Masters of Space - Morse, Thompson, Bell, Marconi, Carty

Masters of Space - Morse, Thompson, Bell, Marconi, Carty

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Masters of Space, by Walter Kellogg Towers This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Masters of Space Morse, Thompson, Bell, Marconi, Carty
Author: Walter Kellogg Towers
Release Date: May 18, 2004 [EBook #12375]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MASTERS OF SPACE ***

Produced by Leah Moser and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.

[Illustration: SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE
Inventor of the Telegraph]
MASTERS OF SPACE
MORSE and the Telegraph THOMPSON and the Cable BELL and the Telephone MARCONI and the Wireless Telegraph CARTY and the Wireless Telephone BY WALTER KELLOGG TOWERS
ILLUSTRATED
1917

TO
MY CO-LABORER AND COMPANION
BERENICE LAURA TOWERS
WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT AND ASSISTANCE
WERE CONSTANT IN THE GATHERING
AND PREPARATION OF MATERIAL
FOR THIS VOLUME.

CONTENTS
CHAP.
PREFACE
I. COMMUNICATION AMONG THE ANCIENTS
II. SIGNALS PAST AND PRESENT
III. FORERUNNERS OF THE TELEGRAPH
IV. INVENTIONS OF SIR CHARLES WHEATSTONE
V. THE ACHIEVEMENT OF MORSE
VI. "WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT?"
VII. DEVELOPMENT OF THE TELEGRAPH SYSTEM
VIII. TELEGRAPHING BENEATH THE SEA
IX. THE PIONEER ATLANTIC CABLE
X. A SUCCESSFUL CABLE ATTAINED
XI. ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL, THE YOUTH
XII. THE BIRTH OF THE TELEPHONE
XIII. THE TELEPHONE AT THE CENTENNIAL
XIV. IMPROVEMENT AND EXPANSION
XV. TELEGRAPHING WITHOUT WIRES
XVI. AN ITALIAN BOY'S WORK
XVII. WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY ESTABLISHED
XVIII. THE WIRELESS SERVES THE WORLD
XIX. SPEAKING ACROSS THE CONTINENT
XX. TELEPHONING THROUGH SPACE
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
INDEX

ILLUSTRATIONS
SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE
MORSE'S FIRST TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT
CYRUS W. FIELD
WILLIAM THOMSON (LORD KELVIN)
THE "GREAT EASTERN" LAYING THE ATLANTIC CABLE, 1866
ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL
THOMAS A. WATSON
PROFESSOR BELL'S VIBRATING REED
PROFESSOR BELL'S FIRST TELEPHONE
THE FIRST TELEPHONE SWITCHBOARD USED IN NEW HAVEN, CONN., FOR EIGHT SUBSCRIBERS
EARLY NEW YORK EXCHANGE
PROFESSOR BELL IN SALEM, MASS., AND MR. WATSON IN BOSTON, DEMONSTRATING THE TELEPHONE BEFORE AUDIENCES IN 1877
DOCTOR BELL AT THE TELEPHONE OPENING THE NEW YORK-CHICAGO LINE, OCTOBER 18, 1892
GUGLIELMO MARCONI
A REMARKABLE PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN OUTSIDE OF THE CLIFDEN STATION WHILE MESSAGES WERE BEING SENT ACROSS TO CAPE RACE
MARCONI STATION AT CLIFDEN, IRELAND

PREFACE
This is the story of talking at a distance, of sending messages through space. It is the story of great men--Morse, Thomson, Bell, Marconi, and others--and how, with the aid of men like Field, Vail, Catty, Pupin, the scientist, and others in both the technical and commercial fields, they succeeded in flashing both messages and speech around the world, with wires and without wires. It is the story of how the thought of the world has been linked together by those modern wonders of science and of industry--the telegraph, the submarine cable, the telephone, the wireless telegraph, and, most recently, the wireless telephone.
The story opens with the primitive methods of message-sending by fire or smoke or other signals. The life and experiments of Morse are then pictured and the dramatic story of the invention and development of the telegraph is set forth. The submarine cable followed with the struggles of Field, the business executive, and Thomson, the inventor and scientific expert, which finally culminated in success when the Great Eastern landed a practical cable on the American coast. The early life of Alexander Graham Bell was full of color, and I have told the story of his patient investigations of human speech and hearing, which, finally culminated in a practical telephone. There follows the fascinating story of Marconi and the wireless telegraph. Last comes the story of the wireless telephone, that newest wonder which has come among us so recently that we can scarcely realize that it is here. An inner view of the marvelous development of the telephone is added in an appendix.
The part played by the great business leaders who have developed and extended the new inventions, placing them at the service of all, has not been forgotten. Not only have means of communication been discovered, but they have been improved and put to the widest practical use with remarkable efficiency and celerity. The stories of these developments, in both the personal and executive sides, embody the true romance of the modern business world.
The great scientists and engineers who have wrought these wonders which have had so profound an influence upon the life of the world lived, and are living, lives filled with patient effort, discouragement, accomplishment, and real romance. They are interesting men who have done interesting things. Better still, they have done important, useful things. This book relates their life stories in a connected form, for they have all worked for a similar end. The story of these men, who, starting in early youth in the pursuit of a great idea, have achieved fame and success and have benefited civilization, cannot but be inspiring. They did not stumble upon their discoveries by any lucky accident. They knew what they sought, and they labored toward the goal with unflagging zeal. Had they been easily discouraged we might