The mirror., 1923-05-17
OUTDOING THE ARGONAUTS

Every day, almost, we hear that radio
has invaded new field. Among the most
interesting recent novel applications of
the sensitive Gdio receiver is that through
which the sea-bottoms are being charted
by noting the time required from signal
from ship to come back from the depths
as an echo. Sound travels through water
much faster than through air, but not too
rapidly for measurement with modern
instruments; and, since the triode ampl
fer can detect vibrations almost infinitely
tenuous, it would appear that the deeper
the water the more readily the measure
ment can be made. Moreover, the radio
soundings may be taken with the ship un-
der full headway. 1t is predicted with
confidence that in the near future our
knowledge of the contour of the sea-bot-
toms will be greatly increased-a matter,
quite obviously, of both scientific interest
aud practical importance.
Interesting comment as to the aid Of
fered by radio to the navigator in this
direction and in sundry others is made by
Lieut.. Clifford Albion Tinker, in The Out
look (New York. We quote:
"Shades of Father Neptune
"What are we going to do with our
superannuated navigators? Radio is put
ting them out of business. For in COM
paratively short time the navigator who
boards his ship carefully carrying a ma
hogany-incased sextant and with Bow
ditch tucked under his arm will be as out
of date and as comical as the old straw
chewing rube of the vaudeville stage,
ambling along the canyons of New York,
carrying his ancient carpet-bag and green
umbrella.
"No more tricky sun shooting;' no NOR.
fog 'worries;' no more trailing the log;
no more heaving the lead; no more shout
ing BY the mark TEMP and no more
logarithmic 'busts-'King Radio had put
the see in sea.
"The gentlemanly navigator of tomor-
row is a radio engineer. He sits at ma
hogany table in a comfortable Office on
his modern ship, smoking fat cigars, press
ing neat pearl-topped buttons, and letting
King Radio do the rest. One button
tells the depth of water under the keel;
another, the distance and direction to the
nearest ship, and of all ships within
radius of twenty-five miles; series of
buttons reveals the nearest land, the dis
tance to it, the course to reach it, and
fixes the ships position on the surface of
old ocean. All these fancy navigational
stunts are easily explained-the appara
tus which does the business is now in
daily use, and is functioning accurately.
Cali of these developments are epoch
making in their application to ocean COM
merce, and they are the result of research
conducted by the United States Navy in
finding the answers to tactical maneuvers
and the safe navigation of the taxpayers
battleships and special naval craft But,
as wonderful as these accomplishments all
seem to be, they are entirely overshadowed
by the new naval development whereby
one ship may be controlled by radio waves
from another. The controlled ship is
sent hither and yon at the will of the
sender without a single soul being on
board the ship thus controlled. This may
not be the last word in the tactical use of
radio equipment in fleet. If it is not,
the next word will be a marvel indeed.
"This business of controlling ships by
radio is stealing the thunder from the
Greek Jules Verne who wrote the story
of Jason and the Argonauts, although that
ancient yarn certainly came very close to
the actual facts concerning the perfor-
nance of present-day radio apparatus and
equipment. 1t will be remembered that
those who built Jason's ship, the Argo,
used a branch of the Talking Oak of