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Show W I IIU.LI.SS telegraphy for tho moving train promises to i make railroad travel safer In rS3ft tho future1. Tho beginning of this service was started but tho other day on tho Buffalo limited of tho Delaware, Lackawanna nnd Western railroad. Thero aro plenty of exnmplep of what tho wiroloss has dono for oceangoing ocean-going dhlpping in the way of spreading spread-ing nows, In giving helpful warnings und In calling succor from afar to Injured In-jured ships. Its application to railroading rail-roading will bo for a somowhat different differ-ent purposo. Tho block signal syBtom now commonly com-monly ndoptod in combination with trnck contacts haB dono wonders In reducing re-ducing tho risk of accidents. Tho tower tow-er mon aro stationed every few iiiIIcb, and unless something goes wrong in-sldo in-sldo tho block tho train imiBt clonr ench zono within n certain thno. Whon It does not do bo tho watcher at tho far end of tho block knowB that something Ib amiss; but what? Tho answer may bo ono of a Bcoro of things and tho towormeu nro necessarily neces-sarily In Ignorance until somo ono from tho halted train brings tho news. Then, nnd only then, tho railroad peo plo at distant points can bo reached by tolograph and tho propor Btops tnkon to moot tho emorgoncy. Tho trainman carrying tho messago to tho block tower may havo to cover a distance of a couple of miles. This Is not so bad in daylight and in good weather, but what of tho situation when thero Is a driving snowstorm or Ico covers tho ground? To reach tho tower to call for assistance thon bo-comcB bo-comcB a desperately long struggle and tho cnuBo of delay that may imperil many lives. Again It happens ovory now and then that an engineer falls to roo cautionary cau-tionary signals which should mako him slncken speed or bring his train to a standstill. Tho result may bo a collision with loss of lifo. It will thorcforo bo Been how doslr-nblo doslr-nblo It Is that each train should havo its own means of creating about It a cautionary zono quite Independently of tho fixed track and block signals, this zono to bo cammunlcablo to other trains directly, In this fashion producing produc-ing a safety system within a safety system and ono that would bo immediately imme-diately avallablo at overy point along tho line. This is not in theory a novelty; but practical accomplishment has had to contend with many obstacles. Something akin to this was ovolved -VpsqcaJrLUuUPjrjn.of i sligjialjtoJo; graph ' which mado uio of1 track contacts con-tacts at frcquont points, or of magnetic mag-netic Impulses aroused at statod Intervals, Inter-vals, but tho arch enomy wnB tho weather, and especially snow nnd Ice. Tho apparatus worked well experimentally experi-mentally until theso foes to efficiency intorvenod, nnd thon tho whole toch-nlcnlly toch-nlcnlly beautiful Installation failed to oporato. Wlroless telography prom-laos prom-laos to do tho needed work. If you look at a map of tho Lackawanna Lacka-wanna railroad you will find that ning-hamton ning-hamton Is what tho railroad man calls tho nock of tho tralllc bottlo, for thero converge no fewer thnn threo.brnnchos of tho road. A break In train schedules sched-ules through nny delay thoro may affect af-fect all throo of theso centering routos. Nnturo has added to tho difficulties dif-ficulties by reason of tho topography of tho country. In a pnrt of tho neighboring neigh-boring mountainous section snow nnd sleot ospcclnlly havo a way of ham-poring ham-poring tralllc. These conditions doublo tho task of tho onglno driver, who must watch all tho more carefully evory signal, and they UkowlBo IncrenBo immensely tho stress upon tho tower man. Theso circumstances, cir-cumstances, and an accident which occurred upon tho road a year ago, prompted tho experiments with tho wireless installation, Thoro woro sov-oral sov-oral serious obstacles to ovorcome. Wireless telegraphy, as every ono knows, usually calls for tall masts or towers from which tho aorials or an-tannao an-tannao can bo spread, and this element ele-ment of height nnd longth of dispatching dispatch-ing nnd Intercepting filaments Influences Influ-ences directly tho olllcioncy of tho apparatus, ap-paratus, both in creating Ilortzinn waves and in being sensitive to tho other vibrations having tholr source elsowhero. How, then, woro thoso requirements to bo mot upon a swiftly swift-ly moving train? Ab n innttor of fact, tho clearance botweon tho roofs of tho coaches and tho tops of the bridges nnd tunnols Is a mnttor of only n few inclios. Would' aorials aa low as this answor? Only experimenting would solvo tho question, ques-tion, and tho electrical ccpoits set about doing it in this way: A Blnglo lino of wlro nrrangod llko a rcctanglo ta strung from four low stanchions placed nt each cornor of tho cur ends, nctually below tho crest of tho roof. By doing this upon four cars, giving a total length of aerials of something llko 550 feet, an nrrange- jjjtfisM l9fJ' 0 v ytffi & , 0V' IjT Kj jkdSt1 'aAftMQWyMhhiBjlK, -VT' Pwdw7fi4Br9saH8i 4&(aH"FHtT 4BBB 3 ment has been reached which works admirably and Incidentally subscribes to tho physical limitations of height Imposed by structures along tho roadway. road-way. But whllo this placing of tho wires sufllced whon running over open country, coun-try, thoro wns still a doubt about what would happen wfton tho train skirted along winding rivers with mountains hemming in tho view nnd soomlngly' offering an obstacle to tho sending and tho recolvlng of wireless Impulses. It Is nlong pnrts of tho road of thlB character that tho wlrcloss tolograph would bo of tho grcatOBt sorvlco, bo-causo bo-causo tho sinuous path of tho track makos it imposslblo for tho toworman to soo trains for moro than a short distance, nnd block signalB workod by track contacts aro similarly obscured by bonds In tho routo. Would tho wiroloss waves rlao out of tho dopth of tho valleys and got