Evening Star Newspaper, May 11, 1924, Page 71

FICTION Part 5—S8 Pages MAGAZINE SECTION he Sty Star WASHINGTON, D. (. SUNDAY MORN NG, MAY 11, 1924 Boatmen on the Towpath Share in Latest Radio Achievements 3 MY GEORGE H. DACY. MERICA'S most popular enter- tainer, modern radio, has pen- trated even to the toilsome towpath, for, if you will take tnn Lrouble to walk out Georgetown | ‘way to the Chesapeake and ()hh»! canal will find anchored ther the old-fashioned canal boats of Wil- | Jiam Penner and John Crampton | cquipped with antennae and eflicient | receiving sets. These boatmen, who fér many years have been engaged in coal freighting between Cumberland and George- town, say that the wireless outfits have linked them with wonders of the world which they never before had heard about. The jazz music of phonographs furnished the only source of entertainment which the towpath troupers previously had had available. Now, with their radio sets, they have the world's best music, lec- tures, sermons, dramas, weather re- ports and agricultural news con- stantly at their elbows. Education has come through the ether to the mule-propelled craft which ply the waters that George Washington once loved o well Right here, to the heart of Washington, unother chapter has been written in the history of an im- vortant system @f communication Visualize f can how different would have been the puth of James Garfield, one of our national Presi- dents, who bridged the gap from tow- vath to White House, if such an in- strument of education s the radio receiving set had been vailable to his invisible instructor. rom the time the can boating scason begins, in the early spring, the last load of coal is hauled in the mellowing days of frostbitten October, it is a continuous round of constant travel for the mule-driving boatmen and their families. Tt is arduous and monotonous trip from Cumbepiznd to Georgetown with the heavy cargo of coal. Once un- loaded, the outiit speeds back to the mwines, traveling night and day dur- ing periods of bright maonlight There is no time for ease or ordinary entertainment. To these hard-working people ra is veritably a godsend, for it connects them with a world from which they were as distantly separated as though they were marooned on a far-flung coral reef of the salt sea. Walk only a few blocks from the canal terminal, where the boats are cquipped with wireless apapratus, to wne of Washington's leading apart- ment houses and you will see another marvel of radio which latterly has come to Washington. Experts of the United States Navy have performed conclusive experiments with coupling tube recelving sets which demon- strate that anywhere from five to thirty or more receiving sets can be attached to the same antenna and can be tuned up and down the scale without being bothered by objection- able interference. Taking the fear out of interference is one of the best little tricks this new arrangement accomplishes. Many is the time, doubtless, that hundreds of Washington amateur radiographers have said uncompli- mentary things about the boiler plant interference which puts the din and confusion into their wireless enter- tainment. The whistling interference more like the piping trills of a peanut roaster than anything else has been particularly objectionable. The coup- lin gtube setup largely climinates such untoward disturbances. The system is especially adaptable to apartment-house installation, in that it markedly reduces the number of essential antennae. Furthermore, it provides high resistance in the an- tennac. ¥ The dificulty which confronts the average amateur who aspires to the ownership of a coupling tube obtains from the fact that such an cquipment is hard to operate. It takes time and sclentific study for the ordinary layman to master all its Intricacies. * % ¥ you vou slow. F. JENKINS, one of Washington's * most successful radio inventors, has harnessed electricity to aid him in sending photographs by wireless. His experimentation has now pro- gressed to a point where he can send in ninety seconds a photograph of a typewritten page without much inter- ference even under conditions where the manuscript is typed in small print. Where the interference is decidedly objectionable under the Jenkins tem, larger type has to be used which, of course, reduces the number of words that can be sent per page. This is successful and practical even if the interference is terrific. There is no question that, in time, as his tests and appliances are better adapted for the activities, Mr. Jenkins will be able to transmit motion pic- tures by radio. It is practically im- possible to estimate the potentialities which will obtain from his masterful } investigations. In the