Page:United States patent 586193.pdf/4

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To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gugliemo Marconi, student, a subject of the King of Italy, residing at 21 Burlington Road, London, in the 5county of Middlesex, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Transmitting Electrical Impulses and Signals and in Apparatus Therefor, of which ti, following is a specification.

10According to this invention electrical signals, actions, or manifestations are transmitted through the air, earth, or water by means of oscillations of high frequency, such as have been called the “Hertz rays” or “Hertz 15oscillations.” Usually all line-wires are dispensed with. At the transmitting-station I employ a Ruhmkorff coil, having in its primary circuit a Morse key or other signaling instrument and at its poles appliances for 20producing the desired oscillations. The Ruhmkorff coil may, however, be replaced by any other source of high-tension electricity. When working with large amounts of energy, it is, however, better to keep the coil or 25transformer constantly working for the time during which one is transmitting, and instead of interrupting the current of the primary interrupting the discharge of the secondary. In this case the contacts of the key should be 30immersed in oil, as otherwise, owing to the length of the spark, the current will continue to pass after the contacts have been separated. At the receiving-station there is a local-battery circuit, containing any ordinary 35receiving instrument and an appliance for closing the circuit, the latter being actuated by the oscillations from the transmitting-station. When transmitting through the air and it is desired that the signal should only 40be sent in one direction, I place the oscillation-producer at the transmitting-station in the focus or focal line of a reflector directed to the receiving-station, and I place the circuit-closer at the receiving-station 45in a similar reflector directed toward the transmitting station. When transmitting signals through the earth, I connect one end of the oscillation-producer and one end of the circuit closer to earth and the other ends to similar 50plates, preferably electrically tuned with each other in the air and insulated from earth.

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic front elevation of the instruments at the transmitting-station When signaling through the air, and Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the transmitter. 55Fig. 2^a is a longitudinal section of the oscillator to a larger scale. Fig. 3 shows a detail on a larger scale. Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic front elevation of the instruments at the receiving station. Fig. 5 is a full-sized view of the 60receiver. Fig. 6 shows a modification of the tube j. Fig. 7 shows the detector. Fig. 8 is a full-sized view of the liquid-resistance. Figs. 9 and 10 show modifications of the arrangements at the transmitting-station. 65Fig. 11 shows a modification of the arrangements at the receiving-station.

Referring now to Fig. 1, a is a battery, and b an ordinary Morse key closing the circuit through the primary of a Ruhmkorff coil c.70 The terminals c¹ of the secondary circuit of the coil are connected to two metallic balls d d, fixed by heat or otherwise at the ends of tubes d¹ d¹, Fig. 2^a, of insulating material, such as ebonite or vulcanite. e e are similar75 balls fixed in the other ends of the tubes d¹. The tubes d¹ fit tightly in a similar tube d², having covers d³, through which pass rods d⁴, connecting the balls d to the conductors. One (or both) of the rods d⁴ is connected to the80 ball d by a ball-and-socket joint and has a screw-thread upon it working in a nut in the cover d³. By turning the rod therefore the distance of the balls e apart can be adjusted. d⁵ are holes in the tube d², through which 85vaseline, oil, or like material is introduced into the space between the balls e

The balls d and e are preferably of solid brass or copper, and the distance they should be apart depends on the quantity and 90electromotive force of the electricity employed, the effect increasing with the distance so long as the discharge passes freely. With a coil giving an ordinary eight-inch spark the distance between e and e should be from one95 twenty-fifth to one-thirtieth of an inch and the distance between d and e about one and a half inches. f is a cylindrical parabolic reflector made by bending a metallic sheet, preferably of brass or copper, to form and100 fixing it to metallic or wooden ribs f¹. Other conditions being equal the larger the balls the greater is the distance at which it is possible to communicate. I have generally used