zotero-db/storage/RG2K2GTT/.zotero-ft-cache

VOLUME
7
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COMMENTARY MAHLON LOOMIS NATHANSTUBBLEFffiLD
AMOS DOLBEAR

My.Aphrodite Constantine and Katerina
Love Conquers All

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SECTION
1
COMMENTARY

For An Their Marvelous Assistance
In Obtaining Forgotten Knowledge Concerning
DR.MAHLON LOOMIS MR.NATHAN STUBBLEFIELD
DR.AMOS DOLBEAR
Respectful Thanks To The Archivists of
MURRAY STATE UNIVERSITY POGUE COLLECTION Ms. Dortha Bailey
TUFTS UNIVERSITY Ms. Tringalli
AND THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
My Very Deepest Appreciation To All The Wonderful People Of Murray, Kentucky With Whom I Had The Great Pleasure Of Becoming Acquainted
Thank you dearly
Mr.Bailey Mrs.C.Baker Ms.S.Alexander

The confonnity of any system with Vril energy determines the system's success. Vril eidetic experience threads through material configurations. Vril threads self-articulatein the ground. Vril thread self-articulations represent mysterious Vril expressions. Andent technologies employed Vril eidetic transactions with especial regard to place, position, alignment, height, depth, and structure. Vril continuity is distal experience. Vril threads transact eidetic experiences. Vril threads are eidetic projections of eidetic worlds.
Geometric material configurations direct and collimate and direct inertial detritus ofVril transactions in inertial space. Specific minerals and metals dissolve, absorb, shear, and cavitate inertial space in the native states. Vril spontaneously emerges at specific ground points.
Self-generating Vril energy needs modulation only for the powerful transaction of empathic exchange. Vril energy operates in a world entirely separate and different from the inertial sphere in which all electrical technology operates. Vril energy is first detected through visceral responses (Galvani, Mesmer, Starr-White, Abrams). It is magnified in some instances by appropriate tuning mechanisms to yield its eidetic content (RDrown).
Vril communications utilize self-differentiating, self-collimating, self-directional Vril thread connections; whereby spe-

cific eidetic transactions remain distinct and capable of seU: organization. Visceral omni-sensation occurs during speciflc eidetictransactions. Thesense of"whathappens there...happens here" typiftes this transactive sense. Vrillic bilocational experience represents action at a distance where no connectivity or interstitial travel exists for the partidpanl Inertial threads merge and lose signal identity in conductive media; Vril threads maintain their seU:articulatingintegrity.
Isolated batteries are eidetic reactors. Battery materials in mutual contact orpromixity engage viscero-eidetic transactivities with inertial space. Vril thread dynamics seem to proceed in deranged and mysterious expressions. The observation of this strange Vril thread language does not enjoin the examinerwith an eidetic experience. Touch contact may quench the activity ofcertainVril transactors: gaps are required. Vril energy ingaps often increases with increasing distance from a design.
Vril projections release V ril Light into the inertial space. Vril Light is pure Lighl Galvanic metallo-configurations are Vril transactors. Vril Light appears in speciftc metal and mineral configurations (ground and apparatus). Devices may entune the manifestation ofVril Lighl Special materials areVril Light stones. Vril Light is pure light. Vril Light does not require frictive actions to "produce light".
Pure Vril Light is organismically vitalizing. Vril light is

formative radiance. V rillight does not destroy its conductors. Vrillight is phosphorescent in densified inertia-detrital spaces. Certain diffractors arrange Vril phosphorescence (Plucker, Crookes, Tesla, Mac Farland-Moore).
The enhosting of the pure mobile forms experienced in Vril eideticworlds provides true motance. The enhostingofthe pure light seen in V ril eidetic worlds provides pure Vrillight.
Vril conduction leave·spedftc crystallizations in minerals and metals. Peering into these patterns transacts sudden understandings to recipients. Vril threads passage through such Vril crystallization with especial clarities of insight resulting in sensitives. Vril Light is formative radiance. Vril Light gives eidetic translation among and through V ril Templates.
Basic V ril contact may be achieved through a simple iron rod in the ground (Stubblefield, Tesla, G.Starr-White). Enhancing Vril communion requires simple Vril Technological aid. Vril reactivities permit technological manipulations of deep space and deep ground Vril channels. Lost V ril threadways may be reo-accessed through simple artifice. Vril entunement may be achieved with relatively inexpensive devices. Vril operators require sensitivity, patience, surrender, and devotion.
The enhosting of the pure mobile forms experienced in Vril eideticworlds provides true motance. The enhostingofthe pure light seen in Vril eidetic worlds provides pure Vrillight.
MAHLON LOOMIS The development of"leakage telegraphy" in the middle to
late 1800's expresses the very thought of a wireless communications system best. The idea ofelectric or magnetic "leakage" best emphasizes the notions contained in the disclosures of the very early experimenters in wireless research. The diScovery of transformer action byJoseph Henry was later utilized to effect signals; across space. Leakage was also derived from experiments in which telegraphic exchange was achieved across deep bodies ofwater. Dr. Mahlon Loomis hadsucceeded in transmitting telegraphic signals through a distance of 14 miles or more with a very ruggedly simple apparatus. These experimental verifications were performed shortly after our nation's Civil War.
Dr.Loomis was granted a patent in 1872 after severe criticisms by an unbelieving academic consortium. Dr. Loomis was in communication with another inventor whose work dealt with obtaining energy from a special aerial funnel (Benjamin Ward). Dr.Loomis developed an aerial generator capable of driving industry with free power from the "electrical seas" which he found in the upper reaches of the atmosphere.
The beauty and shock ofdiscovering such an individual at such an early date has never lost its mystery to me. While the patent itself contains an excellent description of his system for natural-wireless signalling, we had to consult other sources to find relics of his notebooks and various sketches. Dr. Loomis had successfully and repeatedly demonstrated the transmission of signals across a valley between two very high peaks. His use of no battery source is absolutely entrancing.
What we have here is the very first demonstration of wireless telegraphy. Hand sketches provide the historical

account ofthese remarkable experiments. The terms "electrical sky layer" and "electrical ground" has made this historical document noteworthy. Dr.Loomis believed that an electrically active region existed in the sky itsel£ Furthermore, he believed this layer capable ofpowerful activations. For him this layer was a sea of electricity. This remarkable metaphor was later echoed by others (fesla, Moray). Dr.Loomis conceived of this "electrical sea" as providing electrical connectivity between distant points on the ground.
Entrance in this electrical sea was secured with metallic conductors. Two very separated parties could be effectively united through the "aerial conduction paths" thus provided.
This invention is the record of a truly unprecedented arrange-
ment. From reports I have obtained, Dr.Loomis actually succeeded in making several such communications at ina:easingly great distances.
Dr.Loomis and his assistant launched two very distant aerials into the "electrical sea" with kites. Induction coils, Leyden jars, or batteries were never used. Such artificial charging mechanisms were not required. Dr.Loomis merely
provided a telegraphic key for the transmitter aerial. A galva-
nometer formed the receiving circuit. The "free wire ends" of each terminus were driven into ground via copper rods as shown below.
Those who obey and respond with Vril transactions and intuitions are amply rewarded. While telegraphic cables were laboriously being strung across battlefields and countryside, Mahlon Loomis was dispensing with both cables and electrical power entirely. ·Vril transacted knowledge demands only surrendered participation. Presentations of unexpected wonder follow. Vril transactions of this order draw humanity into full expressions of conscious-raising technology for a singular purpose and destiny.
The conception of Loomis was entirely unprecedented Dr.Loomis was thoroughly convinced of the existence of the "electrical sea" which was independently asserted by others in later years (fesla, Moray). While some point out that an ionospheric layer exists, we of course emphasize the fact that Dr.Loomis' kites never exceeded the height of4 miles from sea level
Loomis believed that oxygen was electricity. This strange theory is vitalistic in foundation. Loomis drew intuitively designed mappings of the "smooth electrical sea" through which "ripples as smooth as glass" could be initiated. His drawings show the presence of"ions" in regular sequence. The elevated probes of Loomis were thought by him to engage modulations of the pre--existent "electrical sea". Thus in absence of applied electrical power, Dr. Loomis was engaging in wireless communications across very great distances (in excess of 20 miles by 1866!).
In Dr.Loomis' amazing drawings we find remarkable conceptions which depict aerial batteries for the deliberate extraction of "electrical energy" from the overlying "electrical sea". Electricity was a term improperly used by sensitives ofthe day.
Dr.Loomis described plans for a special trans-continental telegraphic network which utilized mountain ridges and eleva-

