PICTURES THROUGH SPACE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3386, 15 January 1920, Page 7

PICTURES THROUGH SPACE.

SENDING PHOTOGRAPHS BY WIRELESS.

We are on thg eve of a. 1-owlxxzion in newspaper illustrutimx. VVil;nEn a period of months we may see in mm‘ morning papers photographs of events which have, only ithe pl'o\:i()n,; day, taken place on the other side cf the world.

The possibility of trallsnlit.‘:il;g' pi: turcs through ‘the air has been suc(;eusfully demonstrated; all that remains to be done is to perfect the nlachinr_-ry and to adopt‘ it to commer3l'ul uses.

In order fo show how pi-."n'llv--,-.5 can be nansxnitted through imnlr:=:sc >‘p:1(:O, it is necessary to hark bzxc'-: to the cable as a means of -seizdin-4' messages 2'.('ross the oceans.

Telegraphy by uiider-scui c:3h_|c-,= is well known; it is not so well known Ulihf ‘tcllepliony ‘—I.I!LdCI'~.‘~;CZ!S impossibie except over limited distances. F 01" this reason it is only possible to use the ‘telephone cable over :1 short distance, like the English ."Cllannel,, by sinking heavy chambers in which the sounds are re-built, as it were, and sent on to the next ch-umber. This is due to the electric action of the sea, whi_ch distorts 01' destroys «the sour.ds in such 21 way that they become unireeognisable lwyoml :1 certain range. Tlius it is argued by experts that telephony under the Atlantic. is impossible.

Wireless nlessagcs are not obstructed in :this way, the only trouble so far being the difficulty of nl-=.lki.ng the mostsagcs cognplctciy au<‘.iblc over a. grc-at dist.ullcc.

All instl'ulnon~t known as the Tllol‘minnic Valve. has (tome to the rescue, and made many things hitherta. impossible, comparatively easy. The mission of this I'olllal‘kablo invention. is to nitignify sound; in oithcr words, to make inessagos audible over :1 great" range of space. It has opened up new fields for wireless to conquer, and one of those fields is the domain of illustration. By means of the Thormiollic Valve it is now possible to transmit ‘J(‘,I‘OSS so great ‘EL dfstanco as the .~\tlan—‘ric Ocezm, ‘-the image of a. p-hotographic I.n'inl.

Put as simply as possible. here is one system by means of which -:1. photographic. print can be Vtraxlsmittcd. '

A material, semi-metallic in sub:_:t"3.nco, culled selcniuxn, in flw form of

.‘ e}.'limlel', is used for the purpose. Around this cylinder the print is \\'r:ll) ped, and ‘-the selenium attracts electric waves through the print, a,_<:cording -to the depth of picture image. In other \\'()l'LlS the ilnpression~ made upon the (,‘_\/'ll.1l(lL“.‘ Val'i.es according‘ to the :unount of light which is tlirown upon it. '\‘.-‘here the pho%tograpliic print is dark the amount of electricity 1)21SSlI]§I tln'oug~ll it will be \ve'al;. Where it is elem‘ the amount of electricit_v will be magnified by means of the Tliermionie. Valve to such an extent that they will be recognisable on the other side of the world, where another cylinder transmits the picture nlessug‘(- to it .<.ensiti\'e material \\'l'2lmied round it. The electric waves tell ‘their picture story in u rem‘:-.rl{able wa_\f_ 'l“hey work down the sensitive material so close togetlicr as to be undistinguish~ able from each other, the current and the strength of «the line varying_according to the -amount of light passed by the clespatching instrument. \Vhen the sensitive material is covered jvc find that the gradations of electric power are faithfully recorded, and we get it replica of the picture through which‘ the electric waves are passed at the} desputcliiiig station. . No very elastic imagination is‘ needed Ito ~zip])l'eCiate the ustonisliing }j>ossi— I bilities of \\'il'()l(‘,.s's in other directions. I For instance, it would not be a big step from the transniission of niessages to" 21. tape machine to the m-zlking_of‘ \\'ireles:s lot‘ a direct. typewritten copy. To sit in a London office and read, line 1.)}; line, :1. type-written report of :1’ .'~‘peeeh by a statesman in America, sriggests :1 dream story, but we may, not l)._x far from the experience. _ :