boyond to receiving re-ceiving stations, or would tho vibrations vibra-tions started from distant points get ovor tho mountains and down Into tho winding passes? In anticipation of probablo difficulties difficul-ties In this department of tho work tho Lackawanna railroad oroctod at Scrantou and at BInghamton tall wiroloss wiro-loss towers and theao woro expected to offsot tho lowness of tho aorials upon tho train. Whether thoso tall towers aro actually nocessary for tho immodlato work cut out for thom Ib not of present concern; thoy may bo a necessary part of the system whon Ultlmat(ily elaborated. But r,n Interesting' Inter-esting' fact has doveloped: Tho mes-sngoB mes-sngoB leaving1 tho moving train aro unquestionably ablo to got past intervening inter-vening mountains and to climb from tho moandcrlng valleys and find their way to antennao of tho towers at Scranton and BInghamton. According to tho experts, tho Hertzian Hert-zian wnvoB don't do this by climbing tho hills, but by nctually going through thom. This Js because tho earth Is a groat mngnet, nnd tho wireless wire-less wnves virtually wndo along partly part-ly through tho ground and partly through tho air. Evon wireless tologrnph involves an oloctrlcal circuit; tho flow must ovon-tually ovon-tually return to tho ground. In thla caso tho ground Is tho track upon which tho cars movo. What would happen If tho oloctrlcal dlschargo at tho Instant of receiving a messago aboard tho train should pass Into tho rail? Wouldn't this lntorfero with tho current that already runs through tho rails when a passing trnln causes the automatic operating of somo of tho block signals? Wouldn't tho two electrical elec-trical discharges causo signal troubles? trou-bles? Tho railroad olectriclans had their doubts, but tho wlrolesa mon belloved otherwlao, and tho tests havo shown thnt thorq was no reason for anxiety. But why? you will ask. Just whero tho Ilortztan waves return to tho enrtn' thoy havo a zoro of electrical energy, or potential, ns tho export expresses It. Theao polntB aro tho nodal, or nou-tral nou-tral polntB, corresponding to tho places on n vibrating Btrlng whero tho doublo curvoa moot nnd cross nnd whero thoro Is no motion. For this reason tho wireless dlschargo Into thd track haB no powor to upBot tho regular reg-ular current which controlB tho operating oper-ating of tho block signals. Wireless telegraphy calla for a good deal of onorgy In tho spnrk which creates tho Hortzlan waves, nnd tho question was: Whoro was this current cur-rent to ho obtained? In tho presont Instanco It has been drnwn from tho batterlos supplying curront for tho Incandescent In-candescent lighting systom. An Independent Inde-pendent motor could easily bo provided provid-ed for tho solo purposo of furnlshlnc enorgy for tho wlrolesa apparatus, and Boparato storago batterlos could also bo Installed to hold enough enorgy In reaorvo to do a good deal of tolograph-lng tolograph-lng nftor tho train had halted for ono reason or another. Tho Marconi outilt has boon cbpo dally developed for railroad Borvlce. Spaco and weight had to bo drawn upon economically and tho wholo Bys-torn Bys-torn Is Just about ono-quartor tho slzo of an ordinary installation. This naturally nat-urally has Imposed refinements and mado it necessary to tako great care In offsetting tho Jarring vibrations of a speeding train. Again tho oloctrlcal engineers havo dono well, becnUBO ovon upon tho first run tho apparatus functioned encouragingly. Of courso thoro aro yet obstacles to bo surmounted, becauso thoro aro refinements re-finements of adjustment that radically affect perfect working. Tho principal ono of theso has been that of regulating regu-lating tho wavo lengths and in etr ting tho Installation upon tho moving train turned to tho distant stations. Tho wavo lengths generated by tho train equipment aro about 800 mctors long, or in the neighborhood of half a mllo, nnd thoso havo permitted of tho maintenance of wireless communication communica-tion for a distance Just short of 35 mllos. So far tho oporator aboard tho trnln hns been moro successful In dispatching than In rccolving mes-sages mes-sages and the immcdlato efforts will bo directed toward putting him upon an equality with his fellows at tho fixed statloni. Upon the trial run tho conductor of tho Buffalo limited was taken ill nnd whon thirty-odd mllos from Scranton a wireless all was dlspatchod for a rollof conductor. Tho, substitute wno bn hancfyjAl-Hhtr train pulled Into that statlcni. Again, thoro wore moro passengers thnn seats, and In tho samo way an extra coach was ordered and mado ready by tho timo tho limited pulled into BInghamton. Upon a later run news items wero rocoivod aboard tho train and bulletins posted from timo to timo for tho edification of tho passengers. pas-sengers. In timo it will bo possible It Is belloved, for passengers to send and receive messages at any moment of tho dny or night whllo tho trains aro speeding along at tholr highest rate. What 1b perfoctly plain Is tho fact that tho advent of tho wlrcloss operator opera-tor aboard a moving train adds Just one moro watcher who will bo continually con-tinually on the nlert and can co-oper-ato with towermon in keeping tho en-glno en-glno driver informed as to tho Btate of tho road ahead. Logically tho next development of tho systom will bo n telophono Installation extending from tho room of tho wireless oporator to tho cab of tho locomotlvo and perhaps oven to tho fireman's position If his taBk soparates him from tho engineer. Of courBo the quostlon of oxpenso must bo considered always, and for-tunntely for-tunntely tho outlay Involvod In this caso Is not prohibitive. Tho stationary station-ary plants nt Scranton and BInghamton BIngham-ton have apparatus coating $3,000 for each, independently of tho wlrelcas towers, nnd tho train equipment costs nbout half this. Tho operator need bo but llttlo moro skilful than tho aver-ago aver-ago railroad telegrapher. |