Wall Street Journal, April 22, 1903, page 5:
INDUSTRIAL AFFAIRS.
INTERNATIONAL WIRELESS CO.
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Various Sub-Companies Merged in One Corporation.
Philadelphia--The International Wireless Telegraph & Telephone Company with $7,500,000 capital stock has been recently organized in New Jersey to exploit the inventions of Professor A. E. Dolbear, C. E. Collins and H. Shoemaker, in the wireless field. Fred G. Smith is president and W. B. Averill, vice-president, Jacob Schiff, Edgar Van Etton, Henry L. Spraugue and C. B. Walters are among the incorporators of the company. The International Company has taken over all the property, patents, etc. of the Consolidated Wireless Telegraph & Telephone Company.
The Consolidated Company as originally organized had a capital stock of $25,000,000. It was the successor of the American Wireless Telephone & Telegraph Co., and embraced substantially the same incorporation as the American Company and was promoted by the same people. Dr. G. P. Gehring, of Philadelphia, was the chief promoter.
The American Company had a capital of $5,000,000. It licensed six subsidiary companies as follows:
The Northeastern, The Federal, The Atlantic, The Northwestern, The Pacific and the Continental. Each was capitalized at $5,000,000. The terms of the license were that the parent company should receive a stipulated royalty upon the sales of all stock.
The promoters of one of these subsidiary companies "The Federal" are said to have sold some 800,000 shares, realizing about $200,000 therefrom. Stocks in all the other companies were sold broadcast throughout the country by means of flowing advertisements.
It is claimed that the money derived from the sale of these shares was diverted to the pockets of the promoters of the subsidiary companies and was not used in the development of the wireless system.
The Consolidated Wireless Telegraph & Telephone Co., was therefore organized to put an end to the career of these subsidiary concerns. The original capital was $25,000,000 and a consolidation of all the companies, with the exception of the Pacific and Continental, was effected by an exchange at par of the shares of the Consolidated Company, for the shares of the other four companies. This consolidation having been effected the Consolidated Company proceeded to reduce the amount of its capital from $25,000,000 to $7,500,000 of which amount was placed in the treasury. The Consolidated Company thereupon proceeded with the sale of its shares and disposed of stock at various prices sufficient to produce a revenue of $155,000, 60% of which sum Dr. Gehring says was consumed in advertising and commissions. The remainder, it is claimed, was expended in conducting experiments, erecting stations, in constructing apparatus and procuring patents.
The company at the present time has no stations in operation. It has nine stations at various points on the Atlantic coast, but these have been closed during the winter. It has a laboratory at No. 827 Arch street, Philadelphia where its experts are employed in experimental work. The company owns 61 patents the greater number of which have been granted to H. Shoemaker, the company's electrical expert and include a variety of applications of wireless not hitherto made public, including a wireless "autotorpedo" and a wireless "auto-motor."
The company claims priority of invention on many of the principles and instruments which they say both Marconi and De Forest are now using. They also have a patent on the word "Aerogram" as a trademark which word they claim De Forest is using in contravention of their rights.
In addition to the Shoemaker patents they have purchased Prof. A. E. Dolbear's patents on the "art of wireless transmission", granted in 1886, before the publication of Hertz's discoveries.
They recently made a test of their apparatus and by the use of. telephone receivers were able to readily distinguish signals transmitted through walls of brick, mortar and steel. The instruments exhibited differs very materially in appearance from the Marconi instruments and from the De Forest as well.
The company claims to have made distinct advances toward perfection over any form of instruments yet constructed by any other inventor. The managers assert that they have received signals from a distance of over two hundred miles and claim to have transmitted and received messages for a distance of sixty miles. They assert that with sufficient power they can transmit messages across the Atlantic. One of the subsidiary companies of the American Co., called "The Pacific," which company declined to enter the consolidation, is now operating commercial stations on Santa Catalina Island and the mainland in California. This company is also said to be preparing, in conjunction with Claus Spreckles, to connect California and the Hawaiian Islands.
Dr. Gehring says that his company has spent in the development of its system "less than Marconi has spent in building of one station." The company's nine stations on the Atlantic coast are as follows: Galilee, Barnegat, Atlantic City, Cape May, Lewes, Del., Quogue, L. I., Baltimore, Washington and Navesink Highlands, Sandy Hook.
Stock of the Consolidated Company is still purchasable from the company at from 50 to 75 cents per share. The stock of the International Company, owner of the assets of the Consolidated Co., is not yet offered to the public.
Wall Street Journal, April 28, 1903, page 5:
INTERNATIONAL WIRELESS CO.
A few days ago a report from Philadelphia stated that Jacob Schiff was one of the incorporators of the International Wireless Company. This report was immediately denied by Mr. Schiff. It develops that an Albert Schiff is identified with the International Wireless Company, and was the person referred to in the report, his name having been erroneously reported.