tions. Loomis chose speciftc Vril active sites upon which to poise
his special elevated copper terminals. Dr. Loomis made use of Galvanic Vril principles in his use of dissimilar metals among some of his aerial assemblies {zinc on one peak; copper on the other). These diuimilar metals certainly intensified his results.
The developments of aerials and grounded capadtoiS began to manifest their appearance during the American Civil War. Aerial batteries do not function through electrostatics. The empirical experimenters were discovering the laws of a forgotten energy sequence which involved initiation through high voltage sparks. Though Mr.Dolbear's apparatus had no visible spark release in the secondaty circuitry, yet it worked successfully through a distance of 3000 feet.
Many engineers have assessed this result to be that of ordinary magnetic induction fields (the "nearfield'). Dolbear's design patent indicates telephonic transmission: audio signals. As well known, such undulations require antennae the length between New York and San Frandsco to be effectively radiated as transverse space-waves. Thirdly, the primary loops were never meant to be aligned with respect to one another; this rules out transformer action ("leakage telephony').
It is impossible for them to make this claim for Loomis' patent there was no current at all in his devices. The "electrostatic" equilibrium established in each elevated terminal could never be analyzed by conventional techniques as capable of radiating such energetic transfers of signals.
NATHAN STUBBLEFIElD The most misunderstood demonstration of all these yeaiS
and breeds of rare such instruments was that of Nathan Stubblefield. This remarkable and unknown inventor first began research on leakage telephony systems. The impracticality of these systems was obvious to the inventor.
Vril energy operates in a world entirely separate and different from the inertial sphere in which all electrical technology operates. Vril energy is first detected through visceral responses (Galvani, Mesmer, Stubblefield, Starr-White, Abrams). Much ofthe results obtainedby NathanStubbleftELD were entirely viscera-eidetic in contentand not electro-acoustic.
These designs did not require electrical energy, nor could they operate in this manner through electrical energies. Electrical energies are inertialized products. Electro-detrital products cannot yield viscera-eidetic experience or transactions. It is magnified in some instances by appropriate tuning mechanisms to yield its eidetic content (RDrown).
Earth batteries are flowing capacitors which transact Vril
viscera-eidetic energies. In the Stubblefield systems all energy is drawn from the ground. Those who would accuse his device
of operating because of mere magnetic induction must examine the facts more closely. This design is not a good "battery". It cannot develop the electrical output wattage required for such operation. Neither are there electrical currents in the ground sufficient to achieve these results. Vril semi-sensate preelectrical energy is the means by which these results are achieved.
The Stubblefield cell is inert in appearance until approach-

ing the ground. The cell assumes a special dark radiance when ground emplaced. Terminal wires become especially black in radiant sense.
Further developments which remain largely unknown except among excellent persons with whom I have conversed. Most academicians are not qualified or personally equipped to appreciate what has come down to us through the local telling of encounters and incidents having to do with this elusive figure. His claimed ability to " .••take sound, light, and heatfrom the ground directly.••" are not the mere fictitious nunors which some have imagined. I have the documentation of these as facts.
Through the use of(plasJna/vacuumtubes) Mr. Stubblei)eld "drew light" from the earth. In the very deepest sense of his claim, Mr. Stubblefield did not view his work in a metaphoric sense; he did not use the phrase "drew light" as a metaphoric way .of desaibing the transformations of earth electricity to
"power arc lamps". He was directly referring us to the phenomenon which was legendary in the foothills of our land: that the ground literally does fluoresce at times.
Ghost lights, spook lights, and will-o-the-wisps are mysterious displays ofVril Light. Nathan Stubblefield succeeded in producing the powerful transference of "ground-light" to empower numerous arc lamps. Examination ofhis components and equipment reveals those components to be (electrically) insufficient and incapable of achieving those uncommon results. With common minerals and metals (configured and convoluted) he succeeded in achieving the uncommon.
Too numerous are the local reports of unannounced visits made to the Stubblefield land which was "all aglow as if in daylight ... it seemed that sunlight was coming out of the hillside". Nathan Stubblefield perpetually insisted that he had "taken light ... directly out of the ground". Accounts of spontaneous "natural earthlights" have their source in the native transactivities ofVril which permeate speciftc zones and districts.
The popular Victorian use of the term "electridty" was adopted by those sensitives who used the word when referring to viscera-eidetic energies. DowseiS "feel the rays...feel the currents". Galvani and Mesmer also "felt the rays...felt the currents" while across the space between metal plates and poles. No doubt Nathan Stubblefield sensed powerful underground energies of the kind we ascribe to Vril.
These viscero-tonic sensations guided his placement ofthe "magnetoelectric" cell. The actual employment of subterranean "electrical waves" is unlikely. Stubblefield employed Vril threads in his systems. These produce no electricity; while producing certain viscero-tonic sensations not unlike those received from a small shock coil.
Many inventors had intuitively envisioned and described their sense of "electrical ground return circuits": wriggling currents necessary to the "completion of the circuit" (Farmer, Wilkins, Bear, Ader, Vail, Rosebrugh). Stubblefield never replaced his carbon arclamps. Their members never burned .out. These lamps were run to full candlepower continuously and never caused fires. This means they did not give off heat.
What was the energy which releases light without heat?

What energy releases light without burning and consuming its it is that these bulbs act as glassy waveguides of an unknown

housings? What energy is it which can radiate from an entire energy which has eluded our investigations; in which case the

hillside in absence of arclamps? Stubblefield eventually re- documents of the past provide us alone with valuable and

trieved such light directly from the ground itself...as witnesses persistent mention of their reality.

recall. They did not see lamps.

The Stubblefieldsystem oflightingwas clearlyputforward

Nathan Stubblefield emplaced his cells at the roots oftrees. in his company brochure. Nathan Stubblefield was honest "to

Heavy wires were used to connect with the original arclamp a fault" as many conversations with highly a-edible witnesses

housings. These were hung in the trees. Mr.Stubblefield had to mention. His failure to assay the ground in central Park {New

"work on an area" in order to obtain the "right points". It was York) with a subsequent failure to meet the claimed require-

in these points that the "currents could be felt". Once in place ments of his claims in communicating through the ground}

the activity ina-eased and self-magnified. Eventually it was caused him to retract his offers and company disclosures. He

effortless to obtain this energy anywhere in the area.

would rather have retracted the entire fortune rather than fall

This tra.nsacUvity proved not to be plenUful or available in in with certain scoundrels who had been attracted to his work.

Central Park. Mr.Stubblefield found points to emplace the cell

The ability of electric currents to traverse stone ina-eases

but these were not nearly as strong and intensely active. He with the stony content Most of the Central Park material is

needed more time •.. which was what he did not have. When basaltic in nature; which Dolbear found increased radio con-

it was suggested that he try laying hidden wires everywhere to ductivity. Therefore I am led to believe thatNathanStubblefteld

"fake the demonstration" Stubblefield walked out He was too was not utilizing mere electrical methods, and required more

honest to fall in with the rogues.

time in order to dowse the Vril veiDS.

No (doubt with time) entral Park would have proven not

Stubblefield had managed to draw all the necessary

much more difftcult a place to derive Vril energy with the utilities directly from his Kentuckian earth. This is ofcourse due

Stubblefield design than any other place. Time and the to the fact that he was most familiar with that land mass and its

continual drawing ofVril threads would transmute the district peculiarities. neither should we assume that he was simply

into an inaeasingly transactive zone.

using ground conduction methods; as can be attested through

The enhosting of the pure mobile forms experienced in careful examination of his battery.

Vril eidetic worlds provides true motance. Stubblefield "drew

The reconstruction of Stubblefield's all-valuable work is a

out..motion from the ground". The enhosting of the pure light priority among many of us. we· have bee~ experimenting with

seen in Vril eidetic worlds provides pureV rillight Stubblefield some indication of success along these lines. It is to be

"drew out light from the earth".

remembered that Nathan Stubblefield was not working with

Ancient legends tell of special glowing stones whose electrical energy as we know it No amount of electrical power

radiance was like blazing sunlight...at midnight. Vril Light is could possibly effect the lighting ofhis arc lamps or the heating

organismically magnified. Vril Light may not be inertially of his parallel-plate (aetheric} heaters.

-

radiant; affecting organismic participants.

The perSistent permeation of V ril forms throughout the

Too numerous are the local reports of unannounced visits history of intuitively designed technologies fs significant and

made to the Stubblefield land which was " all aglow as if in noteworthy. Stubblefield double-ground systems match the

daylight.•it. seemed that sunlight was coming out of the parallel forms seen in altaric systems and other archaic architec-

hillside". Nathan Stubblefield perpetually insisted that he had tural configurations built for the identical purposes of distal

"taken light..directly out of the ground".

(empathic} communications.

The numerous accounts of spontaneous "natural

Stubblefield claimed that he was engaging the subterra-

earthlights" have their source in the native transactivities ofVril nean energies ofmysterious "electrical waves". While no such

which permeate specific zones and districts. V ril Light is pure waves may be measured by modem inertial means, Stubblefield

light. Vril Light does not require frictive actions to "produce could sense them directly. We therefore realize that Nathan

light".

Stubblefield (along with most of his vitalistic contemporaries)

Stubblefield illustrated the fact that Vril threads in the was calling the Vril energies by the then-contemporary term

ground were intelligent and self-articulating. By eliminating "electricity".

transmission lines entirely Stubblefield showed that Vril was

Stubblefield claimed that he had "taken light, heat, motive

the true means by which all previous telegraphic and tele- power, and sound...from the ground directly". Stubblefield

phonic messaging were effected. Vril was the instantaneous sustained vocal transactions between a static ground station

.....

presence which responded to Vril-organic stimulations. The and a moving vessel Water as a conductive medium for

responsiveness of Vril to human modulations and need was electrical signals is problematic. Freely moving charges do not

known by the Templars.

· readily exist in salt water. Fresh water is more problematic for

Small arc lamps, vacuum carbon arcs, and Geissler tubes those who insist on electrical explanations.

require more potent applications of power. Plasma arc bulbs

The Stubblefield "battery" could not develop the needed

produce a far brighter and more natural light under greater power for the effective attainment of communications through

application of power.

distances claimed by him. Unquestionable in Stubblefield's

Stubblefield actually drew out living Vril Light from a design is this dependence upon special V ril modulating effects

ground region through the use of these types ofbulbs. Perhaps and interactions in absence of electrical energy.

The Stubblefield "earth battety" was the integralpart ofhis
ground wireless system. Strange aerials were employed in St later designs which were galvanically composed ofparallel iron rods surmounted with moderate sized nickel plated spheres. These were empirically found to increase vocal ground exchange and cannot be explained as aerials by electrodynamic theory.
Stubblefield employed self-interacting Vril threadways in all of his designs. All of his discoveries centered around the
energeUc transactions derived throughhisVril cell. Stubblefteld repeatedly claimed that the patent office had misrepresented the true meaning ofhis telluric cell when calling it "a battery".
Stubblefield never claimed to have derived electrical
power to drive lamps, heaters, motors, or telephonic arrays.
Nathan Stubblefield claimed that he had derived light...luminescence, heat, motion, and vocal transaction with clarity...directly from the ground· itsel£. The ground itself was said by him to contain all the resources and technological means by which humanity seeks the fulftllment of its dvilized needs.
Self-generating Vril energy needs modulation only for the powerful transaction of empathic exchange. Meucci, Stubblefield, Rossetti, Tompkins, Bell, Dolbear and others discovered excessive anomalous vocal transactions in absence of applied power through the ground directly. Significant in each of these designs is the required organismic activating presence of the human voice.
The human voice as organismo-auric modulation engages Vril transactions. Stubblefield achieved the Vrillic transaction of vocal expressions directly through the ground itself. In absence of articulated lines and guide wires, Stubblefield managed the successful transaction of eidetic impressions through long distances.
His legendary means for determining the accurate position and presence of strangers on his land tract had nothmg to do with trip-wires and mechanical sensors. His sudden appearance at the precise spotwhere thieves were stealing his meager aops led many to speculate on his magical abilities.
· Highly reminiscent ofVril directional detectors and locators developed by Dr.T.H.Moray we realize that Stubblefield had also discovered native phenomena which enabled the distant V rillic discernment of organismic position aaoss the ground.
Vril contains the motive strength of the universe and evidences sudden spontaneous fractures in the earthstrata. Vril generates heat and may be successfully endrawn for use. Vril heat is espedally sensate above faultlines. Vril deep channels are vibrant and demonstrate sudden sensate movements.
Vril threads discharge and arc aaoss surface fissures. Vril heat emerges as disturbing tiny black waves. Stubblefield succeeded in extracting "heat directly from the ground". A wonderful anecdotal letter is presented here. This rare footnote in the history ofNathan Stubblefield provides us with powerful and surprising insight concerning his use of V ril energies.
There are spedfic points on hillsides which are perpetually covered with patches ofdark green vegetation. These spots are usually slightly more depressed in elevation that theirsurround-

inggrounds, and may be found alongsunken rille-like aevices. Standing upon these spots releases viscero-eidetic experience. Visceral portions include body warmth, sudden absence of wind and cold. They are followed by absorptive eidetic experience in which partidpants are "drawn into the softening ground". Stepping off these spots immediately exposes participants in the surrounding bitter conditions: cold, wind, discord.
Nathan Stubblefield was a specialist in determining such Vril point sites. His placement of the magnetoelectric cell required at the transmitter site required care and time. The success of his placement was determined by his own careful sensitivities to the Vrillic presence. Mr.Stubblefteld as a "terminal plug" not a battety source.
Mr.Stubblefteld did not rely on wetcell packs in transmitting vocal messages. Mr.Stubblefteld charged his wetcells with
energy taken from the ground. His long-distance telepllonic ground communication system (in excess of 2 miles during certain tests) prove to be totally anomalous when electrically examined.
Reports exist concerning the clarity of tone" which N.Stubblefteld transacted from a mainstreet upper office to his distant cabin some 6,000 feet cmtant from town. StgnaJJing to his son by tapping his one-piece telephonic transceiver, Mr.Stubblefield was immediately greeted by his son's quick, loud and clair-audible responses. Mr. Stubblefield's telephonic transmitter and receiver was a simple tin snu.ft:.box which assembly was connected with ground directly below the office.
Several features of this inventor's work prevent against accusation and academic assault. Stubblefield had numerous qualified witnesses throughout the years of his public demonstrations. Most were allowed to examine all the materials as photographs indicate.
Stubblefield's offer to construct a powerstation based on his magnetoelectrlc cell prindple for the town of Murray was rejected because of the initial expense of the project ($5000 at the time). Stubblefield charged wet cell batteries with excess power taken from his magnetoelectric cells for use in other experiments.
His snuff-can cigar-boxspeakerphone worked remarkably well from town (Court Square) to his farm cabin almost 6000 feet away when using power from his cell alone. How signals may self-articulate to such distances defies electrical explanation.
Stubblefield office system was a transceiver which was simply tapped to signal a call-in. This infers that the power was always "on" at both termini (both were transceivers). Ifsuch a system required wet cells then he would have had a major problem replacing these every day. Electro-inertial currents were not active in the designs of Nathan Stubblefield. Energy similar to that operating in the lamps of Dr.T.H.Moray was received through Mr. Stubblefield's devices.
The patent office would not permit Stubblefield original proposal for a "magnetoelectric cell" for reasons contained in electrical theory: where there are (supposed) no undulations there can be no induction. Neither Patent OfticenorStubblefield were correct in their naming the design; though Nathan Stubblefield had reasons for calling what he sensed by the

popular term "electrical waves". The Stubblefield cell exceeds all the other earth batteries
in that it actually can conduct impressed organic modulations from the transmitter site to any recipient equipped with a receiving instrument. Nathan Stubblefield claimed gradual success in the development of articulating devices by which privacy of message could be sustained. This infers that (irregardless of other ground rods) the Stubblefield system maintains its initial power output undisturbed. Only an enormous output ofpower can obtain the volume and clarity which was continually witnessed at distances up to 2 miles.
Arc lamps were connected to trees .•• and the wires ran straightinto the soil neartheirroots. Theircontinuous operation throughout the day did not in any way destroy the buried cells or require the enormous amounts of wet cells ordinarily required with inertial systemologies. The restoration of "bumt out lamps" never seemed to be mentioned in these reports: the arc lamps appeared to have been permanently twisted above their ground connections.
The design stimulates V ril transactivities directly and requires only proper material composition and alignment. Thereafter the organo-vocal expressions provided by a caller succeeds in stimulating Vril channels.
Vril responds to emotion. Songs and expressions of emotional intensity stimulate corresponding life-encouraging sympathies in Vril. In Stubblefield's vocal transactor the receiver determined the V ril connection from the transmitter. Vril capacitoiS increase the tones of whole surroundings: sounds are heard louder and highly clarified across a volume of space and ground. Stubblefield heard the natural whistlers in the ground with his equipment. Such developments were studied by others (Mwgas, Shoemaker, Tesla).
It is significant that Stubblefield managed the powerful excitation of small carbon arc-lamps with Vril energy. When the Stubblefield system is sufficiently charged with organic energy it suddenly develops sufficiently excessive ability to light numerous arc lamps, heat homes, "exchange vocal transmissions with clarity to great distance".
Stubblefield magnetoelectric cell was powerful enough to light several arc lamps in the absence of primary (inductive) vibration. No such ground electro-vibrations can be detected today; and St did not bury these cells below 6 feet depth. These energies are reminiscent ofstatements made by other inventive notables (fesla, Hendershot).
Stubblefield claimed the need to "work on an area" before "success is achieved". He needed to sensitively discover the "right spots" to bury his cells. The cell produces incredibly insignificant amounts of electricity: certainly never enough to transmit through even the 1 mile distance between Court Square and his cabin. These activities were witnessed by numerous credible witnesses constantly in that opened public locale. In examining the Stubblefield design we quickly comprehend why Vril threads were absolutely absorbed into the buried configurations (copper and iron are notable sensate transactors).
He saw his cell as a plug. His concept ofnatural energy was that it was an ever-present pulsation which could be utilized

through a suitable "interceptive element". His need to find the

"rightspot" and "plug into the natural power" are matched by

his truly anomalous achievements. He reached a slight impasse

when attempting the transmission of vocal exchange through

Central Park in new York.

His lack of familiarity with the rocky soil there required

some time for sensitive examination. His lack of time alone

prevented him from locating the Vril active points. The time

span given him was less than 24 hows. The stub system was a

true broadcast system and required fixed ground stations.

Electrically the Stubblefield cell is disappointing. Engi-

neers have expressed this fact. The cell produces less than 1volt

and far less than lf3 amp when placed in salty water. This

condition far exceeds even those which are presented when

burying the cell. With such energy he simultaneously raised

several arc lamps (not incandescent lamps) to full candlepawer

for days on end. Lamps apparently did not bumout. Inertia free

pure Vrillight does not frictively wear out conductive minerals

and metals.

Stubblefield claimed there to be incessant "subterranean

electrical waves" which could "furnish energy for all society's

needs".

Nathan Stubblefield describes and outlines plans for inter-

continental communications through his methods.

Vril heatwaves are sighted above asphalt roads in winter.

V ril heatwaves are seen emerging from recent roadcuts and

excavations as well as from certain grounded iron posts and

hydrants. Theirvisceral experience ofgreatheat meets surprise

when discovery is made that the radiating objects (or sites) are

actually "cold to the touch". Eidetic world transactions are

responsible for these anomalous displays ofheat. Suchsites are

also "electro-active".

·

The natural extraction of V ril heat and Vril radiance

reqUires concise understanding ofVril transactivities. Sensible

heat is felt near large grounded iron objects. Intensely wavering

lines of dissolving inertia are often observed against the

perceptive field ofview near water spigots and faucets. Sensible

heat may be felt near gorges, dig sites, and rock fracture lines.

Insensate and semi-sensate Vril generates these displays.

Sensible heat is felt when parallel plate capacitors are

grounded in the right points. Such sensible heat cannot be

measured with thermometers. Gripped photo tubes ofcaesium

release great sensate heat when pointed at Vril channels. Such

designs are often cold to the touch. Fixed transactive "sense"

distances are discovered with such arrangements.

Other grounded configurations involve the release of a

strange peripheral luminescence. Such warm and golden light

is peripherally seen amid dried fields of vegetation after dusk.

Organic matter reacts with Vril in strange ways. Other investi-

gations have proven that a non-luminous lightform is radiated

when gaseous discharge tubes are connected through grounded

rods.

Nathan Stubblefield developed Vril energies capable of

heating a cabin, driving a special motor, communicating for

miles with clarity, and raising many arc-lamps to simulta-

neously brilliant candlepower. Such derivations of energy are

Vrillic and non-detrital in their origin. There is a fundamental

energy concentrated in the ground. Electridty is not the means replace the need for setting up expensive and fragile telegraph

by which these feats are accomplished. One ancillary goal of wires. In orderto achieve the effectofground when using a line,

Vril Sdence is the discovery and development of non-detrital Dolbear had to reverse his tbin]dng considerably. His design

(pure) energy manifestations.

encorporates the mirror-image ofground (for wire) and capad-

tors {for ground).

DRAMOS DOLBEAR

If ground represented a tank-like "electrical capadty" for

Dr.Dolbear employed capadtative systems for the transac- the line, then to use ground he would have to supply a
tion ofcoded signa]s. Amos Dolbear's patent {1886) revea1s the correspondingly large Uuacial "tank". This we see in his

• first ofBcially recognized ''wireless" arrangement for distant disclosure. The relatively large pJa.te.ca.padtors we recognize is
communication in America. The obvious features. include the just this needed "tank" for each end of the "ground line".

notion that signals do articulate and travel through the ground Electro-vocal exchanges require huge capadties. These huge

to their destinations.

tanks are missing in Dolbear's design.

Dr. Dolbearreplaced the overhead single telegraphline by

Dolbear's patent for a ground activator is notewo4by

using the ground itself as the conductor. The desaiption ofhis considering the academic time-period. Dolbear's patent tllus-

several experiments employed the use of "opposite polarities" . t:rates his intuitive sense that energies of some form were

for each terminus. The transfer of "currents" could only travelling through the ground. It is significant that his paient

powerfully take place when the polarities of transmitter and illustrates this energy as having an "undulating" quality: the

receiver were opposed.

Vril signature.

This significant necessity revea1s the activity of Vril in the

Manifolded capadtance (used as aerial) in place of un-

system. True electrical energy is never transferred between the folded capadtance requires explanation. Consideration of

termini by such means. The absence of aeria1s significantly Dr.Dolbear's design as electricalreservoir capable ofabsorbing

provides us with a comparative measure of energetic transac- and expelling electrical impulses realistically fails. Dr.Dolbear's

tions taking place. Dr. Dolbear's device did notmake use ofany design would never work without extremely large manifolded

spark-release at the secondary side ofthe induction coils. Vocal capadtoiS. Addition ofsmall aeria1s did not measurably inten-

undulations were delivered to ground through rods. A tele- sify the transacted signals.

phone transmitter was used to transact vocal expressions

When identical material configurations are aligned prop-

through an induction coil. Dolbear's device used audio cur- erly they mutually transact eidetically by translating their

rents directly into ground.

partidpants into thesame world-place. Dolbear discovered that

The opposite polarities of transmitter and receiver were signals altered in quality and clarity when transmitters were

necessary in the articulation of "ground current". Later devel- placed upon speciftc minera1s and metals. Experiments with

OpeD made use o~ ground ray-guides to further amplify the double ground configurations releases sudden eidetic trans of

transmitted signals. Such guides enabled Vril articulated sig- surpassing quality: experiences which are unmistakable and

na1s to enter subterranean depths through eidetic projections. not easily forgotten,

The arrangementdisclosed in Prof.ADolbear's previously

Dr.Dolbear investigated the production of special

undiscussed patent gradually became the design "of choice" shadowgraphs obtained through the use of strong electrical

among others. The sudden move toward high voltage em- arcs. These photographs were taken through a table with the arc

ployed induction coils with arcs and gaps. Dr.Dolbear used the just above a photographic plate. The plate was in the table

induction coil in a manner analogous to that utilized by drawer. His mystical nature was fluent. He a1so developed the

Rossetti. Dr.Dolbear inverted the symmetry however: using the electrostatic telephone. The documents speak for themselves.

ground in place of the tlne wire.

Dr.Dolbear intuitively designed Vril cabinets which ex-

Varieties of designs which "shock the earth" are found in tended the Vril aurae among communicants. One obseiVes the

hundreds of subsequent patents. European patent collections enlargement of the human V rillic aura among those who

contains vast numbers of these diagrams and schemes. The engage in conversation and who converse through telephone$.

"wire-less"theory became dramatically more detailed when These portions {striations) of the aurae enlarge when such

new discoveries based on these wireless telegraphs appeared. persons are seated in rich organic settings (wood cabinets).

Dolbear used the use of ground itself as "the line" to

SECTION 2-
MARLON LOOMIS

. . ,..,.,.1111.......... :.·fl~.~,.r.r. l-1 , ~...
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~ ~ ..,

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,. ,. , -~-· ~.~
~

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

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MARLON LOOMIS, OF WASBINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUliBIA.. IMPROVEMEN-r" IN TELEGRAPHING.

8peci8catJoD tormiDg part ot Letten Patat No.lft,871, dated Jaly30, ir.t.

To all tclaom it may COIICtn&:

with the atmospheric stratum or ocean overly-

Be it known that I, lliHLON Looms, den- ing loc-.al disturbances. Upon these moantain-

. tbt, or W aahingtou, District ofColumbia, have topa~ I erect suitable towers and apparataa to

in,·euted or di8CO\"'ered a new and lmpro,•ed attract the electricity, or, in other wonlt', to
M~eufTt'legraphingandoCGenerating Light, disturb the electrical equilibrium, and thua ob-

Heat, and .Moth·e-Power; and I do hereby de- tain a current or electricity, or sbocka or pnl-

cla&re that the following ia a full desc:ril)tion sations, which traverse or disturb tho positive

thereo£.

electrical bod,r or the atmost•here alMn·e and

The nature of my inveution or diaeovery con- between two given points by com.municating

aista, in geueral terms, or utilizing natural elec· it to the negati~., el..-ctrical body in the earth

tricit1 and establishing an electrical aarreut or below, to fonn the electrical circuit.

circntt for telegraphic and other purposes with- I deem it expedient to use an insolated wire

out the aid of wirea, artificial batteries, orca- or conductor aa fonniug a part of the local ap-

bles to form such electrical circuit, and yet com- paratus and for conducting the electricitydoWD

municate from one continent or the globe to to the foot or the mountain, or as far away aa

anuther.

may be convenient Cor a tele:rat,h·oftlce, or to

To enable others skilled in electrical science utilize it for other PUll)()&es.

to make use of my dia1e0very, I will proceed to I do not claim any new key-board nor any

describe tho arrangements and mode or oper- new alphabet or signals; I do not claim auy

ation.

ne\Y register or recording instrument; bnt

As i (which

n dispensing waa first use

with d in

the double telegraphing,

)waiureu1

'Vhat I claho as my ian·ention or discovery, an(l desire to secure by Lettel'8 Patent, 1- .

making uae or bat one, substituting the earth The utilizatio11 or natural electricit)" ftoom

instead or a wire to f~o·ne-halr the circuit, eleT'ated points by connecting the oppoaite po-

10 I now dispense wit th wires, using the larity or tho celestial and terrestrial bodies of

earth as one-half the, "rcuit and the continu- electricity at 'different points by suitable con-

oats electrical element far above the earth's doctors, and, for telegraphic purposes, relying

surface for the other part of the circuit. I al· upon the disturbance produced in the two elee- '

so dispense with all arti8cial batteries, but use tro-opposite bodies (or the earth aud atmos-

tbe free electricity of the atmosphere, CO·Otler- phere) by Bn interruption of the Continuity Of

ating with that or the earth, to suppl.r the elec- one of the conductol'8 from the electrical body

trical dYnamic Coree or CUI'l"ent for telegraph- being indicated upon ita opposite or corre-

ing and·for other useful purposes, such as light, sponding terminus, and thus producing a cir-

beat, and motive power.

cuit or communication between the two ·with-

As atmospheric electricity ia Connd more and oat an artificial battery· or the further use of

JDore abundant when moisture, clouds, heated wires or cables to connect the cb ·operating

currents orair, and other diasipating influences stations.

are left below and a greater altitude attained,

liAHLON LOOlUS.

my plan is to uek as high an elevation as prGC· Witnesses:

tfcable on the tops ofhigh mountains, and thus

BOYD ELIOT,

penetrate or establish electrical connection

0. C. WILSON.

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was Mahlon ~~is ~onducting· ext)c:rimc::nai·J!A

. ·~aerial. telegraphy" before Marcom .

J~.,.....

·.:.. by Th~of~ M. Hannah --~----:"",

!
•••

E·vERY6NE knows that Marconi is genef!illy credi;ed -chtt~setts, ~nd Philadelpiua:~I~ ·~s·s~ -whil~-pra~cing­
with making wi~elcss communication practical. Al- : in Ma.ssachusetts, he receiv~ ·a.~tent for a m.Uieral-
most no one ~nows that :i nO\~ nearly forgotten Ameri- . plate tkaoli~) p.rOC5 for "'~king:arti&cial"teeth. I~

can dentist, Dr. l'Yfahlon Loomis,. conducted· wireless _November, 1856, loomis and h'is bride of a few
to c., cxpet!~eots iri Vfrgini~ eight years before Marconi . month~ moved. waslii~gion, 0.: whe~ he .began

was born. That l\larconi and ·not.Lobmis is now ~ailed · .a den tal practice which .he-~as. to~aintaln 'of£ ~~ on

the ."father of radio'' is due largely to a matter of ti~- · for the n~xt 20 .years. A' few years later, about'' 1860,

ing-Dr. Loomis was_ simply a generiltion ahe~.d of his· he became interested. in electricity-~ and exprimented

time.·

with forcing. plant gro~ by rfteans"~.C" buiied .m~tal

·Born July· 21·, 1826, ·in -~pe~hdm, -~e-.v_ York;.. . plp1es -t;enn~e~.-t~·-batterfer.-Hc~s to'. have a-·

l\Iahlon Loomis was the fou~tlt"of nhic ch~ldrcn horn ' c~ic:ved 50me success with these expcz:iments, but the

to Professor Nathan Loomis a descendant of J<~~,,h · ·high c95t'of. the batteries ruled out any ·pf!lcrical. appli_.

Loomis who sailt·d from England to MassachuSetts jn cati'!n of 'the t~hnique. . · · . · 1638 and a year latl'r was.. nne hf the fimndcrs of Wfnd~ . . ·· Loomis's experiments i~ wire1~~s tefe~phy began

sor, Conncctkut. i\J.ahlon was not the first. of his family to exhibit in\'l'ntivc and mcchankal talent; llis

a sumctimc between 1860• and . 1865.
lions involved study 'of electrical

cHhiaSr-g-.e6srs-.tt'm"·-·in·'v·e.tsht~ig~pa--'

f;tthcr -\v.ots a founder of ihe AmeficmJ Et'hcnteris ancl per atmosphere;· he hopcd·that this natural sOUrce O'f Nautical Almanac. An older brothl'r, ~c. was :m c:lc.-ctricity could ·be used JP teplace -~tteries. Ysin.g

inventor with several patents to hi~ cn·clit. ·Jfe also' kites attached to metal wires, he obserVed that a wire cxpcrimcntec.l with cll·ctridty, ami it may have l>et•n sent aloft at one· place wo~ld induce,a Row of.'elcttri~

from him that ~lahlon anruirl·d his intl'rt·st in things dty to ground through another .kite "wire sqme distance

dectric4tl. Anotlu:r sdt·ntifi<.·;tlly-minded n1emhcr of the

.

1

nwny. Out of these experiments' grew hfs bChe£ that·

family \\'ils l\1ahlc_,~l·s cuntempomry, Prufcs!lior Elhts ·

l.ciClllli~. who w:ts a fr<'lJllt.'nt contrihutor to the 1\rm•ri-

WII Jounwl u{ Sc:i«'Hl't.' :uul othl·r journ:ils, writing pri-

rharily on lllt'tt•nrolo~y and astronomy.

-

the: earth was surrounded. bv an "aura" ·whic.h he
t<.·rmcd ,lt.•·cr .,.'st:-atic sc~:~~ He furthe~' ~licv~d ·th~t- if
the '\tntic -~a" .were penetrated by two aerials· of suf-
fil'it·nt and CtJU:il h~ight,. it ·would be possible .to tf:!ns·

Ahout l816; l\ 1ahlon's family rnovl·c.l to Sprin~vall·, nl!t signals __bct:-v~cn t~cm. The distance coveted; he:

Virgin'ia. Fror11 tlu·n·, in Sl'ph·ml~t•r, lij·IH, 1\lahlon· · hc:licv<.·d, could he ol~nost. unlimited.• JAamis himSelf

Wl'nt to (~1t'Vl'la11CI, Ohio, to study dt·ntistry. Ahout
IHSO, hl· returra·cl to Springvale to nmtinuc his dl·nt:d • work. As _a travc·lin~ dl'ntisr, Itt· l:th·r practi~·~d ~arious ly in Earlvillt:, Nl·w York, CambriJgcpon, ~1assa-

t·xplni•wd the cun<.·crt this wny:· ".. ~ by: e~ending i'
to ai wire to a certain olritndc it strikes an ele(tric c~nent.
whkh ~viii communicate oil Qther' wires· ~e same height." ~ . _·... . .. · ·· ~· ' . • •. ;,: · ·· ·

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. . -~.",r. PI-1 ,~_.,~_,~_1111_.,.,r~_..,,..1~1~ ~.-

-, r~

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. ~

• & Loomis's discovery, .:-vhich h~ called· ·"aerial=..teie..~ium ·o(:.k-t&OusaDCk-oH~.i1ibfi. --~~--. ~

•

gtap.hy,.. was ~ccess£Ufly qemonstta~ 'i~-~1866 in ._ :planned !'.to. telepph f!Om~a-liigh.:-~~·~~~- 1- ~ ..

V~rgi.?ia's Blu_e R!dge Mo'tnt~~n~~- ~ ':he~pr~nett ~~-:- ~ountainsto~~~ig~~t.~'kofth~:AIFS:~V.e.

pro~ent scentJSts and electnoan_s, ·LOomiS. tra~s·~--.ln-18~, a_ group ofBosion-&n aers a ,.!'•. -.t1!' ,.~~~.~1

mitt~dsignals_between Coh.octon ~ou!l~~n a.qd B~rse··. ~~··~~Dlj~~ tes~,-but the- Bl~.~.·.·=.···.f.l

Deer Mountam. (LoudOl\n·County);a distance of abouL ~fc of i86~ WJpecl" ~em out and the-leSIS~

14 miles. ·He used ··~c) c;tdinaty-Jqtes-·~thpteeiS of·-···· poned;.nie -~ ~~rtune Welt1;~~0'VJ);,#4~j

copper mesh at~ached to t&e.~d~rside 'of. eac~; ~e ·-:-'later 'wheif~- pup-~ Ch!ca~-p~ ~-~

kite "strings'' were 600-~t-lo':'g ·P.iec:~ of_ copper .~re.' • .liy the ~hic:agO. ~.,. . . ..:·, ~:·--:-·-~~r:=;~~

Near the grou~d" ~th wires w«;_re. con11ec:ted to' gal~ .. _. . _Meanw&ilei ~mis's .experi~ents.hact~:.-~.~

vanometers (inqicators of·el~nc current) and then to .·. attention of~atorCharles Sumner, ct.~~

ground thro~gh pools ..of wate(~-~lte_mately_ Jhakin ....-l~ho,..mmura ed. b -a re . ...... ;·· _ ...t . • • ,. '

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-

and-hreakin

1

n.e ga .vanoqte~c;r Wit . ."introdu~ed _into· the Senate; on Jan~ar:y 13. 1869, ·~

its. kite 'wite resultc~ in a"d~flcction or the ~r ·COif-'...:.: "Loom.is. Aerial Tel~ph' Bm:·~e .bill a5ked; Eo.I ai(

neded to the other wire, and 'n this wav "messages"--act of inco~ratibn for _die Loomis A~l .~elegraph_'
were exchanged between the .stations.-~ • : . . ·. ' · . 9o~pany' a~d- for itn, appropriation o.f $50,~ tO per£ec:t

7 ~h: de~ails of the experiment are .desCribed -in~oor:n~~disc?_ve~·a.~.~ ~~ke it pra~i~;,}~. s~p.pos.~~

Loomis s dmry: ·

.

....,. _ .

_ 1'1t request Tor 1 1charter .and 6~apc1al ass!stance;Jte

The equipments and apparatus. at both sta&iohs

we~ exactly alike. _The_ time. pieces of both parties

ch•~scvhm·gsubcehena~seht·o· uarlakaen•.d

u ~s arrang~d that at prem1rrute the galvanometer at

one station should be attached, to be in circuit with

the ground and kite wires. At t~·e oppo~ite station

scpnrntc nnd delibcrnte hnl£-minut~ connections were

m:1de with rhc kite wire and the in!tntment. TI1is

deflected, nr mo\'cd the needle at the- other siation

'with the S&llllC ViJ,tur and predsiun BS if it had been"

attached ru an ordinary hattery. After a lapse of Live

minutes, as previous)~, a;!inged, the same _perform·

ance was repcart.-d witp---tl~e. SOlme results....· It con-

tinued ru rrnnsmit SIJ,tnals' only abOut three hours

when tlte cit'cuit became inopcracive by the moving

away of the upper electric body.

Shortly ;tfter the l~luc Hidgc demon~tration, Loomis

suct;:cedetl in trnnsmitting signal~ two .miles between

the. Loomis Com,parif'J»roposed to transmit from the Umted
State$ to Euro~ the·same .number of, messag~ as

_r~endy ope·tted transatla~tic cable. and to do it at

· .-

, .

. ·

·

one:-s1xteenth .the cost. It was mtroduc:e;d 1nto the House.

the following July.

·: _::.

Asketch 9f.the Loornia telcgrapli:aet on~

· fi1e in the patent officc,.dt Waabingt~n.

