From Another Planet

1901

William A. Eddy Receives Mysterious Electric Signals

NEW YORK, Jan 14. — William A. Eddy of Bayonne, N. Y. says that since 1892 he has drawn from his kite wire hundreds of electric signals, both regular and irregular, which may have come from some planet and that the signals have been usually in groups of three, regularly timed like a Morse sounder. When the ends of the kite-sustained steel wires are separated by silk strands the sparks jump at 12-second intervals. Then there are mysterious disappearances of all electric action for several minutes. These electric sparks come from a high point in the air not near to the low tension electric currents and live trolley wire.

—Emmetsburg Democrat, Emmetsburg, IA, Jan. 16, 1901, p. 2.

Could Not See Into Future

1919

Men of Genius Had Little Idea What Their Inventions Might Mean to the World

It appears that it is not infrequently the case that great inventors do not comprehend the significance of the things they have produced. Here are two examples:

When Hertz first began to obtain satisfactory results from his now famous researches into the possibility of transmitting electric waves certain men of science suggested that some day similar vibrations might serve to transmit messages through space. Hertz laughed at the hypothesis and assured all comers that his experiments were for laboratories only. Now, after a few short years, it is hard to find a single issue of a daily newspaper that does not record some noteworthy example of the use of wireless telegraphy.

Levassor was the great engineer who sketched the automobile with such skill that his design has not been materially changed to this day. After Levassor accomplished his historic trip from Paris to Bordeaux and return at the dizzy speed of about 15 miles an hour his admirers gave him a banquet. During the toasts one of them, stirred by the spirit of the occasion, rose and enthusiastically called on the assembly to drink to the approaching day when carriages should travel at the speed of 60 miles an hour. Levassor turned to his nearest neighbor and asked in a quick undertone:

"Why is it that after every banquet some people feel called on to make fools of themselves?"


Only One Foundation

Men best prove their right to rights by making good in little things. Rights are those things that grow out of universal justice. In the last analysis they are beyond price. Some folks say they have bought the right to certain things. That is only because custom has commercialized them. Such rights savor of monopoly and are as unstable as the dollars with which they are purchased. Right that rests upon divine law may seem very tame, but after all it's the only right that abides amidst the rise and fall of empires and the changing customs of men. To such rights every man is heir. — Exchange.

The Opera Through the Telephone

1879

Very many persons among the opera audiences at the Academy of Music recently noticed a curious little box on the stage, immediately beside the prompter's box, with a tin funnel opening toward the singers, but probably very few had the slightest idea of what were its uses.

In reality it was a scientific marvel, and played a quite important part in an experiment that was completely successful. The instrument was a Blake's Battery transmitter, made very much like an ordinary Bell telephone, but having, in place of the permanent magnet, a Bhumkorf coil and one cell of battery attached. Its usual function on a telephone line is to increase the volume of sound by the action of an induced current, but at the Academy it was employed to gather in the music of the opera and convey it to distant residences. A private wire led from it to the office of Dr. Alan P. Smith, and to the homes of Mr. A. G. Davis. No. 429 Madison avenue, and A. Wilson, Jr., 162 Mosher street, connecting to telephones at each place.

Listeners at these houses placed an ear to the telephone, and heard all the music of the opera almost as distinctly as if seated in the auditorium of the Academy. The voices and the orchestral music were transmitted perfectly. Even the words of the prompter were audible, as well as the applause from the front of the house. The test was a most interesting one, and was perfectly successful. — Baltimore American.

Jazz By Wireless Heard 1,500 Miles

1920

Low Power Generators Used in Experiment

Expect to Talk to England by Telephone If Present Trials Are Successful

England and the United States soon will be talking to each other by telephone if experiments which now are being conducted in both countries are successful. Already nightly efforts are being made by the British to make American operators hear their voices over the wireless telephone. So far the attempt has been fruitless.

However, just the other day Americans set a new record for talking by wireless, when operators in Chicago, Topeka, Kan., and half a dozen points not more than 1,500 miles from New York distinctly heard the New York operator talking and then listened to a jazz record on his talking machine.