future, impor- | tant presidential proclamations and | messages to Congress will be photo- graphed and sent to all parts of the country in a few minutes by wireless, as a result of this Washington ex- | perimenter’s achievements. Bxperts report that they have done nothing mere than to kmock at the door of radio’s possibllities. Man is still but gaining Introduction to the rudiments. It would take another Jules Verne to prognosticate ‘what the future will bring forth. The sands of time move like snails as compared with the rapidity with which radio is being developed, Every radio ex- perimanter in'the world is a partici- pant in a great research adventure. He mnever kmows exactly what his next day's work may divulge. The naval battles of the future will Dbe ‘fought through the eyes of Tadio by warring combatants widely sep- arated. Leaders thousards of miles away may even direct the battles. ‘The case will be somewhat similar 10 that of the golfer who for the first (ime Plays a blind hole, the green of which is entirely screened from his view until he plays his final shortap- proach shot. ) Washington Talent Has Produced Some of the Advancement in This Growing and Useful Science—Local Man Sends Pho- tographs of Typewritten Material—Future Naval Warfare Will Be Fought by Radio Eyes—Coupling Tubes Harnessed for Use on Washington Apartment Houses—250,000 Farmers Now Linked by Ether Communication With National Capital. Radio Photo sending machine =t :\\m;ig L Outdooyr Scene trapsmitted by radio. Wosrk of C.T denkins. By means of a radio aye, an air- plane may reconnoiter the movements of the enemy, photograph their a; tivities and almost instantaneou transmit the picture to headquarters, perhaps hundreds of miles away. In Washington's environs, through- out America, and. in fact, ali over the world's map, radio is being improved as a result of increased selzctivity in apparatus and impértant- appur- tenances of the wireless world. The ald of higher frequencies js con- stantly being invoked by the Edisons and Burbanks of radiograpt Ulti- mately, a separation of one-quarter of a meter will probably be suficient for two separate channels of com- munication where used witn \ery high frequencies. I (QVER Arlington way is one of the world’'s greatest radio sets which, for the most part, is little appreciated | by the amateur radio public. Lat- terly, one of France’s leading radio experts visited Arlington and liter- ally was amazed to find there five transmitters that were operating simultaneously under the direction of one man. This French radio engineer said that the French government recently had reported an outstanding achieve- ment, inasmuch as fts radio repre- sentatives had been successful in get- ting two transmitters at Lyons to work simultaneously. “Now I come to Washington,” remarked this fa- mous foreigner, “and find five trans- mitters working together and nobody considering the accomplishment as o, remarkable feat.” The United States Navy has latterly cb-operated with Gen. Smedley Butler at Philadelphia in his efforts to rs- cruit radio to aid him in his attempts to cleam up the City of Brotherly Love. Gen. Butlers scheme was to link the edty hall by means of radio appliances with her police represen- tatives touring the city by automo- biles, ferreting out the sécrets of crime and vice. . The roof of the Philadelphia city hall is lower than the tops of the surrounding buildings, so that a kind of valley or pocket is formed which complicates the reception of short- distance radio messages. Attempts were made to utilize the G00-foot William Penn tower as a radio re- ng station. Curiously, a special radio receiving set had to be installed as, otherwise, much of the radio energy was exhausted in heating the copper in the adjoining William Penn statue instead of working dili- gently as modern wireless messen- gers. Loop antennae wers placed on_the tops of the automobiles and connected with radio sets carried in the ma- chines for tryout during the. Butler investigations. ' The observers re- ported that as the automobiles rolled along the city streets the radio sets were tuned in with local stations. Whenever an open street intersection was passed the radio waves posi- tively roared as they flooded the loud speaker, In the middle of the next block. Jerhlps. a tall building would S0 obliterate the ‘radio waves that nothing was heard at all by the in- vestigators in the moving police auto- mobile, Gen. Butler is continuing these radio experiments and ultimately ex- pects to perfect a system which will be of inestimable service to the Phila- delphia police department over an area of about twenty-five miles radius trom the hear. of the city. \ * ¥ ¥ X W/ITE summer approaching and automobile