·

. From the Literary Digest, July 29, 1922.

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ships on Chl·sapl·:ake Bay. llere, however,· he lowered ..·-. ·

\vires over the sidt.'S of tlie ships .ami trnnsmitted .

through the w:uer.

•••
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At some time during this period Loomis reportedly livetl .in Lyndthur~ ami he rnny h:t\'C cnntinucd his
\vircless l"Xtx·riments in the mountnins nl·ar that city. As a furtlwr ll'~t nf his tht·oril·s, Lomni!\ wantC:•,r
to artempf wirl'll·~s cnn1nmnkation hct\\'l'C~ rvtt. Sl;mr- ., . ta, CalifMnia, nnci Mt: ·Hood, Orl·~on, ~ distam:u o(

I

ahout 275 mill'S. App:1renrly l-,cl·ausc of a l;tck uf . money .(ht• l'stirnate~l. the c.'XJ>erinwnt. would cost ·

ahour $20,000), lw. ah,uulonc.•d this idea in fa\'or of n .....

mtll'h mon· ;unhitious sdwrnc.~ which lu.• J",l'c.•tl \\'oialtl · ,
atrra~t finanl:i;t) hal·king. What he proposed wns· noth·

-

. ing lt•ss than t ransatlant it· wirc.•lc.·ss communkation- . ·
Arnc.·rica to Europe hy ritdio! Bdi~ving, n!(':alway!', rhat the scc:rt't of wfrrlc~s ·tay in ruaching ·an ·etl~l:t.rified ·

...

• ~-

•

,s;...

-. '

• ,._ j ·....

... ·~

~

~rl ~.r,;. r~-~~. . . . . . . 111r1r..,r...,..,.-·-·...~ ,. ~ ~ ~

' ~ ~ .

.

In

•
additiop

to

•
Senator

•

Sum- n~,.,

•
:the

Bill .. was.

sup-

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0
any

.
other

,m• •~ain

.

:OIHipo&-·the-glohe.iiicitliei

Wn•;-~

•

- ·ported by· Senators ·~driclt, Porn~, Wilson· an.~i- . ~. ?uctor, ~l?:i~ ~.all..pien:e.-this. p~e-an~~Y~ ~~.;J

11 oh~t.hs eprls~.·~sO,t

her and

stehneat~Qdr. sl·,.\.~ha9~wes~h._eurt.dr~i..di!~r·u.ol.~.e_dC.lOD.JoPoUm.ti~see··a~no-d-~-~~:_p- retcoa:rC,shs-~_evhi~-b!~r_.a.~stni!ao~n,;__·,m'~\~ad~r-r'.mY.d'tRhae~tl~~e~··n;b~gyd:w:a:nJ.ayun::'aJgi-rau~eiueddr_-a.a-s~oydfnsctaeomE..-:·~..-·~:·.:•l

committee and act1on ~~:~-s· r~peateaiy.-,.~elayed.-~.~t.

CJf .JJoiatfoa; 'conviHiolc: mto- hinnan -~guage,--the-··:-:

Loomis's supporters refus~ · to .be :.diSCouiiged.·_ A_:_- :: -messa~-~- th..e.. ~~J.a~at' the~int_ of.'~t. _&~t~::

lengthy discussion of of Representatives-on

t~hea·.ybi~2I0tQaOnICd

_~pIl,acJe8"1i:n2•t..h(Ae Ht iosususee:

~

·

·

.~~t~~~~m~~!Y:-..

·-:·n.o,ug:~·

· •• . the. idea

· •. · of_ npples

o.~·

w· a·~ero~-;-

~··

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-nfproroowmprwiataht~ieo·nobsqillypl·.r)othvCeisoinoqnguersh~t~isvominna.g.no.fJa.olirlnei_nacdoy_¥An.ib:etaieironi~:g,.hratehm~eo;_vaeopdf- .
Ohiq, who had iptroduced .t·he bil~ ~nto .the· Hoq_se,}

~_:.-.-•gw~ph.klT~ecep~1.e~o~E~ ~Wl.~e~a~ ld~~~g.~t~ ~~9gnmne;ms~uulDc~~..:.~uC~s~et.,~dJ. ~?~nne-.~yJs,Sp~.atto.pi:te~e.r~.psl.n..~(-aaoJ~..l.~l!~~ot::h~~~~ePd~!p-In!tn.~ h.~~._:__-_

said in support of _it: "I understand that· the high¥" authorities on electricity in America and. in Europe

Abapllri~J ~1u4,gh~&•.~-~.~~e~S:,U•!ntdtJaFre_rC:haf'Cl?l1~1us:lsup..sia'l?d~.ed·

~t.
. ·

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.

~
a

sustain the theor~ upon which the project is based.".

. Hcpresentauve

-~~: ~~~ha~,

who,

w1.t~

· . Senator

· • Pomeroy,

·

.

ILmEQat~hone-ribiese·'sbdepoltnaten',U..~Wth~i~thntohu!e'tC~~ W-r-l~ntieonk~orev·. ec:~a··b.tlPhe.,aOts.saticeb:C~leeor~fdpamhcg~iinjtgtyo..

·

. -

• . •

h~d seen Loom1s s aet1al tdegr~t>h demo_n~trated, was .. slif?uld be a~c:Orded th~ undertaking. .

, .

to· remain one of Loomis's m~t faithfui-· ~pporters.

In other cities, edi.tdri&l ~mment ~nged from~ pc;>lite ·

t? He and Representative Conger.were largely responsible scepticism ·outright ridicule. ·Typical ~as.'tlie com•

for keeping the Looinis Bilf alive through neatly_ four .ment of the ~ew York-Jounull_ofCommBr_ce (Febru:

years of Congressional opposition and ·apathy. .

ary 5;•1873): i:'- ·. · · ._ ·· ·· . . . ··

During the same deliberations, .Mr.... Conger ex·
plaincd the principle <?f ~I>Cf;t-io~ of "aeri:~l teJeg·

raphy" in the foHowing way:

·

•

•

.

ca~1s· mg

cJcctrt•c:t1

\'I'br:lt·tnns.

.
or.,.

.- · -
Wii\'CS

to--.

pa· ss

·

around the world. as upon the swfacc of some quiet

lake one W:t\'C cirdt't follows.anurhcr from 'the point

of disturbance tn the remutdt shores, so that from..

As we· understand the Loomis pbn, it is something.

to ~is ~-IF_ect- -a~d ~ders arc caution~d n?t to !au~h '

too bo1sterou~l~ at_ at! .~ -~~ .~~t to-~E~.!_!t..,.till

..-Mdtt~mreon·cs·nrtr·.a·ltec.d~1.w. a•s

th · _e

Spn·n~;,ti•celd,

M h_ ·. assac usetts

R~-

1mblr.can (an ISSUe! of 1869)~ In truth, ~lr. Loomis IS

!' d~amcr, and an illustr:llion of :what• ~0~ ~id of

...

.... A Mkt-tefa of tla;! Iu,..~ .Hiclf(C! expc~rimt•nt, with expla·n~tory ~oteA. Signals· '
Wf!rc Ment hy "Actial Telegraph" betwcpn the two ata~iona.

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=:. ·S1m1lar ~ents-were-~ad~ b).·_o~sa _pa~rs;~ 1.. '""·: ihe •c~.least,.~"'4 p.~g~bly .bti.;~~;!!. ""l .....
. On January 16, 187,3,-the Laomas ~tll:was ~riijfr-~~~..U~ ~ ~ •~P~ a.!ltenna..;an~ ~)#.i:Df brought to·~ vote ~ ~~ .~ena~e ~nd wu. p~d by a- .:Mo¥.p:af9~dy, it ip~ ~a.t :~Y .:.in.!¥-Ft9!i~ vote of. 29 to 17,, wit~ 3? s.:nato~ absent.:. 'Jte ~~d ..·~ -~~ ;Mie.~.t he:pr_Odu~. ~~~~-t~~lv!!.krl! shows that h~ithe~ of Virginia's. senJors-vot'ed·_oh the ·~ ..unkDo~gly,·-p~~. ei~~niagne~c:.:~a!_~~j!j
bill. _Five· ~ays~later.P.resident.:Grant·siga.Ccl~~~-~illt~·~~ils ·oE•.~-pl~om~--~ haye Eo~~!-~1
.. .thus. inco~rating _the ~mis Ae~al ~el~pn C'4m· ·.i«~~~~.:.~hj~;~~e~~-~~ ·~~;=;:
party. What had-J>ee_n ac~1~ed by all_·o~~as':Actuall~.~~tr.?.S -~~~~~rc:ou~~.~~ nQt ve~y- much. Not· only)1aCI-the request.for_.&~~cia~ ... -a-~ae.sparl:-pp. ~J~-:-th~ wor~d'~·Sisti, ;.···: :;~?"
aid been stricken from the.bill-and-this ofa,;urf'e~"'JIS~·-;::· .U~Eortu~i~y,-. t..Oonn.:s~~d o~. transmi~~~~~

th;- a critical setback to Lc;>omis~ plans~but the extW ~f ;.. -~not very~se~l. ~e-·depended _upon :a~heric:~~-::~

the company's corporate powers~$ tes~ to

tric;ity·for his.sPurce oE poWer, and this" waS, net..very-;.._

District of Columbia. It ~ould operate elsewhere ~o~ly · rell~bie, .Md Q'e :was~· not· able t9 det~. h~ signals be-~

wi.th the consent of the state concerned.· · · ...

cause·tfifi-~tector had ·not yet l?een invented. F.uither: ·

. Dr..Loomis did, how~_vc:_r, h~~e .~e· satisfaction· of re-.___~his .. plan..Eor:li~tit ..coi;s~imte:rtiODril~ ~

ceiving, the first United States· patent eve~-grantecf for-· t~in!x:\.voula not_ ~v.e su'cceeded. But useful or n9t;-'~

3 system of wireless telegraphy. The pa~ent,. N~..:J.~9,-· .. he J,j~ -~PSII\~t ~gnals: over a c~nSICI~&le distance

971 and titled_ ..Improvement in. Telegraphing,~vtas...:.___~J!jout the:aid of~~ires. Had he'~J~le to develop

issued July 30, 1872, two years befo..re Ma.~CQni, '*!as his giscovery~ ~e might no~ be recognized as the..m..: ·

born. ·

. ~

• . . · . ·_yentor of r;~dio;the United States.might.. be ~own.

