Wireless Telegraphy.

Progress, Volume II, Issue 3, 2 January 1907, Page 92

Wireless Telegraphy.

Introduction. This is pre-eminently an age of science. In hteiature the firmament is apparently without stars of the first magnitude. Art can but claim a general raising of public taste. But the recent achievements of .science defy the imagination of mankind to keep pace with them. The scientific record of the early Victorian period has been eclipsed. Recent years have witnessed an output of dazzling discoveries. X rays, wireless telegraphy, liquid air, radium — how they have staggered human credulity ! Latter-day science has taken to itself a magician's wand and performed unthinkable miracles. What the average citizen would have characterised as downright hare-brained impossibilities have become — facts The fancies of Jules Verne proceed on lines of more sober probability than the achievements of present-day electricians and chemists. And note how recent revelations have the quality of the unexpected ; while certain discoveries, for which the world long has waited, are still deferred. After centuries ot sanguine expectancy, with the precedent of the bird daily before our eyes, we are still without a reliable flying machine. Not yet are we able to put the nitrogen of the air to commercial use. But it is permitted us to pry into opaque bodies — nay, the very word " opaque " has lost its meaning. While our forefathers were instructed that Fahrenheit zero was the lowest degree of cold, we have lived to see ice used as a furnace for thawing frozen oxygen. After all the assurances that combustion involved consumption, and that perpetual motion was a contradiction in terms, here comes radium to throw doubts on the text-books. Just when " wire " was establishing itself as another word for " telegram," behold Mr. Marconi, and the synonym must be hastily erased from our dictionaries. But a few years ago the man in the street would have staked his life on the proposition that a connecting wire was no less essential than electricity in modern telegraphy.

Birth of Wireless Telegraphy. It has been said that wireless telegraphy came upon the world as a bewildering surprise. That is to represent matters from the point of view of the man in the street, for as far back as 1844 — when telegraphy with wires was still in its infancy, and ocean cables had not been heard of — Professor Samuel Morse telegraphed without wires under the Susquehanna river. Nor was this an accidental phenomenon. He deliberately laid his plans to secure the result he achieved, and a full account of the experiment was published. Moreover, his success stimulated others to follow his footsteps.

Nevertheless, as we know, the subsequent history of telegraphy was identified with wires, and the world knew nothing ot an alternative possibility. In a word, Morse's discovery proved to have no practical value. A further fact concerning Morse's achievement must be noticed. Save that no wire connection was employed, it had nothing in common with wireless telegraphy as we know it to-day. Paradoxical as the statement may seem, Morse's method of communication was more nearly allied to post office telegraphy with wires than to Marconi telegraphy without wires. Marconi telegraphy rests

on knowledge that is only seventeen years old. In 1888 Professor Heinnch Hertz demonstrated that a disruptive electucal discharge causes electromagnetic waves to radiate through the ether, travelling with the velocity of light. In 1895 Marconi devised and subsequently patented the application of Hertzian waves to telegraphy. Between " Puffing Billy " and a modern Great Northern engine there is a world of difference both as regards appearance and power , but the former is nothing less, and the latter nothing more, than a steam locomotive. One is a crude original ; the other a gradual development. Like all great practical inventions, Marconi telegraphy began in the " Puffing Billy " stage. But it has been the fortune of few such inventions to develop so rapidly as Marconi telegraphy has developed. The velocipede was an unconscionably long time in becoming a safety bicycle For a number of years electric light remained m the halfway stage of flickering unreliability. And so with the telephone — how long the interval separating practical performance from promise '

Gugiielmo Marconi and His Early Attempts Gughelmo Marconi was born at Bologna on April 28th, 1874, and was educated at Leghorn and Bologna University. When quite young he took a keen interest in electricity, and at the age of twenty-one commenced his work, which was destined to develop into such marvellous results and achievements ; and some time before he left Italy for England, in May 1896, he had succeeded 111 telegraphing wirelessly between two stations situated at a distance of a mile or more apart This was the beginning he had made his discovery and had invented the means by which at the present day, he can communicate thousands of miles through the air Soon after arriving 111 England he made the acquaintance of Sn W IT Preece, and, at the