touring weather on tap, do mot be surprised it yoa see many of the National Caplfal Hmou- sines and touring cars carrying suit cases as parts of their extraordinary equipment. No, the suit cases are not his Washing CTrandis . Jenkins of Washinston swow sends e Photographs and printed medsages by radio lon bg ses a o o ‘I-f' made radig receiving set ne cost of $10. used as storages for tools and auto- mobile accessories. They contain curious radio receiving sets invented by a local radio engineer. Each out- fit weighs thirty-five pounds. The control switches for operating the suit case set are on the outside and the only external evidence that the receptacle is anything other than a traveling bag. A very small coil aerial is wrapped snugly around the framework of the amplifier receiver unit. The entire equipment packs tightly in the suit case. This portable set can be used either with ear trumpets or with a loud speaker. It has a maximum receptive range of 500 miles. It can be used either ‘in portable. or non-portable form. ‘It is a special boon to the camper, spol an, angler, golfer or vacationist who wishes to take radio with him into the country, woods, wilderness or mountains. This re- ceiving outfit is ready for use at any time, merely by switching a control button which lights the filaments of the six vacuum tubes. Uncle Sam reports that the revenue cutter service is equipping the new “rnm chasers” with special radio equipment, to be used in curtailing the sarreptitious traffio in intoxi- cants. . Radio thus will aid in running John Barleycorn to cover along our coast lines, The rum-chasing radio sets will work around 140 meters and will have a telephonic range of ap- proximgtely (fifty miles. They will conaist essentially of telephone appli- ances made as automatic as possible. It will require the serviceés of a train- ed man to start'and stop them, but any layman can use them. The average Washington amateur may not appreclate how the radio problems of the United States Navy are quite different from those of the general run of land setups. On a bat- tleship the radio transmitting and re- ceiving stations often are in- opera- tion at the same time and they may be located onlya little distance apart. As a result, powerful interference ob- tains, and apparatus has to be used that is expressly designed to with- stand the terrific turmoil of such {a- terference. On land and in the latitude of Washington the degree of se- lectivity is not nearly as important. The great majority of commercial radio sets are wholly unsatisfactory for naval use at sea, as where they are employed under battleship conditions the interference often develops to a stage where it actually paralyzes the tubes. ‘ AP 7he Washington suitcase radio set 1s designed. for the use of touring motorss ts. radio avtennae Juvo«,iicWa,skinspfovz,mw spends {ts 3 ppare time figg1 The advance of radio as measured in terms of thie United States Navy's utilization of- wireless is most re- markable. The 500-cycle quench-spark set at Arlington, Va., made that sta- tions famous and is the oldest high- power set in the world. Some years ago, the manufacturers of that equipment guaranteed that “it would give perfect twenty-four-hour service for distances as great as 3,000 miles without any bothersome interference, either static or intentional.” Of course, this contract guarantee was never attained by the veteran radio outfit at Arlington. Even today, with radio sclenee four- teen years more mature, such a guar- antee would be impossible of fulfill- ment. I£ radio manufacturers could produce equipment which would sat- isfy such conditions, the industry would be so standardized and stabil- ized as to be on “Easy street.” Uncle Sam still keeps the Arling- ton spark set as a relic. It will be placed as a permanent historic ex- hibit in the Smithsonian Institution as soon as adequate space is avail- able. Once a week the naval experts test out the spark set to see that it is in working order. Like the cham- pion cheer leader of intercollegiate can be heard when it is in action, for it has a range of 300 to 3,000 meters and drowns out ali competition. * % % % S You stroll past the White House this summer do not be surprised if you hear radio music in the aim for ‘the Navy Department is now testing out several portable radio sets, the best of which will be sent to the White House for the use of Pres- ident Coolidge and his family. An indoor standard set with a Joud speaker is now installed at America's most famous mansion. Latterly Pres ident Coolidge has asked for an eff cient portable which could used on the luwn and undef the shade of the venerable White House trees. The presidential yacht, the May- flower, recently has