Although this article may have been technically correct when it states that "wireless telegrams have been sent to Baltimore", there is no evidence that they were ever actually received there, for this proposed Washington-Baltimore radiotelegraph link exceeded the overland capabilities of spark-transmitter and coherer-receiver technology at this time.
Present Establishment Represents a Total Outlay of $10,000
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SENDS MESSAGES TO BALTIMORE
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Fi
rst and Main Station Located on Galena Place, Between Sixth and Seventh Streets Northeast--Plans of the Federal Wireless Telegraph and Telephone Company.
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Towering 137 feet above the earth's surface and erected on the highest elevation in the District of Columbia stands the mast of the Federal Wireless Telegraph and Telephone Company from which the news of the National Capital will shortly be transmitted by means of electro-etheric waves to all parts of the civilized world where wireless telegraph stations have been established. Messages have already been flashed from this station to the company's station at Baltimore.
The station which is depicted in the accompanying illustration is situated on Galena Place, between Sixth and Seventh Streets northeast, in the W. O. Denison and J. W. Sands subdivison of Metropolis View, District of Columbia. The location was selected as the result of a diligent search for the highest possible elevation in the District.
Represents Outlay of $10,000.
The establishment of the station represents an outlay of $10,000. The cost of the erection of the mast alone which is in three sections buried to a depth of fifteen feet and supported by numerous guy ropes reached the $1,200 mark. The work of establishing the station was done under the supervision of Mr. G. W. Pickard, chief engineer of the company. The operator who sent out the first message from the station was Mr. Bertram Royal, who will be succeeded by Mr. John Nickerson, of Boston, as soon as the station is open for business.
In addition to the Metropolis View station, which will be the main station in the District, substations will be established in the downtown districts, where messages will be received and flashed to the main station, where, in turn they will be transmitted to the company's station at Baltimore. The Baltimore station is to be known as Carroll station, and is situated on the Frederick Road.
Downtown Substations on Roofs.
The substations in the downtown districts of the National Capital will be established on the roofs of office building and business blocks. Several locations have already been favorably considered by Mr. Pickard, but the negotiations have not as yet been consummated.
The Federal Wireless Telegraph and Telephone Company holds exclusive rights through license for the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Stations at Other Points.
In addition to the stations at Metropolis View and Baltimore, the company has already established stations at Galilee, N. J., from which the yacht races were reported in October; at Atlantic City near the lighthouse; Barnegat Bay, and Cape May.
As soon as the Metropolis View station is open for business the company will immediately inaugurate the work incident to the establishment of stations at Wilmington, Philadelphia, Trenton, Newark, and New York City. The establishment of these stations will be proceeded with in the order named.
Wireless Telegraph Equipment.
The equipment of a wireless telegraph station under the patents held by the Federal Wireless Telegraph and Telephone Company consists of a fifteen-inch induction or Rumkorff coil, which is connected with the mast by an arerial wire 146 feet long and ground plates.
The principle of the system employed consists of the aerial wire being charged by the coil and discharging into the air creates an impulse or electro-etheric wave, which is picked up at the distant station by the aerial wire and conveyed to the coherer.
The coherer is a glass tube, fitted with two silver plugs, between which is placed some nickel and silver filings. These impulses or electro-etheric waves have the property of breaking down the normally high resistance of the filings and of allowing the current from a local battery to actuate a polarized relay, which in turn makes dots and dashes.
The coherer is restored to its original resistance by a tapping device which is operated by the tongue of the polarized relay.
Messages to Baltimore.
The Metropolis View station can send messages to Baltimore and several have already been sent. None has as yet been received from Baltimore, however, as the instruments are not in perfect adjustment. As soon as they have been adjusted the station will open for business. The machines at the various stations must be in perfect harmony and adjustment which takes some time to do correctly.
Mr. Pickard's system of tuning which prevents the messages from being stolen by other stations consists of aerial wires of the same length with inductance coils and capacity inserted.
On transmitting a message by wireless telegraphy the current is taken from a battery of about fifteen volts and transferred by the induction coil to a high frequency or alternating current of several thousand volts. This charges the aerial wire.
Not a Mystery.
There is nothing mysterious about wireless telegraphy. It has been recognized and experimented with by scientists for nearly fifty years. Prof. Dolbear, of Tufts College, Boston, took out the art or basic American patent on telegraphy without wires in 1886. The Federal Wireless Telegraph and Telephone Company is licensed under this basic patent.
The practical application of wireless telegraphy however was made by Prof. Henry Shoemaker of Philadelphia to whom seven patents were granted for improvements in wireless transmission the past two years.
