WIRELESS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 302, 15 September 1908, Page 8

WIRELESS.

EARLY TELEGRAPHIC EXPERIMENTS. A NEW ZEALAND INVENTOR. WHAT THE DOMINION LOST. The announcement of tho achievement by three boys in Dunedin of successful wireloss telegraphy between certain localities in and..about that, .city,, has recalled the fact, known probably..to only, a limited number of people in this country, and theso mostly of tho .official class, that upwards of twenty years ago/ to bo precise, in 1888, a gentleman connected with tho New Zealand Telo- • graph Service, conceived the. idea of transmitting clectrio- currents- between two distant stations'wjthont'.themcdiuiii of metallic conductors;, In' other "words, this officer had in Ill's mind tho germ of the theory of wireloss telegraphyi ' But he did'not rest there. Ho duly carried out a series of experiments, though handicapped by -crude and homemade instruments, which thoroughly established tho fact that his idea 1 Whs moro than a theory; that electric signals''could bo interchanged without tho use of metal conductors between two or moro,stations at varying distances, and so.r.that wireless transmission of, tho .electrical current from one point to another . was not'a' dream; or 1 a probability, but; a- practical thingj-.needing only further research , alid the . assistance* of the best up-to-dato, instruments .obtainable,,from tho Old World'to; enable: it to be..brought, if required, into,everyday use.' .' On'the;Brink of a Discovery. <>• . Tho name of'.'ths 'geftti'email'%ho was thus hovering :on tho'.;briuk, of a .discovery which would-have mado.not only himself but New Zealand-.world-famous !is Mr. G. T. Kemp, at Assistant' Electrician'' in the licad office of the Post and ', Telegraph Department in this- city. ' Onginally'Mi-. Kemp's idea was the use. of water or the.earth as tho medium of conducting'the felectric current, and it was on'this his_ first experiments wero carried out.''-It 'does not'seem to have .occurred .to him then,' though"it did later on, that..tho ether;'y.-as a possible 'medium. Indeed, -lie ■ subsequently conducted with instruments > of-his own construction, and at a station of,-his Own Betting "up at Gisborne, what ;must.-bo''allowed: to' be tho first cthor-grani-'experiment in this Dominion. It was successful, in that "his" signals " reached their destination,, but'," owing "to , "febme misunderstanding, or the failure to have preparations in order for tho'possible receipt of. his signals, it fell short of practical fruition; tho effect of his signalling, while duly noticed, ,b,ut, .imperfectly, or rather unintelligibly, being ' ascribed'-to;' atmospherical electrical disturbance', instead of 'the"real cause. This was on the, occasion "of the Ophir, during tho then- Duke' of York's-visit to ■ New Zealand, passing Gisborne'on her way to Wellington. The Government'was then,-in a measure, as-" sisting : slr.,.!Kemp in'his'experiments, 'and it had been proposed to acquaint'the officers of tho Ophir, with the fact that when off Gisborne an attempt would be made from that port to communicate by wireless telegraphy with her... .Unfortunately; owing, no doubt, to pressure of other business at that very busy, time .for leading officials, this was not done, ..but. when off Gisborne tho Ophir's wireless ..instruments', registered' certain electric movements, undoubtedly caused by Mr. Kemp's signalling, which, being' unexpected as well as: unintelligible, owing to absence of proper ' attunement or 'adjustment, were regarded as of mere barometrical origin, and of no importance.. •, , . Mr.' Kemp's .Experiments. - To .roturn, however; to Mr. -Kemp's orig-inally-conceived'idea of utilising the earth or sea as sole conductor of currents between stations. Setting 'out -on theso linos Mr. Kemp first' secured successful results between points only'several'j-ards'-apart, then at a distance of-three-milcsj -and more, and finally between 'Wairoa- and Gisborne, a distance of 74 mile's.'' It-would'bo useless to the average reader to go -into a technical description of the experiment, but most persons, having .the slightest' knowledge of modern electrical appliances, will' be able to follow the mannor in which . tho ■_ results were noticed. Mr. -Kemp had as his assistants at Wairoa and Gisborne' Messrs. Webber and Ford, linemen; who'were 'ablo to operate tho Morse.sending' key: "Arrangements had been previously made-for tlio operating of the key at timo or times fixed upon, with certain known'.'periods ' of • fetation," and . the watches at. the \Yairoa ' and ends wero accurately timed; together, so'that tho operators ,at each placo would know exactly when 'the' 'key.was working and'when it was not. The result,-, of the key'working was manifest -by certain deflections of the: galvanometer, the-delicately adjusted 1 rnagriotic needle used for treating electric currents'. "The outcome of. tho experiment was, that' with no wires connecting the-key,-say,; at Wairoa with the galvanometer at' Gisborne," the deflection of tho galvanometer answered a's to time with ,tho key r pperator's .sending,- and tho deflections .were rhythmic with the movements of tlie nperatirig key. " Mr 7 Kemp at Gisborne could tell when the operator at Wairoa— 74 miles . away—was sending a 'message, and ,when, and for how i long, ! 