CHAPTER IX
MARCONI
"My native country," said Tony, speaking very slowly in an effort to getthe construction of his sentences in accordance with Bill's coaching andas per his written arrangement, "is Italy; my adopted country isAmerica. I say both with pride, and therefore you can imagine with whatdelight I speak about one of the greatest of Italians and one of thegreatest among the scientists of the world, to Americans who perhapsmost appreciate and make use of his discoveries.
"Guglielmo Marconi lived not far from Bologna. His father's estate iscalled 'Villa Griffone.' Not far from these many acres was my formerhome, and my father, who is a little older than Signor Marconi, knew himwell, as well indeed as anyone might know one who was from boyhood arather shy, retiring fellow, with a mind given over largely tomechanical experiments and caring very little for playfellows.
"Signor Marconi, the elder, was proud of his son's tendencies and gavehim mechanical toys when Guglielmo was only a little fellow. His motherwas a beautiful English or Irish lady and she also encouraged her son inhis tastes. Electricity had a strange fascination for the boy and as hegrew older and began to grasp the theories and methods employed in itsuse he addressed himself more and more to electrical phenomena, neverbeing content with mere performances, but being eager to know theprecise methods of application and effect.
"At first Guglielmo had tutors and he led them a merry chase to keep upwith his questions. Then, when still young, he was sent to an advancedschool in Leghorn, later entering the University at Bologna. But withall that he learned of theory and practice concerning what had becomehis hobby, he obtained more knowledge at home, for his investigationswere not along discovered routes, but in new fields.
"When Guglielmo was only sixteen his father had provided him with allthe instruments and apparatus he could wish for and he knew no handicapsof this kind.
"In this country a poor boy, without social hindrances, has an equalchance with a rich lad. In my native land, in Europe I think, the ladwith means has a better opportunity. Here you have many great men inevery walk of life who have been poor, but over there that is a rarething. Wealth brings opportunity and quick recognition. Guglielmo hadthis advantage, but if he had not also possessed an earnest, painstakingand brilliant mind he could have gained no distinction. Most of hisacquaintances led pleasure-loving, easy, indolent lives and he couldhave done the same thing. Therefore, what credit is due Guglielmo forthe great success he has achieved!
"While Guglielmo was still in his teens he turned his father's estateinto a vast laboratory and experimenting station. His great successseemed to come from using all outdoors as his workshop.
"In this way he learned the magic of sound waves and vibrations, so thathe could send his 'telegrams' without a wire. His first experiments werefor only a few yards. Then he made the distance longer and longer,little by little, till at the end of five years of constant, perseveringtrial, with thousands of failures to be sure, he sent an air message twomiles.
"Of course, people made fun of him. They thought he was a crank, if notdownright crazy and said that his father was very foolish indeed toencourage him in wasting so much time and money in a way that everyperson with common sense could see was worse than merely simple.
"Guglielmo set his rude transmitting apparatus on a pole on one side ofa field and on the other side a corresponding pole was set up andconnected with a receiving apparatus.
"The young inventor's interest must have been keen and his hopes high ashe sat and watched for the tick of his recording instrument, that heknew should come from the spark sent across the field. Weeks had beenspent in the building of these instruments, now to be tested.
"Suddenly the Morse sounder began to record the distant transmission andthe boy's heart gave an exultant bound--the first wireless message hadbeen sent and received.
"Many experiments followed. Varying heights of poles were used and itwas found that the distance could be increased in proportion to thealtitude of the poles.
"In these first experiments of the young inventor he used practicallythe same methods that he employs to-day. The transmitting apparatusconsisted of electric batteries, an induction coil by which the force ofthe current is increased, a telegrapher's key to make and break thecircuit. Batteries were connected with the induction coil and thetelegrapher's key was placed between the battery and the coil.
"One spark made a single dot, a stream of sparks the dash of the Morsetelegraphic code, and with this crude apparatus, sometimes failing torecord the signals, Marconi labored with growing faith. He knew he wason the right track and persevered. When he had succeeded in sending amessage two miles through the air, Guglielmo determined that it could betwo hundred, or two thousand miles, but he chose a shorter distance toprove his theory. He went to the English Channel and before long theworld was astounded to learn that this young stranger and experimenterhad sent a wireless message over thirty miles. A little later dispatcheswere sent through the air across the English Channel and received fromthe Isle of Wight to Land's End, more than one hundred and eighty milesdistant.
