MARVELS OF THE RAILOPHONE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 30, 29 July 1911, Page 10 (Supplement)

MARVELS OF THE RAILOPHONE.

WHAT THE WIRELESS TELEPHONE WILL DO. In view of tilic extraordinary number of terrible railway acidents that iiave occurred in different parts of the world during the last few months, the latest invention in the science of wireless electricity deserves far more public attention than has been given to it. When, eight months ago, there were published the first details of a new system of telephoning to and from trains in rapid motion, only a few business men were keenly interested in the invention. To them the "railophone," as it was called, appeared a novel and valuable luxury —like trains with stenographers and typists —which would enable them to conduct their business while they were travelling between the great centres of industry. .Vow, however, the scope of the invention has been wonderfully, extended. It promises to create a beneficial revolution in railway traffic by making a train the safest as well as the most comfortable means of travelling. As soon as the ''railophone" conies into general- use a collision between two trains will practically be an impossibility. Moreover, the difficult position of the signalman will be transferred into a science, the reach ami flexibility of the arm of the law will be marvellously extended to the detriment of wrongdoers flying from justice; and a passenger on an Englisill express, while whirling along at GO miles an hour, will soon be able to hold a quiet conversation with a person as l far away as Astrakaxi.

Mr. Hans von Kramer, the inventor of the "railophone," is an electrical engineer of Birmingham. He has worked on the old idea of electro-magnetic induction discovered by Faraday about 80 years ago.

Electricity is a thing with many strange properties. If, for instance, a coil of wire m charged with it, and then placed near another coil, tihe latter will, in certain circumstances, also become active with the electric current. There is a radiation of. electric force, so to speak, from the charged wire to the empty wire. The phenomenon will easily he understood by comparing it with fclie phenomenon of magnetism. The magnet attracts a piece of iron by an induction of magnet force from the magnet to the iron. In both cases the effect is "wireless." The principle of induction is an extraordinary one; it underlies the working of all dynamos and electric motors. No one, however, seems to have gone on to apply it to the purposes of wireless telephoning until Mr. von Kramer took up the difficult problem. The inventor made his discovery while experimenting for something else. Rontgen rays had lately been discovered, and he hit upon the idea of passing electric waves through a brick' wall with the object of trying to see through the intervening barrier. As he was winding a very large coil for this purpose one day, he found that an unusually large amount of electric power was passing through the brick wall, and was being picked up by another coil of wire on the other side. He at once fitted a telephonic apparatus to the two wires, and found that he could pass sound waves through walls six feet in thickness.

This was an entirely different thing from the principle of sending electric waves in fierce, lightning-like pulsations through the air as done by Marconi's system. Mr. von Kramer aimed only at collecting an empty wire an electric emanation from a charged wire at a distance of a few feet. In this he succeeded. But his achievement did not seem very remarkable until he proceeded to put it practical uses. He worked out a way of telephoning from room to room, without wires, while moving the instruments at will. And, what was still more promising, he fitted a frame coil to a motorcar, and laid on the track a ground wire connected with a telephone at his works. While the car was running at 40 miles an hour induction was established between the fram coil and the group wire, and a conversation was easily carried on between the occupants of the car and the persons at the works.

So excellent were the results that the London, Brighton and South Coast railway fitted a carriage with Mr. von Kramers' apparatus, and had a ground wire laid down on their line. Two coils of wire were fixed round the carriage. One of these was charged by means of an electric battery and provided with a telephonic speaking instrument. The emanations from the current created in the train were picked up by the ground wire lying on the earth between the rails. There was on open-air space of 18in between the carriage coil, and the ground wire, but the current passed by wireless induction from the train to the ground wire. Then there was another wire on the earth which was charged with the primary current set up by persons speaking on the telephone at London and signalboxes along the route. These currents were also reproduced by "wireless induction" in the second coil round the railway carriage. This second coil was connected with the receiving apparatus of the telephone. By means of it the passengers were able to listen to the words of their remote friends, while the railway officials on the train conversed with unseen signalmen. Thus, by means of the transmitting and receiving coils, messages were sent and delivered while the train was moving at the rate of 40 miles an hour.

All this, however, only represented the first stage in the development of wireless telephony. The "railophone" in the last eight months has been greatly improved. The system is being now installed, in a more perfected form, on the Stratford-on-Avon and Midland Junction railway. Visitors travelling on the line to the Shakespeare festival will find the "railophone" in working order, and will be able to test some of its wonderful qualities.

But the most useful of its applications will not come under their direct observation. Not only will every train be wirelessly connected with the whole telephone system, but each engine will be linked to all the signal-boxes it passes; and—the most important of the improvements —every train will be in automatic communication with the trains nearing it. As soon as two trains approach so closely as to be in the "danger zone" a wireless telephonic circuit will be established between them, and bells will automatically warn the engine-drivers to avoid collision.

Moreover, to make assurance doubly sure, all the trains will be linked by electric currents to the signal boxes. Each signalman will have beneath his band a special apparatus for transmitting a loud signal. This will be sent along the ground wire, and, by wireless induction, received by the second coil on the train. Then, by means of the other first primary live coil fixed round the train, messages will be sent to the signalboxes. All signalmen and engine-driv-ers will thus be in continual communication.

The present danger of dense fog and blinding snows preventing signals from being seen will be obviated, and the railway officers will possess sneh large powers of controlling the arrival and despatch of trains as will enable them probably to arrange for a quicker service. For not only does the "railophone" set bells clanging in trains with-

in the "danger zone," but it warns the signalman in the nearest signal-box.

Still more marvellous is the latest improvement which Mr. von Kramer has made to his system. It is now possible for a signalman to apply automatically a brake to a train without any regard to what the engine-driver is doing. Further, a train which is overtaking another may be stopped dead by a_ brake-action worked by the train in front of it. It will thus 1)B seen that the '•'railophone" not only adds luxury to travelling, but revolutionises completely the control of railway traffic,