Government Control of Radio TelephonySource: The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Apr., 1922), pp. 395-398Published by: American Association for the Advancement of ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/6698 .

Accessed: 01/05/2014 21:17

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

American Association for the Advancement of Science is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve andextend access to The Scientific Monthly.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 130.132.123.28 on Thu, 1 May 2014 21:17:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 395

THE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE' GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF

RADIO TELEPHONY

WASHINGTON, during the past montlh, has been the scene of a con- ference that has laid down the rules of the ether and has f urnished the basis of America 's youngest, fastest- growing and most astonishing indus- trv. It was twenty-five years ago this suiimer that Marconi patented the first wi-ireless apparatus in England. But the immediate events that pre- cipitated this conf erence on radio telephony called by Secretary of Coimmerce Herbert Hoover have been

1 Edited by Watsoni Davis, Science Service.

only a little over a year in develop- ment. The electron tube made pos- sible the transmission of the human voice by wireless with as much ease as over the ordinary wire telephone. Duiring the war electrical engineers and physicists succeeded in using effectively the radio telephone be- tw%%een airplanes and ground stations. This accomplishment, hastened bythe stress of wvar, has led to post-war developmient of the radio telephone.

On December 15, 1920, the Bureati of Markets of the Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Stand- ards of the Department of Com- merce in cooperation took a step largely responsible for the new move-

>

Copyright by Harris and Ewing MR. HERBERT HOOVER

Secretary of Conmmerce, wxho presided over the recent congress of radio- telegraphy at Washington, wxhere Mr. Hoover has installed a radio receiving

apparatus in his home as w ell as in his office

This content downloaded from 130.132.123.28 on Thu, 1 May 2014 21:17:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

: a A AN

Copyright by Harris and Ewing HERBERT WO0RKY M.D.

Postmaster General of the United States

This content downloaded from 130.132.123.28 on Thu, 1 May 2014 21:17:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

TIlE PROGRESS OF SCIENCE 397

ment. A short market and weather report in telegraphic code was sent out by radio from the Bureau of Standards as an experiment. For four moatlhs this trial service was kept in operation aind the amnateur radio operators on the farms near Wash- ington were able to give their fathers information that had an economic value. They liked this prompt news, anid on April 15, 1921, the air mail stations at Washington, Omaha anel St. Louis took up the work of scatter- ing the Departmxent of Agriculture inf ormation.

From then on the stor y of radio riv als that of a rush to a new gold field. Manufacturers of apparatus saw the possibilities of selling outfits if they broadcasted mllusic and enter- tainment, newspapers radioed news, and even the phonograplh shops, little suspecting a formidable rival, adver- tised records by playing them into the ether. Radio becaml-e an industry. It ceased to be only a plaything f or scientifically inclined boys. It came ouit of the laboratory into the world.

But back of this new-born industry is the ra(dio enigineer, tlhe physicist -anid the electrician. The radio boom caused a cluttering of the ether. There was a demand f or government regulation. The first task of science w-as to aid- in formulating wave length allocations and the regulations that will govern future radio com- imunication. Radio is a public utility. Broadcasting of governriental inf or- mation has first riglhts on the ether, according to the recommiiendations of the conf erence.

In additioni, the Bureau of Stand- ards wvas asked to solve these prob- lemiis: (1) The reduction of the rate of building up (increment) of oscil- lations in radiating systems. (This r apid building up of oscillations oc- curs in damiiped n-ave and interrupted eontinuous-w<avc tranismitters, and maay be eliminated by the substitution of other types of transmitter. It mayi, hovever, be educed in these

types by proper circuit arrange- ments.) (2) The reduction of har- monies in continuous wave trans- initters and of irregularities of oscil- lation ("'mush'' in are transmitters and "swinging" of the frequency in all types of continuous wave trans- mitters not employing a master oscil- lator). (3) The comparison of the variable amplitude method with the variable frequency method of con- tinuous wave telegraphy. (4) The preferable methods of telephono mnodulation to avoid changes in the frequency of oscillation. (5) The, proper circuit arrangements of regen- erative (including oscillating) re- ceivers to avoid radiation of energy (as by the use of a radio-frequency amiiplifier with an untuned antenna or with a coil aerial). (6) The use of highly selective receiving apparatus, inieluding a list of approved forms. (7) The use of receiving coil aerials instead of antennias, writh special ref- erence to high selectivity. (8) The reductioin of interference with radio coniiiiuiiication of other electrical processes, such as the operation of X-ray apparatus and electrical pre- cipitationi. (9) The study amid standardization of wave miieters.

In addition, the conference recom- miieinded that the Bureau of Standards miiake a study of the relation between the normal reliable range of a station aiid the antenna power on the basis of the use of reliable receiving ap- paratus, and of the width of wave baind required for satisfactory radio telephony.

While the technical problemns of radio telephony were being considered by a conference presided over by Secretary Hoover, engineer, Dr. Hubert Work, physician, was sworn in as postmaster general, the second scientifically trained menmber of lPresidenit Harding's cabinet. It is said that Mr. Hoover is the first en- gineer to hold a high official position in the governmeiit of the United States sinee George Washington.

This content downloaded from 130.132.123.28 on Thu, 1 May 2014 21:17:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

398 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY

... . . .............. .......

* . ... ... ... ... . : . : .... . : ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~..... . . .

. . . . . . . . . . .. ... ... .... .. .. .~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~......

S NAVY BLIMP, INTFLATED WITH HELIUM GAS

Certainly there has never before been an engineer and a physician in the cabinet. Dr. Work is president of the American Medical Association. Mr. Hloover at the time of his ap- pointment to the cabinet was presi- dent of the Federated American En- gineering Societies.

Mr. Hoover has been giving the engineer an opportunity since the present administration began. Elim- ination of waste in industry, the un- employment conference, buildinig and housing research, and radio regula- tion have all come about through his engineering. Soon af ter Dr. Work joined the cabinet, there was the un- usual occurrence of a postmaster gen- eral presiding over a session of a conference on the public health in the United States.

THE HELIUMI AIRSHIP DURING the same period that radio

has been rapidly passing through its adolescence, the lighter-than-air phase of aerial navigation has re- ceived a series of discouragments. First came the ZB-2 disaster in Eng- land; then the Roma collapsed on our own territory. These were accom- panied by two administrative blows to airship building, the decision of the British to abandon airsllip build- ing, and the prohibition by the Allies

of dirigible construction in Gerniani after a Zeppelin has been built fo-r the United States.

Within a few days after the Rom)ia disaster, undaunted by misfortunies anld prohibitions, conimercial inter- ests announced plans for the begin- ning of airship transportation in this country. Within a year a corpora- tion hopes to have large rigid ships, built partly in Germany according to the design of Dr. Johann Schutte, in operation betweea -New York and Chicago.

Inflammable hydrogen added to the horror and magnitude of both the ZR-2 and the Rovma disasters. In this unhappy way, public attention has been called to helium, the safe bal- loon gas. This "'rare'" gas, only in recent years first discovered in the sun, promises to lessen greatly the dangers of lighter-than-air transpor- tation. All who have been concerined in the comnmercial development of heliunm hope that Congress ivill pro- vide sufficient funds for the work now in progress and that the Navy blimp C-7, which this fall demonstratedl helium to be a practical balloon gas, is only the forerunner of future American airships, held aloft by the safe gas that at present only Amiierica can produce.

This content downloaded from 130.132.123.28 on Thu, 1 May 2014 21:17:12 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions