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Show ijfVcc Considers the Vti-N B A" J ,.' -m VIl-Th" J- In Thl. Illu.tration We See How Single Endlr.. Wire Strung Around the Earth on Tall Ma.t, Would f I.N.Nf 11,11 fT v Jll" V- Form a Gigantic Armature of a Dynamo, Capable r.f Furnishing Millions of Honepower. In This ' V" VV ' A--p,Q?l-fi IT r!ri. - Illustration, for the Sake of Clearne... the Wire i Wrapped Around f " f t'Fi cAil-L - , :r -. the Earth Only n Few Time,. In order to Get Sufficient Cower, How- iMPPTlllfl 1 nO fA .''-rrV- tL"- , T" T , ever, Mr. Gernsback Plan, to Run the IfJ. C- t- I I I I iy lilt y (.' iV PTV-X-T1- -f- . - ' Power Line, at Least from 75 to 100 T r y j T , ' g , ' A'h" viX- iV "N. JTX' - ' - Time, Around the Globe. Worldwide Peril . c(sfM J Sources of JmM- - - -c0?mmmW ' Energy by J- WSM- , xv Tapping the c( V :' Inexhaustible Y. -7f:i;,1-' 1 "iC' W'K TiX, frilttn E.peci.l!y for TkU M.EaiB.) V 1 S-, ' V. JP T 1 H By H. Gernsback, j- . - fV U SC s ' SI A V J'Uf Ec'.rical Experimenter and Radio 1 ' X f A tr c'.fa bear tbe exrrssslon that I -irT'' "" - V' V I, 7 I 1 ie ear.i Is nxhir.g but a huse Vj X ' S ' ,iT V . ' 1 I. V o. d proTH con- ,-1 V ' ' , . V U- 't Tjr K7(:t tlit tils U ls2esd a net. ; f; S P A'IZa Y S 5 l is real electric dynamo there are (I Ai" T f I j ... irT. wine tie armature rerolvc. j n ' V v V 7 $3 Oi jlffl 4 :-- tis sua ad eirti we have tie Sims i - ' S JS -if hA I Vois r ffl P - : -s,:. vir. tie ear.hrotate wiie ' J: w"rrciuci by tie radiation of tie such wrlre. It would not further - ' " W 5? JSL.. . a jus: aj tie arxa'ure of a dynamo the project, and It is Indeed not C ""fc'S? " rV:&issf-?J ' 1- i.-ouji tie magnetic Cut produced necessary In a large dynamo. T" " " Kj kj W " ' "" " ' - - ': ' Jv-- ' '' -s? ' i s:i:!onarT field. where tie armature does not v Jr?--,vn. ffli create! fcy tie gan Is of ei- contain a great quantity of wlro, The Wire Loop, B, Cutting Through the Electromagnetic Field A, V sz ::::utiry power when It 13 remembered for fhs reason that It rotates Exiiting Between the Sun and the Earth, Give, Rie to An Alter- t " -'. eery square foot of tie e-arth re- glowlv an(j wires are rather nating Current Which Will Puliate Through the Entire Wire Sy,lem. r?i rut less than 2C0-horsepower per heaw. In a dynamo, if correct- The Electrical Energy I, Taken Off at Convenient Point D, Where How the Suggested Wiring of the Earth Would Appear to an Observer in Space , tire 'cut on the portion on which the . y constructed only a certain ,,e 'S1 Voltage I, Stepped Down Through Tran, former,. Looking Down Upon the North Tole. The Diagram Directly Above Sho-.i'a 2 5Uir.es. Every time the sua goes amount of wire Is required The Current I, Then Di,tributed Over the Surround- One of the Distributing Cable, Erected Upon Latticed Towers -- ui cue of lt3 pun-spot cycles the wMrh a It mfq Country for Heating, Lighting and Power, Surmounted hj Numerous Insulators. How the Suggested Wiring of the Earth Would Appear to an Observer in Space Looking Down Upon the North Tole. The Diagram Directly Above Sho'i's One of the Distributing Cables Erected Upon Latticed Towers Surmounted by Numerous Insulators. ,:t:r E.ectncai txperimenier and Kaalo Amateur Ntj. jjl c'.en hear the expression that W is earth Is nothing but a huse ' u,vuamo. and science proves con-lively con-lively tia: tils Ls laieed a fact. 1 i real electric dynamo tiere are . js.-euti.il elements tie magnetic te'.i . ,, is s--uuurure. As a rule tie field is " iruary. while tie armature revolves, uuur tua sun and earth we have tie same 7 j ('.eutfuts, vii., ear.h rotates w hile i ueld is produced by tie electro-mag-i: rjdiittea of the sua. As in tie real uuto, tie earti cuts through a Se'.d of xe rrcjucj by the radiation of tie a jus: as tie armature of a dynamo t i.-ouuh tie magnetic Eux produced ' " 'ue stationary field. ":; created ty the gun Is of ex- ::::iuiry power when It 13 remembered e-ery square foot of tie erth re-Prj re-Prj rut less than 2C0-horsepower per , tire 'cut on the ponion on which the . 2 5Utr.es. Every time the sua goes -.