Looking forward : $b a dream of the United States of the Americas in 1999Bird, Arthur
Science
Looking forward : $b a dream of the United States of the Americas in 1999
Bird, Arthur
Twentieth century -- Forecasts; United States -- Civilization
In 1982 the strange experiment was made of navigating a large ocean
electric ship [Sailed his Ship from Land.] from Manhattan (old N. Y.),
to Queenstown. The name of the vessel was the City of Sidney. After
the pilot had dropped off at the Hook, Captain Sherman, of the Electric
Belt Line of vessels, remained in his private office in the forty-third
story of Anti-Trust building on 59th street, Manhattan, and issued
his commands by wireless telegraph to the first officer of the City of
Sidney. Reports reached the captain every six hours, giving the exact
latitude and longitude and the ship's course was directed from the
captain's private office on 59th street in the city of Manhattan. In
other words it was the city of Manhattan that kept the City of Sidney
on the move, so to speak. The ship's course, conduct of the crew, the
health of the passengers, the reports of passing electrical vessels,
the velocity of wind and other details of navigation, were communicated
to Captain Sherman, whose orders were given and obeyed as readily
as though issued from the bridge or deck of the City of Sidney. When
that vessel arrived off Queenstown to land the U. S. of the A. mails,
Capt. Sherman in 59th street ordered half speed and finally stopped
the electric engines. Of course, while navigating his immense vessel
across the ocean and remaining seated in his office at home, Captain
Sherman could not assume his place in the saloon at the head of the
table. Wireless telegraphy could not, with all its ingenuity, satisfy
one's appetite at the sumptuous dinners served on board the City of
Sidney. But this demonstrated to the world in 1982 that with wireless
telegraphy commanders could remain in their office on shore and sail
their ships to foreign ports in perfect safety. This was done in 1982
just as easily as the old style train dispatcher controlled far away
trains in 1899 while seated in his own office.
The Marconi system of wireless telegraphy, when perfected in 1920,
employed the Hertzian magnetic waves, which are identical with the
waves of light. Whenever an electric spark is made to leap from one
electrode to another, one of these waves is created. The Marconi
instruments for sending and receiving are tuned to each other and
are then invulnerable to the attack of waves of different lengths.
These rays of electricity are reflected and directed in a given
direction like rays of [A Marvelous Invention.] light. An electric
circuit with a key, gives the basis of the Marconi system. This
circuit runs through a spark coil with an oscillator to produce
continuous electric sparking so long as the circuit is kept closed
by the key--and from this the sparking wires run out of doors to the
pole from which the messages are sent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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