POWER TRANSMISSION

Radio Record, Volume I, Issue 47, 8 June 1928, Page 13

POWER TRANSMISSION

BY RADIO BEAMS. Great interest and much misunderstanding has been caused by the announcement by the Westinghouse Manufacturing and Electrical Company of America that its research engineers are engaged on the problem of transmitting energy in commercial quantities by wireless, and that a con‘siderable measure of success is expected shortly. The method being investigated by the Westinghouse Company differs considerably from ordinary wireless communication methods. It involves the use of a wireless beam of about the character as that from a small but powerful searchlight. If such a beam were produced by a transmitter using about as much power as 2YA, Wellington, it is estimated that the air in the path of the beam would undergo a surprising electrical change, and from being one of the most perfect insulating media known would become a conductor of current of the same order as a stout copper cable. In this condition the beam could be used as a transmission line, and two or more beams produced parallel with each other would be capable of replacing an ordinary metallic circuit for the transmission of direct or alternating currents of commercial pressures and frequency. Limited Commercial Value. Assuming that grave technical difficulties to the actual production of the beams are overcome, as they probably will be, the value of the system for. commercial purposes would be strictly limited. ‘The wireless beams would. employ very short waves, which are subject to rapid weakening as_ they leave the transmitter, These beams could not be used for more than a few miles, because, even assuming that there were no obstructions such as trees or buildings in their way, the curvatures of the earth would be suflicient to prevent their use over longer distances, In view of the cost of pro-

ducing the beams, they are not likely to be used in preference to metallic conductors for such sort-distance transmission, except, possibly, in eases where some insurmountable difficulty prevents the use of metallie line.