companies devoted to our
public utilities have made these won