Low Power Generators Used

The record was made because generators of only one-third of a kilowatt of power were used. When last year, for the benefit of President Wilson, navy operators sent his voice ringing around the world by wireless, they used a 300-kilowatt generator. There is no limit to the distance which can be covered the wireless telephone provided sufficient power is used, but to come within a reasonable expense present devices must be made more perfect.

New York and Chicago now have a little talk every night and all over the country the members of the American Radio Relay League, which has half a million members, strain their ears in an effort to overhear what is being said. The New Yorker is Robert F. Gowen of the DeForest Radio company, and the Chicago operator is R. G. Mathews, who worked with the navy wireless during the war. They now are trying to get an operator at Roswell, n. M., to hear Gowen talking. If he succeeds then the wireless talk will be directed at a San Francisco operator.

Span Country Without Wires

"When we can span the country with the human voice without the aid of wires we will have solved the question of how to take care of the ever increasing long-distance telephone business," says Mathews. "Now, if a fellow wants to make a long distance call he has to wait an hour or two because all the trunk lines are busy. When the wireless telephone is an assured thing central will plug the patron in on an aerial trunk line and he can get to talk right away. The chances are he won't know the difference, either, except that he can hear more distinctly and there won't be any of the tinny sound that now interferes with telephoning.

"The great problem is to make it possible to use the telephone without making it so expensive the average person can't afford it. The low power and short wave lengths we are experimenting with now are within the reach of almost every amateur wireless fan."

What It'd Be Like To Discover Intelligent Life on Mars

1920

FROM HOMES IN THE STARS

At midnight April 20, when Mars is approaching the nearest point to the earth, the wireless operators of the world are to listen for messages from the Martians.

When the day arrives on which word comes from the heavenly bodies that day will displace Armistice day as the greatest in all history.

Our earth is insignificant compared with some of the celestial bodies. There is no good reason presented in support of the contention that human intelligence exists on no planet other than earth. With active minds on Mars it is possible that for years the inhabitants have been signaling to us and have been puzzled at our stupidity in not catching the messages.

Mysterious wireless waves have been received of late, and scientists of the learning and practical experience of Marconi are hopeful that the messages are from out of space.

Now if, on April 21, there is positive information that Mars is talking to us, we shall await further disclosures with deepest interest.

The man of strong religious convictions will ask, first of all:

What do the Martians know of a Supreme Being? Has a Christ appeared to them?

The man of letters will inquire as to the literature of Mars.

The scientists will seek word as to the discoveries and researches.

Doctors will ask as to the physical structures, the ailments and cures.

And, if the people of Mars are 500 years ahead of us in civilization they will tell of things as strange and wonderful as wireless and electric lights, telephones and airplanes would have been to Christopher Columbus in 1492, when, landing on the shores of the West Indies, that daring navigator, 100 years in advance of his own time, thought he had reached the East Indies.

When Mars has spoken, then will come the call to other planets, and at night, when the stars shine out, each twinkle will be an eye wink from the worlds in the depths of the universe.

—The Ogden Standard-Examiner, Ogden City, Utah, April 10, 1920, p. 4.

Marconi Listens for Signals from Mars, Doyle for Spirits

1922

MARTIANS AND SPIRITS

With Mars only about 40,000,000 miles from the earth, Marconi, the inventor of the wireless, is trying to get signals from that planet. True, the most powerful wireless outfits yet built on this planet are capable of sending messages only an infinitesimal fraction of that distance, but Marconi hopes the Martians can do better. That is, if there are any Martians.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle announces that he is installing a complete radio outfit in his London home, for use in his psychic investigations. He feels confident that by means of radio he will be able to communicate with the spirit world.

It might simplify things if the "spirit world" happened to be Mars. Then Marconi and Doyle could work together on the job.

Scoffing is easy, and it is also futile. Nobody can say with assurance that either of these gifted men is wrong. But certainly the chances of their being wrong are great. The least that can be expected of the public is an open mind, a willingness to be "shown." There is a long chain of "ifs" in both cases.

—The Monessen Daily Independent, Monessen, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1922, p. 3.

Babies Now Getting Lullabies by Radio, Not Mother

Baby Florence Jackson listening in on a bedtime story.