- ui cue of Its sun-spot cycles the '-- U plainly noted on the earth by tho 'it::; of tremenJous unajnetio storms -:i ct'ten put our telegraph and tele- lites. as well as cables, out of com- f?r hours, while tie surge in these " tiic Uues amounts often to as high aa ' "cits. " tils concluslvir proves that the 6ua : ' -'t?s a tremendous electro-magnetic '- r'vir? rise to a titanic amount of If we on'y kneT how to tap that -?-u force we could not only run all ' - trusts, steamships and factories ly us cf this electrical power, but every .1-'- e couH turn It to our own benefit, be :r lighting, heating or cooking pur-9. pur-9. Moreover, such power would ba 'u'ely free, a3 it costs nothing to pro- are we to tap th!3 force? Already ?, over cce hundred years ago, con-' con-' eiperlments how to utilize this k tr.ual force created by the sun's eieo- through tho magnetic flux, gtve3 us the required amount of power, even though the armature makes but few revolutions per minute. The Earns case holds true of the "earth-armature." "earth-armature." All we need to do is to wrap or wind a single wire about 230 titr.es around the earth, paralleling the meridians merid-ians north and south, distributing theEe wires all over the globe. These 250 full turns of wire will give us 500 "strands" distributed over the two hemispheres. Nor need these wires, for reasons which will be explained presently, be enormous cables. Wires not larger than about one Inch in diameter or even one-half Inch can be used. These could bs run on the usual Bteel poles mounted on high tension insulators. insu-lators. They would run' overland, crossing streams, etc., precisely as do our present day high tension lines, such as, for Instance. In-stance. fhe line supo'vintr the fo'er from Niagira Falls, which power runs tho street car3 of Syracu?e, several hundred miles away. These cable lines would, of courBe, epan rivers and would run straight over mountain moun-tain ridges, or, If this were not feasible, they could ubo existing railroad tunnels. It would not be necessary to run theso wires absolutely north and south, and if It was required to curve around, let us say, Lake Michigan, and make a detour of several sev-eral hundred miles, this would not decrease de-crease the efficiency of the armature in the least, as long as the general direction was north and south. The most difficult engineering feature would be when we come to the Arctic Ocean, which it would be necessary to bridge. Here It would be advisable to encase en-case the cables into heavy rubber in order to insulate them from the ocean. This would be the most difficult feature of tho entire project for the following reasons: Now, after we have encircled the earth with this network of cables, it will be a very simple matter to tap i.he current. We do not need any commutators, because we do not want direct current, anyway. The "earih-annature" will produce alternating alter-nating current, the voltage all depending upon the thickness aud length of the cable. If we use a very stout wire the voltage will be comparatively low. If we use a thin wire the voltage will become so high that It 'will be a difficult matter to insulate tho line at all. If. on the other hand, we make the cablo too thick, it becomes be-comes too unwieldy and the cost enormous, enor-mous, so we will have to choose a happy medium found by actual experiments. It now becomes a very simple problem to tap the current. At certain points o the earth the cables will run Into power houses, where they will be wrapped around huge Iron cores, then running on again north t.r south. The section of the line coiled no matter what the position of the armature arma-ture itself. It is impossible here to state how much power such a system wou:d net us. We do not know the exact length of our cable nor do we know how many strands we could use. Neither do we know as a certainty cer-tainty Just how powerful the solar flux is which our wires will cut. But that we can obtain a tremendous power from such a eystem ls positive. It certainly will be large enough to take care of all humanity's wants. It is simply an engineering proposition, propo-sition, ..and we have the means available to-day to carry out this scheme, fantastic as it may appear at present. Right here the writer wishes to make an interesting reflection, which may shed new light on the mysteries of the Martian canals. As ls well known the oceans on Mars have dried out aeons