latter's request, made some experiments for him and the post-office officials between the post office and the Thames Embankment, which were highly successful, and Mr. Marconi was requested to make further trials on Salisbury Plain, which also proved satisfactory to the post office and to officers of the army and navy who witnessed them. In the year 1897, at the invitation of the Italian government, Mr. Marconi went to Rome, and gave a series of exhibitions of his system at the Quinnal before the King and Queen of Italy and high Italian government officials, and he subsequently went to Spezzia, where his system was put to practical test on board two Italian battleships. The Italian government, recognising the great value of Mr. Marconi's invention, conferred upon him the honour of knighthood (chevalier), and are now using his system extensively and exclusively. The Italians have recently renewed the contract after several years' experience, and entered into an agreement last October with the Marconi Company for fourteen years, the terms of which give the Marconi Company the sole right to supply the government with wireless apparatus the Italian government pledging itself also not to communicate with any other system In the yeai 1897, the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company, Ltd. was established with a capital of £100,000, and two permanent stations were put up, and in luly, 1898, the Dublin Express gave, day by day, a wireless telegraphic report of the yacht races during Kingstown regatta week, and proved the system's usefulness and facility with which it can be applied to commercial purposes. Later Mr Marconi established communication between the late Queen's residence, Osborne House, Isle of Wight, and the Royal yacht Osborne lying in Cowes Roads, and her late Majesty was kept constantly apprised of the progress made by the King during the process of recovery from a serious accident Mr. Marconi became a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, and read a paper on " Wireless Telegraphy " before the members m February, 1898, and lectured at the School of Military Engineering, Chatham, in March, 1899. In the same year he journeyed to the United States in connection with the America Cup yacht race between Columbia and Shamrock I During that year (1899) a number of the ships of the British navy were equipped with Marconi apparatus. Early in 1901, telegraphic communication was established between two points more than 250 miles distant, and, at the end of that year, Mr. Marconi transmitted signals from Poldhu, in Cornwall, to St. Johns, Newfoundland.

The Value of Wireless Telegraphy. Marconi installations are now working commercially on practically the whole fleet of liners crossing the Atlantic, including vessels of foreign nations, German, French, Italian, Dutch, American, etc. The following are amongst the better-known companies which have adopted the Marconi system, viz. • Cunard, Norddeutscher Lloyd, HamburgAmerican Line, American Line, Anchor Line, White Star, Red Star, Compagnie Generate Transatlantique, Holland-American Line, Allan Line, etc. There are many incidents recorded of the extreme usefulness of wireless telegraphy on board ships, of which the following are specimens • —

In January 1899, during a heavy gale, seas severely damaged the East Goodwin lightship, on which was a Marconi installation. The accident was at once reported by wireless telegraphy through the South Foreland lighthouse, on which was another Marconi installation, and means taken to repair the damage. ( r 'On Ist January 1901, the Royal Belgian mail packet Pnncesse Clementine reported by means of her Marconi apparatus that the barque Medoni, of Stockholm, was ashore water- logged on the Ratel Bank, and a tug was despatched at once from Ostend, and the crew saved. In January 1903 the 5;. Louis, when on a passage to New York, had an accident to her machinery, making her greatly overdue and causing much anxiety to both owners and passengers' friends and relatives. No information of her whereabouts was received until she was sighted from Nantucket lightship, but no particulars could be supplied until twenty-four hours later, on her arrival in New York harbour. The report of the passengers' committee contained the following extract . "It is a matter of keen regret that a first-class steamer, such as the St. Louis is reported to be, should not be supplied with a Marconi apparatus, the absence of which is seriously felt " Needless to say, the St. Louis was subsequently fitted with the Marconi apparatus. On 30th March 1904, 3 a.m., and m thick fog, the s s. New York, from New York to Cherbourg, went ashore on the rocks off Cape la Hague, and wireless communication through English stations effected the dispatch of tugs, lifeboats, and salvage appliances from Cherbourg to the position given in the wireless messages. The ship, however, floated before assistance reached her, but the owners were advised that the entrance to Cherbourg could not be attempted before day-light, owing to the nature of the damage to the ship's bottom. They were also kept advised of the ship's progress across channel from France to England. Had the ship slipped off the rocks and sunk, instead ot floating, the of the Marconi apparatus in summoning and providing life-beats, tugs, etc , for the salvage of life and property, would have been most pionounced. Extract from Cunard Daily Bulletin No 33, published on board ss Campania, 7th June 1905 Tuesday 2 a.m. Communication was established and the following news received from Marconi station, Cape Breton (Canada), when the Campania was 2000 miles from New York " Icebergs According to reports which continue to come to hand, more icebergs than usual have been sighted in the Atlantic, the steamer Isl.nid, from Copenhagen foi New York, in particular, reports having passed ten " In addition to the above there have been innumerable cases where the wireless installations on board passenger ships have proved of enoimous advantage, as for instance when passengers have run short of money on board and, by communicating by wireless with their friends, they have been enabled to obtain funds through the pursers of the ships for their immediate requirements

