The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

190 THE LOCOMOTIVE. [December,
that wireless telegraphy is possible. There is also no doubt that it is possible to operate
a number of different systems for the sending of messages without wire. There is equally
little doubt that the art has much probable future utility, though expert opinions vary •
in respect to its extent.
" So far, the only commercial success that has attended any such system has been
developed by Mr. Marconi and his associates, and the patents which they hold are be-
lieved to be of a fundamental character. One or more of the companies now advertising
stock for sale has actually carried on wireless communication. Assuming that the con-
cerns are entirely hona fide, and that they will achieve the fullest measure of success
in signaling, it should be pointed out that the possible earning power of a wireless tele-
graph system is not so large as to justify the extravagant claims made for the value of
the securities. So far as has been made public, there is not today any system which is
strictly non -interfering. The erection in New York of a wireless telegraph station
•which would operate to Philadelphia, for example, would, in the present state of the
art, probably interfere with the proper working of any other systsm whatever anywhere
in the region from Boston to Baltimore and west as far as Pittsburg. This one fact of
itself is sufficient to retard the commercial development of the system.
" Without in any way detracting from the superb work which has been done by
Mr. Marconi and his associates, it may be said that, even with the large funds at their
command and with the powerful assistance of the British government, they have been
able to adapt their system so far only to certain limited varieties of marine signaling.
It is believed by those who are most familiar with the situation that the actual use of
space signaling methods will for a long time be limited to some such applications. It
is in this branch of the business— ocean signaling— that wireless telegraphy has its
greatest opportunity. In the face of these facts the public should be warned that the
claims made by the various concerns with stock for sale are not founded upon any work
actually accomplished, so far as is known to the electrical profession, and is not in the
nature of tilings likely ever to meet with such success as would justify the investment
of any considerable sum in the enterprise."
The foregoing article, while correct in the main, is perhaps not entirely fair to the
wireless telegraph in the matter of interference of different messages sent in the
same neighborhood. It has been found possible to "tune" the transmitters and re-
ceivers so that a given receiver will not respond to any message except one sent by
its own proper transmitter, or by some other transmitter that is tuned to something like
the same pitch. It will doubtless be possible to send a small number of messages
through the same region of space, without their interfering with one another ; but
there is no present promise that very many messages can be sent in this way. The
general judgment pronounced by the Electrical Review, that the greatest opportunity
for wireless telegraphy lies in ocean signaling, therefore appears to us to be quite sound.
On September 23d new records were established at the Edgar Thompson plant o
the Carnegie Steel Company, Braddock, Pa. On that day the day turn made 106 blowss
and 1602 tons of ingots. The night turn made 119 blows and 1789 tons of ingots, a
total of 3391 tons ingots in 24 hours. The day turn in the blooming mill made 107
heats and turned out 1435 tons, the night turn made 118 heats and turned out 1545
tons, a total of 2980 tons of ingots bloomed in 24 hours. On the same day No. 1
rail mill turned out 2285 tons of finished rails. A smaller mill turned out £45 tons of
rails, making the total production of 2730 rails in 24 hours. These records for output