ago. and the only water now available is that from the poles. The fact that the Martian canals exist is no longer doubted, even by the most religious re-ligious astronomer. Furthermore, the remarkable re-markable fact of the Martian canals is that the great majority of them run north and south, bringing the water from the north or south, depending upon the season. In one season the waters run south, climb up over the equator and run uorth. The same thing occurs the next season in a reverse manner. No one doubts to-day that these canals are parts of an enormous irrigation system which supplies water to the desert inlands. We do not see the actual canals, but the straight lines which we see are simply evidences of vegetation on each side of the banks of the canal which have their origin in the water of these very canals. This explanation has never been seriously seri-ously doubted, but the hard nut to crack was, how is it possible for the waters in the Martian canals to run up hill contrary to all experience that we know on earth? Would it not be possible for the Martians Mar-tians to use their cauals exactly as In the scheme outlined for the "earth-armature" above? It makes no difference in an armature arma-ture if we have it wound full wire or whether we use a rubber hose rilled with a conductive liquid, such as salt water. In other words, is It not possible that the Martians use these canals not only to bring the waters into the deserts but to tap the sun's power as well? The network of the Martian canals running north and south would make such a scheme extraordinarily extraor-dinarily feasible. If the waters coming from the polar region are not already saline sa-line it would be a simple matter for the Martians by means of their salt deposits to fill the canals with salt, and this would not have to be doue every day either, for the reason that on subsequent evaporatioo the salt would not be lost, but would simply sim-ply crystalize out and remain In the form of salt crystals at the bottom of the canals. During the flooding of the next season this water would become saline again. Being that these canals are very wide and probably deep, the current thus generated gen-erated would be of a low voltage and thus very little current would be lost through the ground itself. Furthermore, the desert sands through which these canals run make a pretty good insulator, so very little current would be lost. An objection comes to tie mind immediately imme-diately as to this theory. If the water were saline it could not possibly be used for irrigation purposes, some one will argue. How does the earth derive its water and rains? Due to the evaporatioo of our oceans by the sun, of course. Just the same condition prevails on Mars. The waters of the canal are evaporated during the daytime to a certain extent, and during dur-ing the night dew or rain is deposited along the side of the canals. This already has been suspected by Professor W. H. Pickering. So it fits in very well with this theory. Now, as to the water running up-h!!! which has puzzled so many minds. If these canals filled with salt water carry electrical currents, as we know they must under the circumstances, this current will push along the water. This can be readily proved by a simple experiment with the Lippman electroscope which detects subtle electrical influences-. A glass tube Is thinned out to fine point. It dips into a solution of sulphuric acid. If we fill the tuba partly wirh a colored solution of sulphuric sul-phuric acid and now apply an infinittes!-mally infinittes!-mally small current we find that the Column in the tube rises. If produced on a. larger scale the same obviously must hold true. In other words, given a certain current density in the Martian canals. It 6eems reasonable from this experiment to conclude con-clude that the waters would readily move several miles per hour, as they now act ually do. This would seem a platisibi'j explanation how the waters on Mars run up-hill, at the same time performing work for the Martians. It should also be remembered that on Mars one hundred pounds of water only weighs thirty-five pounds, and the power to move a given column on Mars therefore would be only 35 per cent of that necessary neces-sary on this planet. Then, too. the atmospheric at-mospheric pressure on Mars, due to the rarefied air. is very low. therefore all moving mov-ing masses on Mars can be pushed along with far less energy than on earth Uiznetlc stream i 7" - j ( si earthward, and f . . " , "Ii-. - : historical eiperl- I.