WIRELESS FOR SIGNALLING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15657, 10 July 1914, Page 6

WIRELESS FOR SIGNALLING.

The latest Marconi invention is one of several possible adaptations of wireless telegraphy for signalling purposes. An official of the company stated that for some time past they had been testing an apparatus for distant control. This apparatus has been combined with an automatic fog-gun known as the Stevenson' Moyos acetylene gun. This has been erected on an isolated beacon in mid-sea, and has not only been left unattended for weeks at a time, but has been exposed during that time to all kinds of weather and to the " jamming " from strong wireless signals received from ships passing in close proximity. Nevertheless the tests have been in every way satisfactory. Tho wireless control was switched on by an official in the coastguard-station where tho transmitting apparatus was set up, and the gun fired at intervals of about. 20 seconds, giving both a loud, report and a brilliant flash. There is a sufficient supply Of acetylene gas in the gun to allow for continuous, firing, at the rate of three flashes and reports per minute, for from two to three weeks. The problem solved in this apparatus was a difficult one for the wireless engineer. The transmitting apparatus, operated by tho coastguards, consists simply of a switch with "on" and "off" positions. A similar apparatus can be utilised for railway work and also for the time-fuses used in mines and for blasting operations. The Clyde Lighthouse Trust has established a • wireless ontrol station on the shore at Gouroek, from which signals are- operated at Fort Matilda and on a buoy in that part of the fairway known as Roseneath Patch, and the system is said to bo working well.