'ho desisted working the key. There was no possible doubt about it. In. effect,;without the use of over-head or underground metallic ' conductors, communication had; been established between these two stations; 74 miles -'apart. Here was, indeedj an unheard-of, at that time, achievement, which ..waS'-fated to stop at. that point, because of Mr.'. Kemp's lack, of financial means to prosncutd'his research, and the fact that he. had'-at'his disposal only the crudest of instruments, self-made. Some Reflections. Having in view tlio scientific importance, and'the'possible m'financial value, of Mr. Kemp's' do'veloprnent,,,of his;theory of wireless telegraphy, it seems almost incredible, at this date, "that 'the then' New Zealand Government;' through "the "official, heads of his Department, ; should,Jiave, bepn ..lacking in the necessary, enterprise, or-putting it on lower grounds, self-interest, to facilitate in every way possible the further.;electrical research and mechanical. ; construction , which were needed to. perfect his , appliances, and thus bring'his discoveries into the'realm of practical 'utility. Mr.. Kemp;'.we.".understand, is a quiet, unassuming. gentleman, and one' of those scientific geniuses , )yho find ample satisfaction in the mere'fact of experimental discovery without any regard to sordid considerations, or'the .bubble; of popular fame. Ho.-, himself, assures us that . ( tne then Government gave him; every assistance, but, on the face of it," most people will feol dubious on that point.""Who" shall' say,', for instanco, but that' if Mr.' Kemp had, been provided with all tlio then latest electrical appliances, literature,'and''tho' rest of it, ho, instead of Mr. Marconi, might not,,have, in due course, arrived at the construction of the coherer which has' brought ' wireless telegraphy to the perfection' it' has reached at the present time. In" 1894 there was staying at Cable Bay, Wakapuaka, Mr. W. W. Browning, manager for the Eastern Extension Company, who had heard of Mr. Kemp's discovery,' and was sufficiently interested to write to him for further particulars, for, in a letter from him to Mr. Kemp, dated February 2G, 1894, he says: "During Mr. Perani.'s (sic) short stay at Cablo Bay he casually mentioned that you had found out a- way to solid signals from one place to another by. tho aid of electricity without the use 'of wires. If you have, done 'so, your fortune is made." And, further on in the same letter, Mr. Browning comments: "How is it Dr. Lemon' has -taken so long to consider the merits of your invention?" Mr. Kemp then communicated to Mr. Browning his theory and experiments, and sent him elaborate plans of instruments, clectrio connections, battery cells, etc.; hut unfortunately Mr. Browning was on,tho eve of leaving for England, and had to return them practically unexamined. But, in a, letter bearing date April 2, 1894, he says, after regretting his inability to give the papers and plans any attention: "The fact of your having _ obtained satisfactory results at about 70 miles shows clearly that there is something in your system." That was Mr. Browning's opinion. Ono cannot

refrain from wondering why the New Zealand telegraphic authorities could not, apparently, havo seen as far as Mr. Browning, and spent somo money on its further development. And where was tho private syndicate, over ready to, invest money in a possibly good thing? Presumably in those days we had not advanced so far in this country; such a chance would certainly not go long a-begging in these times. What Misfit Have Been. It is easy, of course, to bo wise after tho event; yet it must remain matter for regret that a New Zealand invention, or discovery, of such scientific value was practically stifled in its birth by lack of private means, and public spirit, and left for someone in tho Old World to perfect and bring into practical use with all its world-wide fame and great emolument. One can imagine, had things been otherwise, had our ways been niore Americanised for instance, that long ere this our lighthouses would have all been connected with the mainland by wireless telegraphy, and our shipping ablo to communicate with cacli other and with coastal ports by the same medium, on a system invented by a New Zealand scientist, financed by a New Zealand Government, and its patent rights purchased for tho people of New Zealand by its Government. Just by so much, possibly and probably, has the Dominion lost by some red tape or departmental parsimony, and just so true it is that tho original thinker has least honour in his own country and among his own kin.