Boys' second book of inventionsBaker, Ray Stannard
Science
Boys' second book of inventions
Baker, Ray Stannard
Inventions; Technology -- Juvenile literature
Mr. Kemp took the receiver, and a moment later, faintly and yet
distinctly and unmistakably, came the three little clicks--the dots of
the letter S, tapped out an instant before in England. At ten minutes
past one, more signals came, and both Mr. Marconi and Mr. Kemp assured
themselves again and again that there could be no mistake. During this
time the kite gyrated so wildly in the air that the receiving wire was
not maintained at the same height, as it should have been; but again, at
twenty minutes after two, other repetitions of the signal were received.
Thus the problem was solved. One of the great wonders of science had
been wrought. But the inventor went down the hill toward the city, now
bright with lights, feeling depressed and disheartened--the rebound from
the stress of the preceding days. On the following afternoon, Friday, he
succeeded in getting other repetitions of the signal from England, but
on Saturday, though he made an effort, he was unable to hear anything.
The signals were, of course, sent continuously, but the inventor was
unable to obtain continuous results, owing, as he explains, to the
fluctuations of the height of the kite as it was blown about by the
wind, and to the extreme delicacy of his instruments, which required
constant adjustment during the experiments.
Even now that he had been successful, the inventor hesitated to make his
achievement public, lest it seem too extraordinary for belief. Finally,
after withholding the great news for two days, certainly an evidence
of self-restraint, he gave out a statement to the press, and on Sunday
morning the world knew and doubted; on Monday it knew more and believed.
Many, like Mr. Edison, awaited the inventor's signed announcement
before they would credit the news. Sir Cavendish Boyle, the Governor
of Newfoundland, reported at once to King Edward; and the cable company
which has exclusive rights in Newfoundland, alarmed at an achievement
which threatened the very existence of its business, demanded that he
desist from further experiments within its territory, truly an evidence
of the belief of practical men in the future commercial importance
of the invention. It is not a little significant of the increased
willingness of the world, born of expanding knowledge, to accept a new
scientific wonder, that Mr. Marconi's announcement should have been
so eagerly and so generally believed, and that the popular imagination
should have been so fired with its possibilities. One cannot but recall
the struggle against doubt, prejudice, and disbelief in which the
promoters of the first transatlantic cable were forced to engage. Even
after the first cable was laid (in 1858), and messages had actually
been transmitted, there were many who denied that it had ever been
successfully operated, and would hardly be convinced even by the
affidavits of those concerned in the work. But in the years since then,
Edison, Bell, Röntgen, and many other famous inventors and scientists
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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