Evening star., 1924-08-03

like the formation OF a gigantic snow
ball. This century it was the idea Of
S. r. Rothafel of the Capitol Theater,
in New York, who thought it would
be a boon to sick and injured war
veterans IL they could hear an occa-
sional radio concert.
Roxy. to use his popular name, was
well known in the East when he con-
ceived the idea a few months ago;
now he is known on the other side
Of the Mississippi, and the SNOWFALL,
which he started at WEAF, is rolling
toward the Pacific Coast. 1t Is so
before some 200 hospitals are
equipped.
His idea has been accepted by the
whole country. and national COM
mittee, including the heads of sew
eral Governmental departments, to-
gether with admirals and generals,
has just completed a plan to equip
with radio receiving facilities every
hospital In the United States wherever
a single war veteran is quartered
Cities, communities. broadcasters,
tically everybody has promised CO.
operation. and to date hundreds Of
thousands of dollars have been col
lected or pledged. The aim of the
national committee is to raise
million dollars, through the aid Of
state and municipal committees, the
FUNDS TO be used solely for eQuipping
local hospitals where veterans OF the
World War are being cared for. Both
the heads of the Army and Navy
medical services have indorsed radio
as an efficient aid in the recuperation
OF Government patients.
Already funds sufficient for the mill
tary and naval hospitals of the Dis
trict OF Columbia have been raised
and the hospitals equipped. New York
has collected approximately s125,ooO,
chicago several thousands of dollars,
provldence has given about $4,000
ana boston is conducting a campaign
Tor $4,000. This money is used sole
iy Tor the purchase of equipment:
there is no overhead, and manufac-
turers are quoting especially low
prices.
Soon it was discovered that the
scheme was taking everywhere. The
burden of the work became too great
TOT Roxy and his gang" and he ap-
pealed to Maj. Gen. Lejeune. com
mandant of the United States Marine
Corps. and his former commander.
Ioday virtually the whole National
Government is behind the plan. The
executive committee has established
national headquarters OF the Roxy
radio fund' in the Munsey Building
Experts on radio from the Army
Navy and Bureau of Standards CO.
operated in designing and installing
the hrst large receiving unit at
Walter Reed Hospital. in the District
OF Columo1a which provides head
phones for 1.00G patients and serves
four loud speakers. This model unit
worked so well that it has been made
the standard of similar equipment
for all hospitals.
Surveys of 16o hospitals east OF
the mississippi River are already
completed or are under way. in order
that the individual needs may be in
hand when the local district com
m1ttees complete their canvasses for
1unds with which to purchase equip
ment The survey Will soon be
pushed westward to the Pacific Coast.
me survey itself is now reduced
to simple form, due to the activities
and forethousht of the experts OF
the national committee A standard
form of radio specifications has been
adopted. based upon the Walter Reed
equipment blank form is sent to
each hospital and the data filled in
by an attache. He specifies how
many patients. what facilities for a
central receiving room are available
method of wiring and the length of
wire necessary. He also records
the number of insulators needed
switches, bride rings, receptacIes.
loud speakers for each assembly
room, head phones (Which should be
10 per cent over bed capacity of hos
pital). conduit pipe and even the
number OF tacks required. 10 aid
him he has the standard specitica-
tons and model wiring diagram OF
everything from the antenna to the
head phones and ground.
The radio programs are received at
walter Reed Hospital on one master
receiving set, which feeds, by means
of an Impotence matching trans
former, into an audio frequency pow
er amplifier, which, in turn. feeds
into the 1000 phones in parallel
through another Impotence match
ing transformer. The lines which run
from the output transformer to the
various wards and across which the
any point, and a double-pole switch is
provided at every branch point, in or
der that any trouble which may de-
velop in the system may be isolated
and more easily located
The method of connecting the
phones to the line is by means of a
two-prong push plug and receptacle
similar to those used for electrical
lighting appliances. The phone cords
are provided with eyelets instead of
the customary tips, so that they may
be connected or disconnected at will.
must be of the same manufacture
and type.
In the temporary buildings the
wire tNo. 10 copper inside twisted
pair) is attached by tacks directly to
the walls and is left exposed The
receptacles are mounted at the head
OF each bed. in wood blocks with
brass face plates. The phone cords
provided are eight feet long In the
permanent buildings the wire is con-
cealed under wood molding, which is
the height of the beds and is similar
to chair rail around the room. The
connections between buildings were
carried on bride rings through Cor
ridors connecting the building, No. II
copper-clad outside twisted pair was
used.
The entire receiving and amplify-
ing equipmept, with batteries and
charging equipment. is housed in a
basement room of the main building
and is in charge of one man, not q
patient, who is responsible for the
equipment. 1t is the duty of this
man to take care of the batteries and
receiving. equipment, to adjust the
receiving set and control the volume
of sound delivered to the line. A pair
of phones is provided in parallel with
the rest of the system, so that the
operator at all times knows the VOL
ume with which the patients are re-
ceiving the program. AS phones are
connected and disconnected it is
necessary to vary the control to keep
the volume the same. The operator
must monitor the line continuously.
An outlet is also provided in the
Office of the commanding officer, so
that he may properly supervise the
volume, etc. There are two or more
antennae available, in order that local
or distant stations may be received
satisfactorily. A short antenna is
used for local reception. in order to
minimize the noise from atmospheric
strays and local disturbances, espec-
tally in the summer.