"This youth, twenty-one years old, had succeeded in accomplishing a featthe possibilities of which can hardly yet be conceived. Then Marconicame to London to upbuild and link nation to nation more closely. He waswell received in England and began his further work with all theencouragement possible. A series of tests followed that were astounding.Messages were sent through walls, houses, through hill and dale, provingbeyond a doubt that the electric waves penetrate everything.
"A few years later, when Marconi was twenty-four, he made wirelessreports of the Kingston regatta for evening papers in Dublin, Ireland.This attracted Queen Victoria's attention at her summer residence atOsborne House, also on the Isle of Wight. At this time the Prince ofWales, who afterward became King Edward the Seventh, was ill on hisyacht. This was soon connected with the Queen's summer castle and onehundred and fifty messages passed between the suffering prince and hisroyal mother.
"All these wireless marvels--they seemed miracles then--made WilliamMarconi world-famous before he finished his twenty-fifth year.
"But Guglielmo--I like the Italian pronunciation of his name better,"continued Tony, "for I am afraid, if I did geeve the English form, Ishould turn it into Beel." He smiled at our hero who had come down fromthe platform to a front seat and sat listening intently, and Bill Brownshook his head deprecatingly.
"Guglielmo did not cease with these triumphs. No, not he. He saw successonly in greater distances and he went at this problem with his usualquiet determination. He made no announcements, but sailed for the Islandof Newfoundland and there he set up his instruments in an old barracksat the mouth of the harbor near St. Johns. In a few days hispreparations were made, quite secretly. His plans were communicated tono one, except his assistants, for he knew there would be the generalskepticism concerning his effort to send wireless messages across theAtlantic Ocean, but he felt assured of success. A transmitting stationhad been established near Poldhu, Cornwall, the southwestern point ofEngland. The aerial wires were on masts two hundred and ten feet high.
"As an aerial Guglielmo sent up a large kite made of bamboo and silk,flown on a wire, of course; the wind increased, snapping the wire andblowing the kite into the ocean. Thereupon Guglielmo used a balloonfilled with hydrogen gas and sent it up when the weather was clear, butthe balloon broke away and disappeared.
"It was on December 12, 1901 that he sent up another kite. This held atan elevation of nearly four hundred feet, and then, after having cabledhis assistants to begin sending certain signals previously agreed upon,at a certain hour in the afternoon and continuing until night, Guglielmomade allowance for the difference in time and sat with the telephonereceiver at his ear, listening, wondering, hopeful. It must have been amoment of almost painful expectation. He looked out from his positionhigh on the cliff and could see the dim, rocky outlines of Cape Spear,the most eastern point of
the North American continent. Beyond thisrolled the blue Atlantic, two thousand miles across which was the coastof the British Isles. Only two persons were present in the oldbarrack-room besides the inventor. There were no reporters--no one hadbeen apprised of the attempt. Marconi's faith in the success of hisexperiment was unshaken. He believed from the first that he would getsignals across the great stretch of ocean.
"Suddenly there was the sharp click of the instrument that could onlycome from some electric disturbance; but it was not the signal. Marconi,without excitement, asked Mr. Kemp, the assistant, to take the telephonereceiver connected with the instrument and listen for a time. A momentlater, faintly, yet distinctly and unmistakably, came the three clicksindicating the dots of the letter S, according to the Morse code, thesignal that had been agreed upon with the assistants on the Englishcoast. A few minutes later more signals came and the inventor and hisassistant assured themselves again and again that there could be nomistake. Thus was tested successfully one of the great scientificdiscoveries.
"Then the achievement was given to the public, after two days ofrepeated signaling. The honors that were at once heaped upon Marconiwould have turned the head of anyone less modest and sane. From everyquarter of the world came plaudits. The cable company, fearing injury toits business, demanded that he cease operations in its territory, whichwas a high compliment, indeed. The people of the Colony of Newfoundlandhonored him, wondering at his youth; he was then only twenty-seven, butan experimenter of wide knowledge.
"Such was the practical achievement upon a great discovery reached byMarconi the Italian and now, more correctly, the cosmopolitan. Though hestill makes his home in his native land, he belongs to all countries, toall oceans, for it is everywhere now that his great discovery is madeuse of. No need for me to mention the present day uses of wirelesstelegraphy and radio communication aided greatly by the inventions ofothers. But it is to Marconi these owe their initial adoption."