During the remaining years of his life, LOOmis prnc-- a$· die birthplace or ~dio~ ~nd Virginia the" state ~h~e-

-••
I

ticed dentistry only to the cltcnt necessary to piovi~ it was fi~t~e~onstraied. . · _ · . · •· · ::

himself with sufficient funclS with which to continue

·

his wireless experiments. In the late '1870s,' he began·

l'onduc.:ting experiments in. the mount:tins of W<.-st Vir· ginia. On two peaks ahout 20 ·miles apnrt he .erected

oi . Loomis naay·have comiucted sorli~ hie. . ·. · experimenttt near Lynchburg. .

....

steel m:tsts atop wooden t,)wers (these· replaced the

kites of his earlier experiments) and reportedly main:' taind fairly regular c.:mmnu~il'ation betwec!n. them for.

months at a time. During these later tests .(about

-1878), he is sai4 to have coni~un~catcd by .telephone
as wen :\S hy tc)cgrdph, a}d\otlgh it is ·~Ot ·clear· how :

this was aCl.''Omplishcu.

.

•

I

On Octohc:r 13, 1886, itfter a week's illn~ss1 Mahlon

l.oom~ died at his hrnthcr's country home ~ Tc.-rr~

Aha, WC:·st Virgir\ia; he was (JO yc:us oi.J. At the time""

of his hrotlwr's clt·ath, Cc:orgo Lc)Cllnts • remarked:

"During his la!'it illnt'ss ~tt.• was tiplifted and strength··

- . . ...

.....

..

. " ..

..-. • ' •

- - - - - - - . . : . J - ·"'·--:-·-·....;·-·

. ..
~:...;.----

,•

-r · ·•. ·.

. .......... .

.......

. ·. '

..;" ··:

I -

ened hy dw consc.:imrsru·ss that the \vorld would some··
of . time undt•rst:md :mtf n•:\lizt• the grandeur f1is dis·

l'OV(•ry." 1ft• also <fliOtt.'d J_tis hrntht•r,as snying: '

I know rlwr I :un hy 51Unt', c:vcn.m:my.. rc-gnrtlcc1 ns •
n <.'nmk - hy some•. pe•rhap!; ns n fool : •.• hut I 'know I am ri~o:hr, un.cl i( rile: pn·sc•nt gc-nc.~mrinn .Jivc-s long ' cnou~lt riH'ir opiniolt!i will llt! chimKcd .~.and tht'ir wonclc·r will he• that rhcy cliel nnt perceive ir.''hc:Core." •'I shall rwVt'r sc.·c.· It prrfc-c.·rc-rl - hut It will he', Rnd ntlll'rs will havt• rh~ llCinnr of the- _tlis,·nve~y. ·

· • l.oomis's pn·dit:lion was, us \ve 'kno\v,.. fullillcc.l. Mar·

<:onj a11J orlwrs \V('I\t on to pc.•rff~ct wirdt"sS and m;tkc ' it tlJC wonderful mc:tr\s· of c.:umniunication it .is today.

-

-
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-

· THE wA.¥: ·..... ...

• J

· ·: .·· -. · ~r--.

.... '. ·, ~ ;-:

o~oRLo.-::-·

. • . J ; .··•.· • . ~.

~ ~--. .• . . ... . • . . :

.:.:. •. ·:_·_

..·-:~,.rl-;,h~;:--K~~Iau~-~

;~

~---:::

.. ··-. ___.;:_ .. ---~ .. :;-

.... . ·---·· .' _··; . ·... __:..;;_ ~ . _.

· . :The:Ja-w ·rHIS.is the way~-of all ~_-_ .Wo'dd,_··--,._::._~~--.--...:.-.:---.._. ·of.~c#ij&-e-;a~~ce.- ~ :: -~·-: · -:·· · ·_ ·

·. !Jilt on~ there as '!_lio:le ~o~'s to.- pa~..-.... ~ .. :~-· _:

That.other·rolk-may··diflce;·:-:...--~:-~,··.-: · · - ·- . · ·-1

..

• ':

• •

•

• •

; .•. • • ••

··~ ~ •. ~.::. • ~-· • • # ~ ,

That one'·nulst weir.tbe~hlidP(.~ent~~:~ .·=.:~...·, ·--~~.;·J~·-

A~p~p~r ~ied.l:o b~).t-· ?~-- . .-=-:::-~~-~~--t-

. That he·wt,.~ ·makes; the ~~~g·song· · ... .:.lit;_·. : .-.-.

• .'l .·; . . ·. Has: not the heart to ·sang;.·~:~·. ; • ·! ~ ·.• ·.o:~ - · ·- - .

I~>

I_

_-,~~-:· ~~:.!'·~~~:,~~;~-~~·-··.· :-~:

.~ .-~-..:__ ·.- . ·.--~ ·. ; !-- ~---- .:-·- . :....~~- ': =~::· . ---;

.THE

PiO.NEE-R ~IN•.. TELEGR.APH-INC'WITHO)J~T-- -~

. ·___ .. --r- •.•

.. - - _ ...~---~ ....
)::i~.WIRES.

--· --. _,'!". :·. --

. ' .• •., •

·· J

•

""'t. .~; 1G~orgt~mis. · .' · -··. .. · ·. ·

•

• . • ·II£-- .

. ••

.

. 1'he :ic:coapanying illustr~tions are ·(rqm original sketches by J;)r. ~mis. . , . .

THERE..is_·r:~thirig ne"! _u~de·~ .tl~e~~-- _i;;g~-·w?dd~ut_.wiustra·ti~, w·~re. pu~~­ sun, S<lld Solomon t': and ·hts ·. ltshed . an Frank. -Ltslae s. Jllustrate.d · .. words find corrobor~6n to:day ·P~prr. · ·. · · ~ . ;·. :_ _;::-.~. l-

in the case of \Virclcss'.'FeMgraphy, as .. From ~ach· 'Of the two m.9untain

an· J.t ~1as been recently chriat~ncd.: Its tops an ordinary· kite ..was_·el.eva~e~
first ana ·marc poetic ·name,. ~erial· conne~ted with· iasulafed copper

Telegraphy, was given m~re than th.irty i ·wire·.atta~h-~d. a~ the lo~er end to a

~·cars ago by· Dr. Mahlon. LQomi~ Q( telegraphang apparatus. The · oper··

\Vashington, District of Columbia_, lts • ators .of-''each. ·parry. ·were provtiied

lliscovcrcr·and inv'entor. ··'.Both these ... with,gooa telescopes; with :whi.ch they·

words....discoverer" and ..inventor," : could' sight ~rom. ooe ~t4"tiori to .the

arc needed to. describe -the· m~ntC\1. · other and read the signals. :When ~all•.

processes that preceded telegrapl}ing- was in .readiness, a_ mes~a~e wa:s· sent

·without wires.- · · · · ... _____,_.. by the doctd~.•~IQng ..the :wire .of· ~s'

In J86s,· 'after .years or s'tudy 'an~ kit~. 'and 'wflS_ received ·at the .J>.ther

experiment, Dr. Loomis _perfecte~· ~tation in all res

· __'. . · ..

_plans......fu&-t~egraphing-wit

. ·. J es a een connected wtth a- ;wJte

·connections between ·poi~ts however in· the ordinary way.. ~n thi.s manner

clist~nt. llis invcn~i?~- \\;as. ·c;11led. the -~-~mmun.ications~ere .:kept~p-:-:-untit·

· Ae-naL.T~egraphJltss first successful the fact was thoroughly demonstrated
experiment a(- a•ny ~onsjderablc rtlag· that telegr.aphiog: could be qone.JI.S:

nituclc was made abf)ut 1868, irom the · · rF:u\ily without ~.-·with conne~ting

tops, of tl!e Blue

twI~oldgcp~·~1!111 ~1Ve.snrtg~'Pm.,e·akssortolef~'

~ircs~at_ least ~e~~n.'Pbin~s:at-~~is· ~1stance apar~.·.' • · ·_·-: - · · ~i.· i ~·· ..

Cl~l~tccn nulcs apart. A full a·c- Dr.. ·Loom&s -.-was..?~l~t.e-d..._th· :the
count of these opera~ion~, · with . _a" .1sitccess :of the ·e~~-e-~~~~;:~~~-~hc;>ugh·.

