Evening star., 1925-07-02
POWER TRANSMISSION
BY AIR is CLAIMED
italian Invention Said to Have
Stood Test Presenting Bound
less Possibilities.

An Italian engineer named Midali
claims to have made an invention
whereby electrical power can be
transmitted without the use of wires.
Successful tests of this invention, 1t
Is claimed, have been made, and 1t
Is stated that possibilities are bound.
less, according to La Stampa, Turin.
Discovering the shortest known
wave length-One- e-millionth Of a cen.
timeter-this expert also claims di.
rectional control, the transmission of
power to vehicles. trains and ships,
and the elimination Of interference
In communication
Regarding his studies, first under.
taken more than five years ago, Mr..
Midali states:
THE result obtained is that OF
transmitting electric energy in the
form OF alternating current. without
excessive losses. but in reality the
electric energy is not transmitted as
such. The system transfers the
electric energy emanating from any
source in the form of alternating cur.
rent. at frequency and tension gen.
orally employed in industry, into very
short electromagnetic waves Of about
ne-millionth of centimeter. These
waves must be about the size of
light waves and have nothing in com
mon with the Hertzian waves used
FOR radio communications.
These extremely short waves, that
ought to be called vibrations of the
electrons, constitute the means by
which the electric energy is trans
mitted to a distant receiving system
which, in turn, transfers them into
electric current of identical character
istics Of that used by the transmitting
system.
MY studies concerning electrical
discharges into the atmosphere en-
abled me to determine how the dis
charge occurs and to evaluate the
magnitude and range Of the discharge
itself. and also how 1t propagates
while one part of the energy ac-
cumulated in the electric charge
utilizes the ionization of the air pro.
duced by the current and discharges
at the nearest point the potential of
which Is zero, another part is con-
sumed by work of continual and
reciprocal attraction and repulsion of
the electrons Of the surrounding at
mosphere. These electrons also alb.
sorb a real work or orientation when
the charge inverts its polarity
MY system is based on this second
kind of work produced by the dis
charge, viz, on the work of creating
these vibrations Of the electrons with
out any other discharge, except that
for the ionization of the surrounding
air, which is also reduced to a
minimum.
"On account of this 1 do not use
in my system high tension and high
frequency, which, more so than other
currents. are apt to facilitate the dis
charge on account of the ionization of
the ether. Consequently, the hypoth
esis entertained also by me in the
first instance. that the transmission
of electric energy was due to phe-
nomena of resonance. must be dis
carded. The existence of the short
waves. onemillionth of a centimeter
mentioned above, announces, of course
the presence of high frequencies, but
we are confronted with electric phe-
nomena unknown up to the present
because no difference of potential is
noticeable between the aerial and the
earth, not even by using highly sen,
sitive electro-magnetical. electro-dya
mical or electrostatic instruments.
THE electric vibrations created by
the transmitting system travel in a
straight line toward an ideal focus,
according to the directions impaired
them by the systems of condensers
which form the aerial; they converge
In a point x. in which the ideal lines
of the aerial condensers of the receiv.
ing system must also converge. When
this condition is not fulfilled trans.
mission cannot initiate