also been equip ped with a new and improved radic receiving Henceforward, no matter how far the yacht steams down the Potomac, the President and his guests always have excel- lent entertainment available from the ether. % Radio far on its o ney toward perfection since the earl days wi wireless was first adapted for battleship use One of Washington's naval expert recently described the difficultic which were met with in battleshin target practice during the babyhood of radio. Those were in the days when open gap transmitters and crys tal detectors were commonly used During the target practice of the mammoth battleships the reverbera- tions were so great that they not in frequently jarred loose some of delicate radio equipment and tem- porarily put it of commissior This defect was finally rectified 1 placing the radio apparatus below the level of the armor. A piece o hard coal was fitted with a kni needle driven through it on one o casion sort of muffler dev which absorbed the shocks of rever- beration and protected the radio sets for active operation, even during target practice periods. Uncle n farmer and agricultural educator, is now in com munication by radio with more than 250,000 American farms, where radio receiving sets are now accorded po tions of honor in the front parlors These radio sets range in cost from $15 to $330 apiece. Secretary of Agr culture Wallace has coined a nex word, “agriograms.” to ide brief news items about agricult which are flashed daily to the Amer can farming fraternity from 500 radio broadcasting stations. Housewives are be ructed in rudiment of domestic science by pithy para- graphs shot to them. through ti ether. Some day, perhaps, your wifs or mine may wish a new biscui or cake recipe. All she has to do te clamp the radio trumpets to her ears and listen for the daily lecture from the Department of Agriculture laboratories. Farmers in Maryland and Virgin are ardent champions of radiogras sifice Uncle Sam has instituted his matchless information service through the ether. Accurate weather report now enable the farmer to protect hix field work and crops from storms. Forecasts of snow and icy winds en able to fortify his fruits and live against losses. He can keep in intimate touch with the city markets. Entertainment of every description is his by merely turning a radio knob. As one Vir ginia farmer aptly phrases it: “We in the country used to be isolated as Napoleon at St. Helen: Radio has introduced us to new tractions of life. Muddy roads now maroon us from daily mail newspapers, but radio keeps us in touch with the world. We never lack for enjoyable entertainment ether messages come set be has gone en communication ti him stock now ma and BRAHAM LINCOLN'S good com mon sense is witnessed by almos every act of his lite. His sound view on indiscriminate charity and the best means of encouraging thrift and industry are shown by the follow- ing letter to one of his brothers which is among the well known Ward Hill Lamon collection of Lincoln manu scripts: “Dear Johnson: Your request for $&1 I do not think it best to comply with now: at the various times when | have helped vou a little you have said.to me. ‘We can get along very well now,” but in a very short time | find you in the same difficulty agair Now, this can only happen by defect in your conduct—what that de fect is I think I know; you are n lazy, and still you are an idler * * * “You are now in need of some ready money, and what 1 propose is that you should go to work, tooth and nail, for somebody who will give you money for it * * * and then to securc you a fair reward for your labor. I now promise you that for every dn lar you will, between this and ths first of next May, get for your labo I will then give you one other dol lar, * * * You have always been kind to me and 1 do not mean to be unkind to you. On the contrary, if you will follow my advice you will find it worth more than eight times $80 to you, Affectionately, your brother, A, LANCOLN. some A Curious Spring. E of the mdst curious springs in the world exists in New Mex- ico. It is literally a spring saturated with sodium sulphate. Distilled water weighs eight and one-third pounds per gallon; the water of this spring welghs ten and two-thirds pounds. The temperature of the spring is & little niore than 110 degrees Fahren- heit. As the saturated liquid over- flows and cools, it forms a crystalline mass like ice, which, in the course of ages, has spread into a snow-white bed of solid sodium salts, miles in extent and as level as a lake. The warm brine, it is said, is inhabited by a minute, shrimplike organism, and a species of plant is found grow- America, no other volce' In the ether ing in the dry expanse of sodium sulphate.