Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-09
VOICES CROSSED
SEA Z YEARS AGO
Arlington Talks to Paris and
Honolulu in 1915 Are
Recalled.

| Inaugural tiOn of regular tranSatlan-
| tic radiophone service brings To mind
the fact that human voice first was
flung across the oceans more than a
| decade ago during a series of historic
experiments conducted from the
Arlington towers.
Newspape of 1915 recorded enthu-
siastically that Washington has
talked with Paris and Honolulu" and
announced that "transa tlantiC wire
less telephony is an accomplished
fact"
At that time the first transconti-
mental telephone line had just been
opened to the public and the world
was still commenting on this achieve
ment when the American Telephone
and Telegraph Co. announced that on
September %, 1918, speech broadcast
from Arlington had been heard by
telephone company engineers in Homo
lulu, nearly 5000 miles away.
Arlington Heard in Paris.
A few weeks later. through the CO.
operation of French military officials.
| the voice of Arlington was heard by
| liSteners-in at the Eiffel Tower i'm
| Paris
| The Hawaiian reception was Incl
| dental to tests undertaken between
| Arlington and Mare Island. Calf. In
| these tests the late Theodore y, Vail,
| president of the A. r. e. I. Co,
| talked with Chief Engineer J. j.
| Carly, stationed at the Pacific Coast
navy yard. Mr.. Wallis voice was
| carried over wires from his office I'm
| New York to Arlington and broad
| cast from the local naval radio sta
| ton.
| A telephone company bulletin. is
sued after the experiments had been
| completed. acclaimed the feat in the
| following statement:
within the next IL hours wonders
| piled on wonders in wireless tele
| phony and even more marvellous rec
| ords were made. From the radio
station in San Diego came word that
| the talk from New York had been
| heard there over the wireless, and
later similar report came from
| Darien. on the Isthmus of Panama
| The aerial distance from New York
to San Francisco is $500 miles, to
San Diego 1900 miles. and to Darien
200 miles.
| An EpOchaI Day.
"These records were enough to
make September 20 an epoehal day in
the history of science, but new and
| greater thrill came to the public
when Lloyd Espenschied. an engineer
of this company, cabled from Pearl
Island. near Honolulu. 1900 miles
| from Washington. that he had heard
a message from the Arlington tower
and had clearly recognized the voice
of r. A. Heising of the engineering
staff of the Western Electric Co."
Mr.. Carly at the same time declared
that this achievement demonstrates
the possibility of transatlantic wire
less telephony from Washington to
New York to London, Paris and other
European capitals"
A few weeks later Arlington sue
ceeded in thrusting the voice of tele-
phone engineers across the Atlantic
to Paris. The first words heard by
Eiffel Tower observers were Hello.
Shreeve, this is Webb talking +"
Shreeve and Webb were engineers
conducting the experiments.
Limitations Placed.
Telephone officials did not permit
j their optimism to run away with their
scientifically conservative ideas, how
ever Their bulletin concluded with
the following words
There are many sharp limitations
to- the use of the ether for talking pur-
poses, and it cannot be drawn on too
! strongly by the scientist. 1t will ac-
complish miracles. but it must not he
overtaxed. Millions of messages. go
ing in all directions. crossing and re-
crossing each other, as they do every
| day by wire, are an impoSSlhlity by
wireless telephony.
THE limitations of the use of the
wireless are best understood when it
is remembered that all its messages
must be carried by one common COIL
ductor. In telephony by wire every
man may have his own private wire;
in wireless all the world is restricted
to the use of one general medium or
conductor-the universal ether.
only a limited number of messages
| NAV be sent at the same time"