Wireless telegraphy

How Guglielmo Marconi Telegraphs Without Wires.

a nineteen-year-old boy just a quiet unobtrusive young fellow who talked little but thought much saw in the discovery of an older scientist the means of producing a revolutionizing invention by which nations could talk to nations without the use of wires or tangible connection no matter how far apart they might be or by what they might be separated the possibilities of guglielmo william marconi's invention are just beginning to be realized and what it has already accomplished would seem too wonderful to be true if the people of these marvellous times were not almost surfeited with wonders it is of the boy and man marconi that this chapter will tell and through him the story of his invention for the personality the talents and the character of the inventor made wireless telegraphy possible It was an article in an electrical journal describing the properties of the Hertzian waves that suggested to young Marconi the possibility of sending messages from one place to another without wires.

Many men doubtless read the same article, but all except the young Italian lacked the training, the power of thought, and the imagination first to foresee the great things that could be accomplished through his discovery and then to study out the mechanical problem and finally to steadfastly push the work through to practical usefulness it would seem that marconi was not the kind of boy to produce a revolutionizing invention for he was not in the least spectacular but on the contrary almost shy and lacking in the aggressive enthusiasm that is supposed to mark the successful inventor quiet determination was a strong characteristic of the young italian and a studious habit which had much to do with the great results accomplished by him at so early an age he was well equipped to grapple with the mighty problem which he had been the first to conceive since from early boyhood he had made electricity his chief study and a comfortable income saved him from the grinding struggle for bare existence that many inventors have had to endure although born in bologna in eighteen seventy four and bearing an italian name marconi is half irish his mother being a native of britain having been educated in bologna florence and leghorn italy's schools may rightly claim to have had great influence in the shaping of his career certain it is in any case that he was well educated especially in his chosen branch marconi like many other inventors did not discover the means by which the end was accomplished he used the discovery of other men and turned their impractical theories and inventions to practical ones and in addition invented many theories of his own the man who does old things in a new way or makes new uses of old inventions is the one who achieves great things and so it was the reading of the discovery of hertz that started the boy on the train of thought and the series of experiments that ended with practical every-day telegraphy without the use of wires To begin with, it is necessary to give some idea of the medium that carries the wireless messages.

It is known that all matter, even the most compact and solid of substances, is permeated by what is called ether, and that the vibrations that make light, heat, and color are carried by this mysterious substance as water carries the wave motions on its surface.

ether has been compared by one writer to jelly which filling all space serves as a setting for the planets moons and stars and in fact all solid substances and as a bowl of jelly carries a plum so all solid things float in it heinrich hertz discovered that in addition to the light heat and color waves carried by ether This substance also served to carry electric waves or vibrations, so that electric impulses could be sent from one place to another without the aid of wires.

These electric waves have been named Hertzian waves in honor of their discoverer, but it remained for Marconi, who first conceived their value, to put them to practical use.

but for a year he did not attempt to work out his plan thinking that all the world of scientists were studying the problem the expected did not happen however no news of wireless telegraphy reached the young italian and so he set to work at his father's farm in bologna to develop his idea and so the boy began to work out his great idea with a dogged determination to succeed and with the thought constantly in mind spurring him on that it was more than likely that some other scientist was striving with might and main to gain the same end his father's farm was his first field of operations the small beginnings of experiments that were later to stretch across many hundreds of miles of ocean set up on a pole planted at one side of the garden he rigged a tin box to which he connected by an insulated wire his rude transmitting apparatus at the other side of the garden a corresponding pole with another tin box was set up and connected with the receiving apparatus the interest of the young inventor can easily be imagined as he sat and watched for the tick of his recording instrument that he knew should come from the flash sent across the garden by his companion much time had been spent in the planning and the making of both sets of instruments and this was the first test silent he waited his nerves tense impatient eager suddenly the morse sounder began to tick and burr the young boy's eyes flashed and his heart gave an exultant bound the first wireless message had been sent and received and a new marvel had been added to the list of world's wonders.

the quiet farm was the scene of many succeeding experiments the place having been put at his disposal by his appreciative father and in addition ample funds were generously supplied from the same source different heights of poles were tried and it was found that the distance could be increased in proportion to the altitude of the pole bearing the receiving and transmitting tin boxes or capacities the higher the poles the greater distance the message could be sent the success of marconi's system depended largely on his receiving apparatus and it is on account of his use of some of the devices invented by other men that unthinking people have criticized him he adapted to the use of wireless telegraphy certain inventions that had heretofore been merely interesting scientific toys curious little instruments of no apparent practical value until his eyes saw in them a contributory means to a great end though hertz caught the etheric waves on a wire hoop and saw the answering sparks jump across the unjoined ends there was no way to record the flashes and so read the message The electric current of a wireless message was too weak to work a recording device, so Marconi made use of an ingenious little instrument invented by M. Branley called a coherer to hitch on, as it were, the stronger current of a local battery.

In 1901, Guglielmo Marconi sent one across the Atlantic, but neither signal transmitted sound.

Indeed, we were soon calling this new medium wireless telegraphy, because we could send only telegraphic dots and dashes.

Writer William Zwill tells how the little-known inventor Reginald Fessenden solved the problem of sending sound.

Fessenden was a bright kid born in Quebec in 1866.

In this case, the message was transmitted a part of the distance through the air.

another instance of wireless telegraphy.

The operation was as follows.

One of the wires strung on the poles nearest to the track was fitted up with a vibrator and key at the end of the line similar to that of the way duplex just described.

Electricity and Magnetism by Elisha Gray.

Chapter 21.

Wireless Telegraphy.

Broadly speaking, wireless telegraphy is any method of transmitting intelligible signals to a distance without wires, and this includes the old semaphore system of visual signals such as flags and long arms of wood by day and lights by night, also the heliograph, an apparatus for flashing sunlight, and sound signals made either through the air or water.

Erie Canal, built by DeWitt Clinton, Irish Netherlander.

Long Distance Telephone and Wireless Telegraphy, made possible by Michael Pupin, Yugoslav.

Inventor of Wireless Switch was Fritz Lowenstein, German Jew.

New device for transmitting radio photographs by Arthur Korn, German Jew.

Radium, the revealer, is opening the door to possibilities almost beyond human conception.

Wireless telegraphy is crossing thousands of miles of space with invisible feet and making the nations of the earth as one.

It is the same with the other subjects.

One and all are of vital human interest and are extremely attractive on account of their importance in the civilization of today.

Marvels of Modern Science by Paul Severing.

Chapter 2.

Wireless Telegraphy.

At a very early stage in the world's history, man found it necessary to be able to communicate with places at a distance by means of signals.