194 



Gommendatore G. Marconi 



[June "2, 



research thrown open by the work of Faraday, Maxwell and Hertz, is 

 operated by electric waves, which are created by alternatinij: currents 

 of very high frequency, induced in suitably placed elevated wires or 

 capacity areas. These waves are received or picked up at a distant 

 station on other elevated conductors tuned to the period of the waves, 

 and the latter are revealed to our senses by means of appropriate 

 detectors. 



My original system, as used in 1896, consisted of the arrangement 

 shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1, where an elevated or vertical wire 

 was employed. This wire sometimes terminated in a capacity or was 

 connected to earth through a spark gap. 



By using an induction coil or other source of sufficiently high 

 tension electricity sparks were made to jump across the gap ; this gave 



Fig. 1. 



Fig. 2. 



rise to oscillations of high frequency in the elevated conductor and 

 earth, with the result that energy in the form of electric waves was 

 radiated through space. 



At the receiving station (Fig. 2), these waves induced oscillatory 

 currents in a conductor containing a detector, in the form of a 

 coherer, which was usually placed between the elevated conductor and 

 earth. 



Although this arrangement was extraordinarily eflficient in regard 

 to the radiation of electrical energy, it had numerous drawbacks. 



The electrical capacity of the system was very small, with the re- 

 sult that the small amount of energy in the aerial was thrown into 

 space in an exceedingly short period of time. In other words the 

 energy, instead of giving rise to a train of waves, was all dissipated 



