ADVANCE OF SCIENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 20, 25 January 1927, Page 8

ADVANCE OF SCIENCE.

RADIO PHENOMENON. HEARING WITHOUT BROADCAST. AN INVISIBLE RAY. (From Onr Special Correspondent.* SAN FRANCISCO, December 20. The closing weeks of the year witnessed several noteworthy advances in the realm of science in the United States, not the least of which was a radio phenomenon announced to the world in Temple, Texas, where it transpired that a former radio enthusiast had stumbled on a way to pick up neighbourhood conversation with only a crude receiving set. The discovery was made in the Joe Lee community, some sixteen miles from Temple, and a number of newspaper men immediately arranged to make an exhaustive investigation into the latest development of radio science. It was stated that Buford Young, the | purported discoverer, can hear the "goings on" in his neighbours' homes for half a mile around, and the development has created a great deal of speculation by recognised radio experts, who also are to be called in to analyse the phenomenon. Young and some of his friends carried the story to Temple, declaring they had thoroughly tested the strange capacity of his set. They said they had Joe Archer read from a newspaper half a mile away, and they heard him plainly. The discovery was only a blind stroke of chance, Young said. He related that he apparently had made a failure of a copying a magazine illustration of a simple three-tube outfit. Winding the coil wrong in some manner, he was unable to pick up any station. Further tinkering, however, suddenly brought I out a neighbour's voice, saying: "Will Broach's mule is out." With the aid of friends, Young verified the statement from Allen Warren, who made it, and also further conversation in Warren's and other homes. The investigators learned that conversation was audible only within a. mile, and only when the talkers were in closed rooms. It was decided that a wire counterpoise running under the radio aerial had something to do with the phenomenon, because by moving it they could pick up voices from telephone lines without touching the lines. He said, however, that he eould easily rebuild the set as it had been, and would do so. Invisible Ray. The greatest interest has been evinced in America by the statement in St. Louis that radio movies, an invisible ray that permits vision in total darkness": aeroplanes which fold up their wings like birds, and an electrical "third degree" apparatus to detect robbers, are some of the possibilities and accomplishments peeping from the magic box of modern science. I

A glimpse into the dream realm of the radio movie, which may soon cease to be a dream, was given by Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson, consulting engineer of the General Electrical Company and the Radio Corporation of America, in an address in St. Louis explaining television projection.

"Our work has already proved that the expectation of television is not unreasonable and it may be accompuished bv means that are in our possession at the present day," said Dr. Alexanderson. The speaker explained that a television projector which he had been using in laboratory experiments had accomplished the radio transmission of a single photograph in two minutes, but that television would require the transmission, reception and production of a single picture in one-sixteenth of a second.

From London, he stated, came reports of another startling discovery in television, the statement being made that seeing in total darkness by means of an invisible ray having been shown to be feasible through an invention of John L. Baird, a British scientist.

Commenting on the invisible ray, the Montreal "Star", under the caption, "A New Danger in the Dark," said: 'In these days of wonders compared with which the things that amazed the ancients appear the veriest trifles of simplicity, it is no proof of wisdom to scoff at the still seemingly incredible. When a British scientist announces to the world that he has made a definite discovery and gives proofs of his claims, he is entitled to be heard with respect, for British scientific gentlemen are notoriously conservative. John L. Baird, whose investigations in the field of television have created great interest, now states that he has isolated rays outside the visible spectrum, and that with the aid of these he has completed a televisor that will enable people to see in the darkness. Darkness Eliminated. "SVe all know that cats can see very well indeed in the dark, as many a dog has reason to realise to his acute discomfort. Other animals have vision that largely eliminates darkness. But hitherto mere man has been obliged to secure the aid of artificial light to enable him to see when it is dark. Should Professor Baird's invention prove to have practical possibilities, just think I what a world of revolutionary changes jit will effect ! Burglars will have to quit their profession. It will no longer possess even a paying margin of safety. Policemen will not need flashlights. Automobile drivers will be relieved of the tense strain that driving in the dark often creates. War will be placed upon a new plane of difficulty, for many of its terrors will vanish with the aid of darkness no longer available. The world will be a new place. "Obviously, such an invention may liave its drawbacks. If people of insatiable curiosity got hold of televisors, society would have a sorry time, of it. I Gossip would take on an entirely new significance, and friendships of years' standing would be burst apart overnight. On the contrary, the mere existence of such a weapon would compel manv people to be more careful of their behaviour and would quite possibly act as a useful and powerful deterrent. Thus is a fascinating vista of speculation opened up."' Wonders on Air. The ramifications of the radio appear to be very wide, for in New York another development has attracted attention when fingerprints of -Tohn Alderson were transmitted by radio to London for comparison with Scotland Yard records, wherein are kept the thumb smudges of the world's most noted crooks. The Alderson digits were put on the air, hitherto used principally for photographs of President Coolidge, King George and kindred notables, because Inspector Coughlin was convinced Alderson was a "grade A criminal."

He was suspected, among other thine*, of having attempted to rob Queen Mafia of Rumania on her recent visit to thl United States, and of having planned to hold up the lamilv of John D Pn~ifeller, Jr. * " *

Never before have the police of Xew York been so interested in a case that they resorted to the air to check up with the authorities in London or anywhere else, at least not to the extent of sending prints by radio.

The prisoner was arrested in Xew York as he emerged from the areawav of a Madison Avenue apartment house, bear. ing jewels to the value of 2200 dollars. A radio innovation during Yuletide in the principal cities of the United States was the exchange of greetings via the radio medium. the photographs of senders being "telegraphed" by radio and faithfully reproduced at the" end of the current way. The process was exactly similar to that employed for sending news pictures by radio to dailv new 6« papers in America.

The new mobile radio beacon, a sort of "silent fog horn," the invention of Dr. F. A. Roister, American research engineer designed to prevent collisions at sea and remove the dangers of navigation in dense fogs, soon is to be installed in all vessels of the Standard Oil fleet and practically all large ships on the Pacific Coast, according to officials of the Federal Telegraph Company in Saa Francisco. Fog Navigation Aid. Several hundred of the instruments are now being built at the company's experimental factories at Palo Alto, California. They are to be used in connection with the recently invented Kolster compass and have small transmitters of low power with but a range of inside ten miles. The beacon sends out a characteristic signal when a ship is being navigated in a fog. This vessel is recognised by other vessels, and through the aid of their direction finders the position of the first craft is determined and a possible collision avoided. Mariners claim that the mobile beacon is one of the greatest aids to navigation invented in modern times. A new step in motion picture production is promised by the veteran Commodore J. Stuart Blackton, founder of the old Vitagraph Company, and Georga K. Spoor, head of the historic Essanay; organisation.

They term their project "natural visions stereoscopic projection," and declare that in this they introduce the third dimension in the silent drama. Production is now under way on "The American," a story Blackton says was suggested by Theodore Roosevelt. It will be interesting to watch the progress on this film and to see it when completed as it is expected to reveal something entirely novel in cinema projection.