 |
English Mechanic and
World of Science, March 8, 1907
I
read with interest an article in the Sunday World of Jan. 20 on
"Tuned Lightning," described as a mysterious new energy, which
is to turn every wheel on earth, and is supposed to have been recently
discovered by the Danish inventors Waldemar Poulsen and P. O. Pederson.
From other reports I have gathered that these gentlemen have so far
confined themselves to the peaceful production of miniature bolts not many
inches long, and I am wondering what an account of their prospective
achievements would read like if they had succeeded in obtaining, like
myself, electrical discharges of 100 ft., far surpassing lightning in some
features of intensity and power.
In view of their limited Jovian experience, the programme outlined by the
Danish engineers is rather extensive, Lord Armstrong's vast resources
notwithstanding. Naturally enough, I shall look with interest to their
telephoning across the Atlantic, supplying light and propelling airships
without wires. Anch in suito pittore. (I, too, am a painter.) In the mean
time it may not be amiss to state here incidentally that all the essential
processes of and appliances for the generation, transmission,
transformation, distribution, storage, regulation, control, and economic
utilisation of "tuned lightning" have been patented by me, and
that I have long since undertaken, and am sparing no effort to render
these advances instrumental in insuring the welfare, comfort, and
convenience, primarily, of my fellow citizens.
There is nothing remarkable in the demonstration reported to have been
made before Sir William Preece and Prof. Sylvanus P. Thompson, nor is
there any novelty in the electrical devices employed. The lighting of arc
lamps through the human body, the fusing of a piece of copper in mid-air,
as described, are simple experiments which by the use of my high-frequency
transformers any student of electricity can readily perform. They teach
nothing new, and have no bearing on wireless transmission, for the actions
virtually cease at a distance of a few feet from the source of vibratory
energy. Years ago I gave exhibitions of similar and other much more
striking experiments with the same kind of apparatus, many of which have
been illustrated and explained in technical journals. The published
records are open to inspection.
Regardless of all that, the Danish inventors have not as yet offered the
slightest proof that their expectations are realisable, and before
advancing seriously the claim that an efficient wireless distribution of
light and power to great distances is possible, they should, at least,
repeat those of my experiments which have furnished this evidence.
A scientific audience cannot help being impressed by a display of
interesting phenomena, but the originality and significance of a
demonstration such as that referred to can only be judged by an expert
possessed of full knowledge and capable of drawing correct conclusions. A
novel effect, spectacular and surprising, might be quite unimportant,
while another, seemingly trifling, is of the greatest consequence.
To illustrate, let me mention here two widely different experiments of
mine. In one the body of a person was subjected to the rapidly-alternating
pressure of an electrical oscillator of two and a half million volts; in
the other a small incandescent lamp was lighted by means of a resonant
circuit grounded on one end, all the energy being drawn through the earth
electrified from a distant transmitter.
The first presents a sight marvellous and unforgettable. One sees the
experimenter standing on a big sheet of fierce, blinding flame, his whole
body enveloped in a mass of phosphorescent wriggling streamers like the
tentacles of an octopus. Bundles of light stick out from his spine. As he
stretches out the arms, thus forcing the electric fluid outwardly, roaring
tongues of fire leap from his fingertips. Objects in his vicinity bristle
with rays, emit musical notes, glow, grow hot. He is the centre of still
more curious actions, which are invisible. At each throb of the electric
force myriads of minute projectiles are shot off from him with such
velocities as to pass through the adjoining walls. He is in turn being
violently bombarded by the surrounding air and dust. He experiences
sensations which are indescribable.
A layman, after witnessing this stupendous and incredible spectacle, will
think little of the second modest exhibit. But the expert will not be
deceived. He realizes at once that the second experiment is ever so much
more difficult to perform and immensely more consequential. He knows that
to make the little filament glow, the entire surface of the planet, two
hundred million square miles, must be strongly electrified. This calls for
peculiar electrical activities, hundreds of times greater than those
involved in the lighting of an arc lamp through the human body. What
impresses him most, however, is the knowledge that the little lamp will
spring into the same brilliancy anywhere on the globe, there being no
appreciable diminution of the effect with the increase of distance from
the transmitter.
This is a fact of overwhelming importance, pointing with certitude to the
final and lasting solution of all the great social, industrial, financial,
philanthropic, international, and other problems confronting humanity, a
solution of which will be brought about by the complete annihilation of
distance in the conveyance of intelligence, transport of bodies and
materials, and the transmission of the energy necessary to man's
existence. More light has been thrown on this scientific truth lately
through Prof. Slaby's splendid and path-breaking experiment in
establishing perfect wireless telephone connection between Naum and
Berlin, Germany, a distance of twenty miles. With apparatus properly
organised such telephonic communication can be effected with the same
facility and precision at the greatest terrestrial distance.
The discovery of the stationary terrestrial waves, showing that, despite
its vast extent, the entire planet can be thrown into resonant vibration
like a little tuning fork; that electrical oscillations suited to its
physical properties and dimensions pass through it unimpeded, in strict
obedience to a simple mathematical law, has proved beyond the shadow of a
doubt that the earth, considered as a channel for conveying electrical
energy, even in such delicate and complex transmissions as human speech or
musical composition, is infinitely superior to a wire or cable, however
well designed.
Very soon it will be possible to talk across an ocean as clearly and
distinctly as across a table. The first practical success, already
forecast by Slaby's convincing demonstration, will be the signal for
revolutionary improvements which will take the world by storm.
However great the success of the telephone, it is just beginning its
evidence of usefulness. Wireless transmission of speech will not only
provide new but also enormously extend existing facilities. This will be
merely the forerunner of ever so much more important development, which
will proceed at a furious pace until, by the application of these same
great principles, the power of waterfalls can be focused whenever
desired; until the air is conquered, the soil fructified and embellished;
until, in all departments of human life distance has lost its meaning, and
even the immense gulf separating us from other worlds is bridged.
|
|
