The history of radio is unique—at first only a scientific curiosity, and
for years thereafter a boy’s plaything; when, all at once, without
warning, the public takes it up with a suddenness no one foresaw, and
for which no one was prepared.
An invention which behaves so peculiarly excites one’s curiosity to a
study of its strange attraction; and of the beginnings of the scientific
principles involved, now so knowingly discussed by mere youngsters.
Why, boys in the whole range of their ’teens discourse with fluency and
understanding such mysteries as inductance, impedence and capacities;
reactance, reluctance and rotors; harmonics, aerials, and mush;
choppers, chokes and cheese; heterodyne, neutrodyne, and iodine; and we
oldsters don’t know whether they are talking of medicine, music or food.
The only thing that saves us from everlasting embarrassment is that we
have the gumption to keep our mouths shut.
So, determined to be ready for these “kids” the next time they come into
my august presence, I start in to “bone up” on some of these funny
words, and for a start I turn to a musty volume printed by Congress in
1879.
It appears that on January 16 of that year the business of Congress was
stopped, and, in solemn procession, led by the Sergeant-at-Arms, the
Chaplain, and the Vice-President, the Senate proceeded to the House
chamber, where the Speaker handed his official gavel to the
Vice-President, who said: “The Senators and Members of the Congress of
The United States are here assembled to take part in services to be
observed in memory of the late Joseph Henry.”
And, as I read the addresses made on that memorable occasion, and look
up the references cited, I get the solution to my problem.
I find it was Joseph Henry who first discovered that breaking the
circuit in a coiled wire “gives a more intense spark than the same wire
uncoiled.” And so inductance was born, and later in his honor we name
its unit of measure a “henry.”
Then he put iron inside the coil and got the first magnetic field; next
he found that when he arranged a second similar coil near the first, the
spark appeared in a gap of the second circuit, and so we have the first
transformer.
He put parallel metal plates across the circuit, and he had a condenser;
and finally he separated the circuits by many hundred feet, and the
first radio signals were broadcast and picked up.
So we learn that to this modest but remarkable man we owe the simple
coupling coil that the boys of the past twenty-five years have been
using to telegraph to each other wirelessly.
And it is these American youngsters who have developed radio; who first
set up two-way communication half-way around the world; who, through
their Radio Relay League, kept Captain McMillan in touch with home
during his long winter night in the Arctic ice; who kept the
_Shenandoah_ in constant contact with headquarters in Washington during
her recent transcontinental trip, official acknowledgment of which was
publicly made by the Secretary of the Navy.
Radio eventually will touch our lives at more points directly and
indirectly than any other discovery in the history of mankind, unless,
perhaps, I should make an exception in favor of fire.
And the delightful thing about it all is that the inaccessible places
are benefited the most by radio, those in the out-of-the way places are
less lonesome, and the long day of the sick and shut-in is more
endurable.
The farmer has his market reports on the minute, his weather forecasts
in time for action, and he sets his clock by radio and gets his
entertainment from the air.
Dispatched and guided by radio, the flying mail goes day and night with
such clocklike regularity that its remarkable performance is no longer
“news,” although industry has not yet waked up to the advantage and
economy which can be effected by a larger use of the airmail.
Ships are guided into harbor through fog by wireless direction, and the
captain was guided thereto by radio compass and radio beacon, and at sea
summons aid in case of mishap or danger.
In commerce one may send letters, telegrams, bank drafts, or engineer’s
drawings, as radio photographs of the originals, with photographic
accuracy and autographic authenticity.
Men on the ground talk with men in a flying machine out of sight in the
sky, an almost inconceivable fact.
This reason alone would warrant one in predicting that the defense of
our country is definitely going to pass from the limited activities of
the Army and Navy to an Air Department, for the plane has no boundary or
limit of range in offense or defense.
And in addition there is the wireless direction of bomb-dropping
airplanes, torpedo submarines, and floating mines, inanimate agencies
obeying the distant, unseen hand.
And ultimately power will be transmitted to populous areas, over
wireless channels, from the enormous unworked coal fields away up in the
Arctic Circle.
The applications of radio are coming so fast in industry that it is hard
to keep informed, but doubtless its most extended use will be in the
home.
The use of microphone modulated radio to carry music and speech to our
homes celebrated its fourth anniversary only two weeks ago.
And yet in this brief space (=1=) millions on millions have been
entertained with the very best the artist has to offer; (=2=) a singer
has been heard around the world; (=3=) and our President has addressed
his fellow Americans as a single audience.
When onto the boundless range of audible radio is grafted the world-wide
appeal of the picture, the ideal means of entertainment would seem to
have been attained, for the picture is without language, literacy or age
limitation.
By radio we shall see what is happening in a distant place; inaugural
ceremonies, football, baseball or polo games; flower festival, mardi
gras, or baby parade.
So when the development of radio as a service to the eye has progressed
to a like extent with ear-service radio, we will bring the entire opera
to your home in both acting and music, or even the Olympic games from
across the sea.
It has been most satisfying to have had a part in the development of
this wonderful medium of contact between individuals and between
nations. My part being principally visual radio, I expect great things
from Radio Vision.
And did you ever notice the curious fact that a great laboratory,
despite its inestimable contributions to science and engineering, has
never yet brought forth a great, revolutionary invention which has
subsequently started a new industry, like the telegraph, telephone, and
telescope; motion picture, typecasting and talking machines; typewriter,
bicycle and locomotive; automobile, flying machine, and radio vision.
It has always been a poor man to first see these things, and as a rule
the bigger the vision the poorer the man.
And, do you know, that is right comforting, too; for I sometimes think
that perhaps I myself may yet do something worth while if I only stay
poor enough, long enough.