The Work of To-day. The Marconi Company possesses a powerful and perfectly controlled organisation which is rapidly becoming world-wide. The Company has its own shore stations m different countries, and these are continually being added to, so that the day cannot be far distant when there will be a chain of Marconi stations round the world, and we shall no longer be entirely dependent on cables. The Company's own operators work their stations both on shore and on board ships, and the system is worked smoothly and without the slightest confusion, principally due to the fact that it is controlled, worked and regulated from one centre and headquarters. The Company's agreements include those with the British government, namely, Admiralty, War Office, Post Office, and Board of Trade ; with the Canadian, Newfoundland, United States, Italian, Russian, and many other governments Most of these contracts have been renewed and extended. In February 1904, Marconi wireless telegraph stations were opened at Broomfield, in Essex, England, and at Amsterdam, m Holland, for the transmission between the two countries of Press messages and Stock Exchange quotations, these messages being transmitted in Dutch by English operators having no knowledge of that language, at a speed of from twenty to thirty words per minute, and

afterwards published daily in a leading Dutch newspaper, the Handelsblad. On June 4th 1904, a dailyservice of wireless news messages all the way across the Atlantic was inaugurated on board the Cunard R.M.S. Lucania, and a newspaper entitled The Cunard Daily Bulletin is now regularly published on this vessel, as well as on the s.s. Campania, Etruna, and Umbna, whilst other vessels are now being equipped for a similar service. At the end of June the University of Oxford conferred upon Mr. Marconi the honorary degree of Doctor of Science. On August 3, 1904, Marconi wireless stations were opened at Bary, Italy, and Antivari, Montenegro, for the purpose of carrying on a public telegraph service between Italy and the Balkan States. Since that date many developments have taken place until, at the present time, there is a chain of stations as far east as Suez ; and it is confidently anticipated that such places as Aden and Colombo will, very shortly, have their stations with which vessels approaching from all directions will be able to communicate.

Australia and New Zealand. Coming now to Australasia, on July 12th of this year, the Marconi Company having, at its own cost, installed and equipped two stations, one at Queenschff on the Australian coast, and one at Devonport on the north coast of Tasmania, (a distance of 215 miles apart), a demonstration was given at both stations, when the first inaugural messages by wireless telegraphy were exchanged between His Excellency Lord Northcote, Governor General of the Commonwealth, and His Excellency Sir Reginald Talbot, Governor of the State of Victoria, at Queenschff, and His Excellency Sir Gerald Strickland, Governor of Tasmania, at Hobart ; the messages being conveyed by land wire from the wireless station at Devonport to Government House, Hobart. The Company's representative had the honour on this occasion of entertaining, in addition to Their Excellencies, the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, Mr. Alfred Deakm, the Postmaster General, Mr. Austin Chapman, the Treasurer, Sir John Forrest, the Minister of Defence, Senator Playford, the Hon. T. Ewing, the Hon. L. E. Groom, Senator Keating, members of the Government! many senators, nearly all the members of the House of Representatives (which adjourned for the occasion), members of the State Government, and the principal shipping and commercial gentlemen of Melbourne, including the Chairman and members of the Chamber of Commerce — in all close on 300 guests. The luncheon took place in a large marquee adjoining the wireless station, and the operators' instruments were placed upon a table immediately in front of Their Excellencies, so that the messages were sent and received during the luncheon, in full view of the entire company. The following were some of the messages sent and received :—: — The Governor General to the Governor of Tasmania : " The Commonwealth greets Tasmania, and rejoices at the establishment of new means for knitting people of Australia more closely together." — Northcote.

From the Governor of Victoria to the Governor of Tasmania: " Victoria salutes hex sister State Tasmania." — Talbot. The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth to the people of Tasmania. "Australia, tirelessly subduing her great distances by rail and wire to-day, enbsts the waves of the ether in perfecting the union between her people m Tasmania and upon the mainland." There can surely be no question as to the desirability of establishing wireless telegraphy stations around the coasts of New Zealand , in fact, it would seem in every respect an ideal country for the adoption of this most useful and up-to-date method of communicating between the shore and ships at sea between the mainland and isolated islands, and between ships at sea , more especially when one considers the large proportion of the inhabitants who are constantly travelling round the coasts in passenger steamers The additional sense of security when travelling on a vessel equipped with the Marcom system has only to be experienced once to be fuliy realised , but this feeling of safety and of not being cut off is not merely confined to the passenger, but is also appreciated by all his, or her, friends and relatives on shore. The Marconi Company has established the first wireless telegraph stations m New Zealand, namely, at the Exhibition at Chnstchurch, where there is a station installed m the Post Office annexe, which is in daily communication with a station at Islington, demonstrations bemg given constantly, when he who wishes may see this marvellous invention in actual work. Let us hope that, m its small way, it is the forerunner of a comprehensive scheme for the entire colony. Thus we bring to a close our cursory history of an invention which has increased the facilities for human intercourse, <orged new links between lands separated by the sea, aided journalism, given new data to the meteorologist, provided a safeguard for future geographical explorations, and added to the pleasure, while it '\as diminished the peril, oi ocean travel.