The development of wireless telegraphy is the result of Prof. Dolbear, who is the pioneer in this country, and under whose patent for the aerial and ground connection the Federal Wireless Telegraph and Telephone Company operates. The company also control eleven other patents by Profs. Shoemaker and Pickard, which bring the machines employed up to their present high standing.
It was Professor Shoemaker who adjusted instruments so that the Morse dots and dash would come perfectly, thus making it possible for any wire telegrapher to send or receive with his apparatus.
How It Operates.
A wireless message is sent and received in just the same way that a wire message is sent except no wire is used. The same key is used to transmit with and the same form of relay and sounder at the receiving end.
When the key is depressed a spark from the battery is made by means of the Rumkorff coil and one end of the spark is conducted into the air by means of an air plate, the other into an earth plate buried in the ground. In wire telegraphy one end is conducted to a wire and the other to the earth.
The spark sent into the air spreads out in a circle in the form of an electro-etheric wave in all directions, rapidly widening as the ripples which form on a pail of water when a pebble is dropped in gradually widen out. The end of the spark in the earth widens in the same manner by combining with the natural earth current.
What the Coherer Does.
Just as water ripples in the pail finally reach the sides of the pail, so the electro-etheric spark ripples instantaneously reach the air plate and the earth plate of the receiving station. Then they follow down the wire on the air mast and in up the wire on the air plate, until they reach the coherer. When the electro-etheric spark ripple which has come through the air and earth reaches the coherer, the filings leap up and fill in the space between the plugs. This is then strengthened by the local battery and passes on to a regular relay (such as is used in wire telegraphy), where it is strengthened by more battery, and is now strong enough to depress the arm of the sounder, which descends with a "click" as if a real wire connected the instruments with the key.
Far More Delicate Than the Relay.
The coherer is simply an instrument far more delicate than the relay, the same as the relay is more delicate than the sounder, and will invariably pick up the electro-etheric wave from the ether the same as the ordinary relay picks up the wave from a wire in wire telegraphy.
On a wire line it is well known that a sounder will not work unless aided by the relay after a certain distance is passed. Thus to sum it all up, wireless telegraphy is simply the practical employment and the perfect adjustment of more delicate instruments than are now used in wire telegraphy, and hence it obviates the necessity for and cost of wire poles and franchises.
The ether which combines with and carries the electric spark to its destination also transmits the rays of the sun over its millions of miles of travel to the earth, and, theoretically, the pulsations of a wireless telegraph vibrate over and on at a speed of 265,000 miles per second, ever dancing on the ether, which permeates all space, to planets, stars and solar systems, far beyoud the grasp of human intellect.
Governments Being Interested.
The Japanese Government has installed and is working successfully with wireless telegraphy over a distance of 100 miles from Japan to Korea.
The English Government has likewise transmitted messages successfully for long distances, and is equipping its warships as rapidly as possible.
Rear Admiral Royal B. Bradford, Chief of the Bureau of Equipment of the United States Navy Department, has made enquiries relative to cost, etc., for equipment of the vessels of the United Slates Navy with the instruments manufactured under the patents issued to the Federal Wireless Telegraph and Telephone Company.
The delay in the general commercial introduction of wireless telegraphy has been as it was in the case of the Bell telephone. While Prof. Alexander Graham Bell had demonstrated the truth of his discovery, it took Edison in make it of commercial value.
Just so with the wireless principles. The method was practically demonstrated in 1886 by Prof. Dolbear, but not until Prof. Shoemaker had discovered how to apply the electrical waves and flashes to the Morse alphabet of the dot and dash was it of great universial and commercial value. Prof. Shoemaker, therefore, holds undisputed the basic patents of wireless telegraphy.
How Messages Are Sent
A Times reporter was received yesterday at the Metropolis View station, and had the principles of the system employed in wireless telegraphy fully explained, as already given. Although a complete demonstration of the success of the establishment of the station could not be given by the operator in charge on account of the inability to receive as well as send messages, the method of sending the message was shown
The operator seated himself at a desk and after turning on the electric current began the process of knocking off the dots and dashes, on an ordinary key, the same as is used in wire telegraphy. By means of the Rumkorff coil it was transmitted through the aerial wire and to the ground plate.
To Be Opened for Business.
It is expected that the instruments at the Metropolis View station will be perfectly adjusted by the end of the present week when it will be opened for business.
The headquarters of the Federal Wireless Telegraph and Telephone Company are in the Drexel building, Philadelphia, while the company's laboratory is in the Haehlen building, in the same city. Mr. A. B. Davis is the general manager of the company which is incorporated under the laws of Pennsylvania.