-.- " v ' ! - '-'-5 prove conclu- V .. - . , ;-7 fuat not only is K ' - - '. I ' aC- -irthaTast anna- J..- .- ncj ' , ' " : ' - oat It was possl- -" ; jiil ! ""act elee'ri- fc. - 1 'rreats from this t:- 7 ?v ' - ' Sh ' ' ' ,i -s-tire." ' hi? S ":e Is to-day a si fe VU ' ( '- available J - 1 WA . . w-e can tap f'. V kYX ' , V j - ' electric current L- ' W if 1 , j - i 'Me by the sun, i -M!e this may 1- t 'Uj.jl ' i fantastic it ' f, i i ' ! ; I - . 'Mt, there is no , Z x km I , VTt"" -g that such a ' J ' . 7 J fj1,-! ' ! toe may come " r ' f f t ' i ,. ';! 1 use at a future if' J J v . ' hen we have , j Jif ' ' .' ' , ,;-ed our coal : j f 1 g . . J :!;!1 deposits, and t A B, ?, f L ' v - e are driven to hi A h ztt t, -. natural forces . - , ( K & I' - :( 0 nature so gen- (. i f f f jr , , , s) l bestowed - ? i ? , Jl , and which y i fJl t tt : ' ' ' ' " "ass EtupidltJ V' SI. ' orance pre- ' l r U h ' - " -3 us from nsin? , 'i j f 7 ' "IfilDg the arma- "' J H A 'ff a dynamo, all ' l - -A h L:'' . IV , need to do Is to , -t f i'J J .. , ita a network ? , , t I'tl ork be very - ' v S .''.'K ' M?-ItCo;-ry extend- $ ' ' T L J !.';.dW3 not mean ! f I ?V I " 5 J'fe'r, . aTe to cover , - , i aa Mrtae. witu L-- The minute you encase a conductor into an insulator, be It rubber or other insulation, insula-tion, that cable becomes a condenser. It too much voltage ls used In this cable the latter, due to the surges of the current, will puncture, as happened to the trans-Atlantic trans-Atlantic telegraph cables when they were f rst laid. One cable after another became punctured and new cables had to be laid with better insulation. However, science has several means to overcome this trouble, trou-ble, and it would certainly not be unsirr-mountable, unsirr-mountable, providing the necessary funds were forthcoming to promote the project. A Photograph of the Planet Mnrs Shoeing Shoe-ing the Peculiar Canal Markings Which It Is Suggested Are Reailv Evidence, of -Manipulation of Electrical Force on Lines Described m This Article, and a F,mou, French Artist's Idea of Electrical Transforming Trans-forming Machinery on Man . 1 ', - -Y j V " tcj.ifan, iu.-f""'""-l E f.-.'-Wt, inc. around the iron core now becomes part of r,n immense transformer. On the other side of the core we place a Elmilar winding, wind-ing, using a heavier wire, and we now have a transformer which steps the high tension alternating current down to a point where it can be used without danger. dan-ger. There should be only a few, not more than three, pow er houses on any oue single line for the full length of the terrestrial wire running from pole to pole. If we have too many such "taps" we Introduce what electricians call a "choke," and such chokes are not' desirable. It should be remembered that a tremendous tre-mendous power could be obtained from each power house, which could then be used as a distributing centre of power for a radius of a thousand miles. It 13 interesting to note that this "earth-armature" "earth-armature" forms what you might call a uni-polar dynamo. In other words, there are not two fields as in the usual djnamo. The reason is that the sun shines only on one-half of the earth at any given moment, and consequently the efficiency of the "sun-earth armature" Is greatly reduced, hut ou account of the huge size of the terrestrial ter-restrial armature we need not be concerned con-cerned about the loss of efficiency. We will have enough power to spare, and as we run the wire continuously without end, thus encompassing the globe, we will de-I de-I rive thereby certain benefits. For one thing, we will get power while it is night as well as during the day. The reason, of course, Is that as the wire is continuous, running around tho poles from the dark side to the light side, there must of necessity neces-sity be current in each wire strand no matter over what part of the globe it runs just as in the real armature, where there is current iu every strand of the wire Great JJtP.in Bi;tiu Eeicrvd. |