New York, 1922

NEW RADIOPHONE LULLABY SUPPLANTS OLD SONGS OF MOTHER AT TWILIGHT

The romance of your baby days will soon fade from the babe of tomorrow. For no longer need mother croon or rock her babe to sleep, or even whisper the story of the sandman. All she will do will be to "cut in" and let babe go to sleep to the tune of a radio lullaby or bedtime story. Florence Jackson now gets her twilight lullaby in New York by radio.

—The Chronicle Telegram, Elyria, Ohio, April 13, 1922, p. 8.

Budapest Has Telephone Journal, News and Music by Phone

1895

TELEPHONE JOURNAL

BY WIRE TO EVERY SUBSCRIBER'S BEDSIDE.

The Telephone Herald of Budapest — Has 6,000 Subscribers — In Operation Two Years — News Carefully Edited — Between Editions Concerts Are Given

The telephone newspaper organized at Budapest has now been working successfully for two years. It is the only newspaper of the kind in the world. It is called The Telephono Hirnondo, or Herald, costs 2 cents like a printed paper and is valuable to persons who are unable or too lazy to use their eyes or who cannot read. It has 6,000 subscribers, who receive the news as they would ordinary telephone messages. A special wire 168 miles long runs along the windows of the houses of subscribers, which are connected with the main line by separate wires and special apparatus which prevents the blocking of the system by an accident at any one of the stations.

Within the houses long, flexible wires make it possible to carry the receiver to the bed or elsewhere in the room. The news is not delivered as it happens to come in, but is carefully edited and arranged according to a printed schedule, so that a subscriber at any time knows what part of the paper he is going to hear. It begins with the night telegrams from all parts of Europe. Then comes the calendar of events for the day, with the city news and the lists of strangers at the hotels. After that follow articles on music, art and literature. The staff is organized like that of any other newspaper and is on duty from 7:30 in the morning till 9:30 at night.

After the copy has passed through the editor's hands, for the paper is subject to the same restrictions as ordinary newspapers and is liable for its communications, it is given to the "speakers." These are ten men with strong voices and clear enunciation, who work in shifts of two at a time and talk the news through the telephone. There are 23 editions uttered a day. Additions to the first edition are announced as news items. To fill up the time when no news is coming in the subscribers are entertained with vocal and instrumental concerts.

These were at first given for them especially in the office of The Hirnondo, but now the wire is in communication with the opera house and the music halls and on Sundays and saints' days with the churches. The music is transmitted at times to other places in Austria-Hungary, and recently The Hirnondo michrophone was connected with the circuit going from Triest, through Vienna, Bremen and Budapest, to Berlin, the music being heard in all these places with equal clearness and force. The happy Hungarian can lie abed all day and hear everything that is going on in his town.

Such a newspaper as the one described was foreshadowed by a writer in the British and Colonial Printer and Stationer in December, 1893. In the article, which was entitled "A Fairy Tale For Printers," an attempt was made to forecast the future of the daily newspaper, and The Telephono Hirnondo closely resembles the writer's ideal. — Newspaperdom.

—Davenport Daily Republican, Davenport, IA, Oct. 5, 1895, p. 3.

First Experiment in Long Distance Radio Telephoning

1920

Radio Telephoning

The first experiment in long distance radio telephoning was made in 1914, the attempt resulting after many efforts in successful transmission of speech from Washington to Paris and San Francisco.


Lines to Be Remembered

No man ever stated his griefs as lightly as he might. For it is only the finite that has wrought and suffered the infinite lies stretched in smiling repose. — Emerson.


Sincerity and Intelligence

Where there is sincerity, there must be intelligence; where intelligence is, it must lead to sincerity. — Chinese Classics, translated by Rev. David Collie.


Let's Do It Here

In Finland, lawyers, before they can secure government employment, must serve as policemen for the purpose of gaining practical experience.

—Bedford Gazette, Bedford, Pennsylvania, January 9, 1920, page 4.

The Jollier (humor column)

1922

A big wheat crop is predicted. Say it with flour.

These June nights are even better than the famous Arabian nights.

Nineteen seniors at an Ohio girls' college are engaged. And yet people ask: "Does education help?"

A success is a self-starter. A failure is a self-stopper.

Hint to Ireland: An alley-apple a day won't keep the doctor away.

