Evening star., 1924-05-11

the trouble to walk out Georgetown
way to the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal, you will find anchored there
the old-fashioned canal boats of Will
liam Penner and John Champion
equipped with antennae and efficient
receiving sets
These boa tmen, who for many years
have been engaged in coal freishting
between Cumberland and George
town, say that the wireless outfits
the world which they never before
had heard about. The jazz music OF
monographs furnished the only
source, of entertainment which the
towpath troupers previously had had
available Now, with their radio sets,
they have the worlds best music, lee
lures, sermons, dramas, weather re-
ports and agricultural news con-
stantly at their elbows. Education
has come through the ether to the
propelled craft which ply the
waters that George Washington once
loved so well.
Right here, close to the heart of
Washington, another chapter has
been written in the history of an i'm
portant system u communication.
Visualize if you can how, different
would have been the youth of James
Garfield, one of our national Presi-
dents, who bridged the gap from tow
path to White House, if such an in
strument of education as the radio
receiving set had been availa BILE to
act as his invisible Instructor.
hn
season begins, in the early spring
until the last load of coal is hauled
in the mellowing days of frostbitten
October, it is a continuous round of
constant travel for the mule driving
boatmen and their families. 1t is
slow, arduous and monotonous trip
from Cumberland to Georgetown with
the heavy cargo of coal. Once un-
loaded, the outfit speeds back to the
mines, travelling night and day dur
ing periods OF bright moonlight.
There is no time for ease or ordinary
entertainment.
To these hard-working people radio
is veritably a godsend, for it connects
them with a world from which they
were as distantly separated as though
they were marooned on a far-hung
coral reef of the salt sea.
Walk only a few blocks from the
canal terminal, where the boats are
equipped with wireless apparatus, to
one of Washington's leading apart
ment houses and you will see another
marvel of radio which latterly has
come to Washington. Experts of the
United States Navy have performed
conclusive experiments with coupling
tube receiving sets which demon
strate that anywhere from five to
thirty or more receiving sets can be
attached to the same antenna and
can be tuned up and down the scale
without being bothered by objection
able interference. Taking the fear out
of interference is one of the best
little tricks this new arrangement
accomplishes.
Many is the time, doubtless, that
hundreds of Washington amateur
photographers have said uncompli-
mentary things about the boiler plant
interference which puts the din and
confusion into their wireless enter
tainment. The whistling interference
more like the piping trills of peanut
roaster than anything else has been
particularly objectionable. The coup
lin gtube setup largely eliminates
such untoward disturbances. The
system is especially adaptable to
apartment house installation, in that
it markedly reduces the number of
essential antennae. Furthermore, it
provides high resistance in the an
tennae.
The difficulty which confronts the
average amateur who aspires to the
ownership of a coupling tube set
obtains from the fact that such an
equipment is hard to operate. 1t
takes time and scientific study for
the ordinary layman to master all
it's fntricacies.
r F. JENKINS, one of Washington's
~" most successful radio inventors,
has harnessed electricity to aid him
in sending photographs by wireless.
His experimentation has now pro-
gressed to a point where he can send
in ninety seconds a photograph of
typewriter page without much inter-
ference even under conditions where
the manuscript is typed in small print.
Where the interference is decidedly
objectionable under the Jenkins sys-
TEN, larger type has to be used which.
of course. reduces the number of
words that. can be sent per page.
This is successful and practical even
if the interference is terrific.
There is no question that, in time.
as his tests and appliances are better
adapted for the activities, Mr.. Jenkins
will be able to transmit motion pic
lures by radio. 1t is practically i'm
possible to estimate the potentialities
which will obtain from his masterful
Investigations. In the future, impor-
tant presidential proclamations and
neSsag ges to Congress will be photo
graphed and sent to all parts of the
country in a few minutes by wireless,
as result of this Washington ex-
perin enters achievements.
Experts report that they have done
nothing more than to knock at the
door Of radios posi- bilities. Man is
still but gaining introduction to the
rudiments. 1t would take another
Jules Verne to prognosticate what the
future will bring forth. The sands
of time move like Snails as compared
with the rapidity with which radio
is being developed, Every radio ex-
perimanter in the world is a partici-
pant in a great research adventure.
He never knows exactly what his
next days work may divulge.
The naval battles of the future will