At the time of going to press another movie star was married.

In Indiana, a janitor stole $80,000 from the bank. This was the best he ever cleaned up.

An optimist is a man who plants an orchard near a school house.

Thanks to radio broadcasting sermons, a man can stay at home and claim he has been at church.

One way to keep a daughter at home is to feed her on onions.

A school of politics for women has opened. First lesson should be smoking bum cigars.

It's an unlucky angler who doesn't even catch one to lie about.

Americans in Germany say they are charged too much. Germans want them to feel at home.

This business revival could stand a little more shouting.

The only objection to living in the country is you have to go to town for your vacation.

No girl buying clothes wants the most she can get for her money.

In Detroit, a madman whipped his landlord and escaped. But all mad men can't do that.

We will investigate Turkish atrocities. The Turks will be glad to give a demonstration.

—The Coshocton Tribune, Coshocton, Ohio, June 19, 1922, page 4.

Radio Stations May Cause Fires, Spooks in Nova Scotia

1922

BLAME WIRELESS FOR SPOOKS

Fire Underwriters See Stations as Explaining Scare in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia.

Halifax, N. S. — The proximity of radio stations is the latest explanation of Antigonish county spooks, which have driven Alex MacDonald and family from home and baffled investigators.

Fire underwriters are discussing suggestions that the mysterious fires have been due to electric phenomena, caused by powerful wireless stations at Glace bay.

Several other families In Antigonish county are now reported to have been driven from their homes by mysterious fires during the last dozen years.

Inquiries received here indicate a small army of American newspaper men is preparing to follow Dr. Walter Franklin Prince, director of the American Institute for Scientific Research, who has accepted an invitation to undertake an investigation of the mystery.

—Oneonta Daily Star, Oneonta, New York, April 3, 1922, page 3.

Neighbor's Dog Raids Bunny Pens

1929

SALT LAKE, Jan. 1. -- I. J. Starbuck, 972 South Eighth West street reported to police Monday that 100 rabbits, valued at $400, had been killed in his rabbit grounds by a neighbor's police dog. Starbuck reported he had about 400 rabbits prior to the dog's raid.

--The Ogden Standard-Examiner, Ogden City, Utah, January 1, 1929, page 2.


HEATER BECOMES RECEIVING SET

CHICO, Calif., Jan. 1. -- (AP) -- And now a gas water heater has been added to the list of bean pots, electric lamps, fans and what-not that have acted as radio receiving sets.

Mrs. J. F. Bailey reported Monday that she heard a program of band music trickling out of the water heater in her kitchen but that the music faded out before the station was announced. Mrs. Bailey's reception of the program was confirmed by Mrs. Abbie Jones, a neighbor.

--The Ogden Standard-Examiner, Ogden City, Utah, January 1, 1929, page 5.

Wireless Music Entertains Men on Ships at Sea

Like all well-regulated ships, the transport "George Washington" has a phonograph. It also has wireless-telephone equipment of the latest design. On a recent occasion the phonograph horn and the telephone transmitter were brought face to face, and the music started. A hundred miles away, soldiers and sailors on the transport "President Grant" gathered eagerly around a loud-speaking receiver, from which issued the merry strains of song and fox trot, as the concert ship threw its melodious vibrations into space. Within the hundred-mile radius were several other radio-equipped ships, and when the concert was over the "George Washington's" operator was kept busy receiving encores.

After more than four years' service as an important military wireless station, during which no civilians were allowed to visit it, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, has been reopened to the public.

Iceland's traditional isolation has vanished with the erection of a wireless station which now receives daily press bulletins from Scandinavia, England, France, and Germany.

Airplane to Unite Isolated Towns of Interior Peru
The Peruvian government has decided to bind more closely together the scattered communities on the eastern slopes of the Andes by means of regular airplane service, handling mail, passengers, and freight. It is possible that the first route will extend from the city of Huanuco, high in the Andes, northward along a branch of the upper Amazon, then eastward over passes in the high mountain ranges, to Iquitos, 500 miles away. Iquitos is 2,653 miles from the mouth of the Amazon River, yet is touched by many foreign ocean-going vessels, making it the center of the Peruvian river-transportation system.

--Popular Mechanics, August 1919