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.·~ ~ . ~ •

h~"had C<lnfidently e.xpe~ted it. ·lt~ . to pen~ry: .• BaiftedJ,.but' not dis-...

turning to \Vashington, he sought coura(.ed,- he ·returned-to Washington· financiaf a~d to eriable him .to.· try a . ·and qevot.ed :his "spar~ime to the fur-. sim~ar .experiment on a. mor~ ~x- ther-&~udy .of elect~dty Btnd ~.indr:ed tended scale, as calculated to gtve. · matters. Pursuing: the th~r1es ·tbe

greater public confidence .in the prac- . c9rrectness 9f which ·had·alrea.dy_heen tical. workings o£ ."tht ·Aerial· Tete- so satisfactorily.~~ea, he conceived graph·. His purpose was to.go .to the .. ·the idea o(t~legr~_bet.ween ves: Rocky ~Iountains and erect a station .· sefs 'tt sea without' wire connections.
~n the iag of. l\-Ioun~ Hood and one --·The··-experbnt;B_t -.~vas· tried~ :·on th~­

on the top- of 1\lount.. Shasta-two ·of .. Chesapeake-=Bay 'Ylth perfect success,.. the highest· available po.ints, sitluated :: betwe~n ~~ipS. a~ut· twq mil~ ap~--­

abottt one ·hundred nulcts apart. H~ I.am no saen~t myself and·have but
;a1hslR~ede·cetqu!opumgehntms,omnaeiynttaoi~r-o'bhtiasinTasmuiilry--..· cliattnl.e. nak~ntoew'l"eidhgeei;e.:-o~fvee~ltesc:tori~clityy,.isoi:iI~-·
dnrm~ Ius absence,· and pay th~ me~ language of ·a layman.· TI\e. tne~

employed, (rcsiring nothing for qiin- ~! t~le~p~g b~~)Ye~n ·fbeflwoves:,:

sc.:lf except ·actual expenses.:. About sels,, as ·I. understand 1t, was... as fol-..

ef- · twenty thousand dollars was need~d · lows:

. .

·.·

:· .. ~ ·

for this purpose. · After dilige~t

On. ~ach vessel ~vas a. telegraphic:.

forts· to get the .necessary amouJ!t _~appacatus~ ;.A- .wU.C was at~acheq. to

pledged in \Vashington, lie. visited .the instrument tnd one..end. thrown.
~ ew V?rk and· Springfield,. M.a~sa- 'lnto. ilte water ~to a wod~rate depth;.

chusetts; ancl at last, through the as.:. Another, ins1,1btetl . wire·· of .much
si~tanc.e of Austin Day df the former g_re~ter Ieng'tlt ·was' ·let··~own tq a

city and two or three others, the fur.ds greater depth into .a colder stratwn

were t>romised, and preparations · of water:·· The, two strata of water of

were nearly completed, }Vhen the different temperatures thus ·connected

financial cri!'is of "IU"ck Friday" oc-- to the same battery ntad¢ a 5=oinplete currecl in \V:tll Street, involving f1is- . cir!=uit, and enjlbled c:o~mu.nications

patron~ in ·tossc~ so, serious that to ·pass .between .the two veS'Sel~ ·with··

they were ohliJ..!e·d to withdraw their out other conn-ections. ·The exptri~

promi,.;ed aid: lie returnef,l . to 'ment resulted in complete suc:ce~s. · \ Vasr\jngton a net re~nrnc<l the practice · On the . same principle. he· was.
or his profcssiqn, hut never for:' .. teet to believe! that the ·warm current

a r_noment ahatulor.ted the great enter- of the G~ilt Str9J?l~ ·if "similarly con~.

pnsc.

· nected .wtth the'5.dJ~cent colde water,

In the winter of tR6s I spent s_ev-· _w.,O_uld afford a means of telegraphing

cr:tl days at his residence in Washing- ':t" great <.listanca""7perhaps as Car as a.

ton. He hacl just cumplete(J a .w'ritten . decided difference in ·tempere1ture is

lcct ure on the suhject of his discov- niaintaincd-: Tclcgr:tphingL between
t·r~·. ·wtridlw"as :tncrw:trd!'C -d~livere<l-;-m~'lin~inrOM:trs by :-niiil~1S. or
in Washin~ton and other cities, 'thus inductive electricity was fully ex-

to some extent replenishing his de- plain('d by hia~. but ··so imperfectly

r. J•~<·~<:d ,e~chequer :tnd enabling him to co_mpreh~mle~l by me t~lflt. refrain

v1s1t Ch1c:t~o, where, after .ce:tscless . from e1ttemptmg. aJzy dcs<:tlptlOJl._ __~

efforts to secure~ a pledge or su~c.;.i~nt

l\1 eantir~te h~ c:'?ntinued· his e.ff?rts

funds, lu· :tt lt·ng-th succceclecl 111 oh- fn hn1e. has thbones put to prC1C:hcal t:tiniug- the pro111ise of thn·<~ C':tpital- t<'sts "on a larger: scale th:ln l:ae "'as.

an. i~h in that <"ity to furnish tlu.• money ahte to accomplish unaided. ~i.e ap-.
rc·quin·d. AJ..:'aiu pn.·parations for the ptiecl, to CmJgre~~ for appropriaRcwky Mountain trip were nearly tion of .fffty. 1thousand dollars ~o· be

p<'rfet"t<'cl, wltt·n the ~n~at fire in Chi- expended in furtherance of hi.s enter., c:~g-o oc<·urrrcl, recludng hi~ p:ttrons prise, nncler such rcstrietif:?~~ as:Go~--

!
• •
I
• •

l!.:::~-:1-1~-

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•

~r~ss migl1,t ·lmp~se.... The ·bili _·was i~vention; prob.ab~y there ~~ ~~t;: but it ·is:

mtroduced in--the-Senate-
S~~•ner. o'f·..·M.~·achu··setts,

boyn-!·.tMhre'-l_a·_ unu~ioltnf·ewqaol .rt..th:hiato·"aul'tmrLwdt~h~wEe.·aecr_tetoJatmrieruevts-e•nnntiy~ouepsro'".WpwoDhseat'nk-i.-

th.tr~~enth. day of Ja.qu...~. ~y, ·I86g, as·. ~ey fi~t ~ppased.. It ii only a few y~~s.

·wttCMhadok"aa1lMehtunlmaord·p.nbafpiSrtaLeoue,oamm:·orwnmehbthiroys:e', .·bt·MhC.Ie•ole.~ipe.rrDvtfeore..s,esle_lonostfstwhitatt-thhtnn._eeag-ah..f~DeeeG'ti.·xlsi·.h.tottarir•Bisoac~•ntc•i.ontoos•1ff.·:.•-·.·~·.lsa~pengsn~eloee]rdo·sce.·~r{r.taes~uJad-ai?nrl'tlh~c.-gtetPbhtoetae~mtn~yuehs·ermeetow-(hnylmati~hs~aU,rtigosc.a.nta.Ln·eta1.•dhum-.!ethDN~1i.op·enotprhnewo~eopI-,tpe~·hertefte~&-enctpetohaihhr:dtae~meobtrrjmibts(1hd~u"c1teyttat.twe"1ptehboia,lnee-l··

vented a _new mode of te)egnphing- w~ich: ·not .thi~k' Trom ."a~:( ~~atlls Uave .made.

~c submats as a great and valuable 1mprO\"emcm upoo any former.· mode "known

t~at ·I heve

t;nsn~atr. ed-1..athtahvi~s

amJ*ovement-. seen· two os:

I b'"~thr

or discovered: He:briefty says: · .. . ·experiments, ancf f think thet:e i some

: ·• '1-"he nature ~f ~~~~ discovery _or jl)ven-___thi~g _i~ it•._ l. have·. seen. it· teste in •.• tg~aoanrog.anpfoahanrnimnggeeJsenwuce!it=rtrh~halcoeutc.tleuertcrhmtrr.eeic~·n.eaatoil·dno$coriaf.s•c.~'zHssrcic~riute~sssteoa!srotnarcdba·-lbicstlihere1:-l.=·e: s·-~· aM-·lla-rwwca--iyh,l··-··lJ~·!s.·'-dIu•-~":~I-Si~~-m"~•"~"b~ :m~~D.c-l_~~.~-<trt-h,-te·o:_~ -·t_hc. o··l~ ·.t~-:_

ct~ats. ·· A~ m daspensmg '!'•th the double · ·gressio~ral Globt,- 4ist- Congrc.&4-2rul-

wtre (wluch w~s .at first" us~d)· and. using session!}

· · ~:·

· ·

·but one, allowang and .relymg upon the ·.

- ·• ·

· .. -·

earth· to form the one!-half 'of. the circuit, so now I propose to dispense >Vith both wires :and aU artificial batteries, using tire

.

·

u.•oM-n· r.anP•domae·crco~ym: p-a•n•~t a.,n~g:ov'~-p·a·thpaecrs

r ..... '.

thoe~

pets.Dr.-

!
• •
I

earth a& now to form one-half of the cir- · Mahlon Loomas. whach were referred to

-

cuit, and the continuous electrical element

f:tr abo\·e the surface of the earth for the.

otlte!r p.ut of·. the circuit.'

· ·

· ·

ttChaoke~m·nCmoafmtrt'?emme itottenheeAcpf¥pi1lrn~Ppraaantea,dntat;sornesflae:srrt eTdyhe~atroy:,

be
t.he ·re·

:at .... Aft_er Aettin_g fnrth -at son1e length his

mvcntaon or Ius theory, he asks. Congress

fur Iars

anunadpeprrospurcihatiroenst.orirctfiiCotnys. -th-:rosusCannndg.rd~o~l~-

·

aaltahpcteepr-9ruostsp•oe.t.~"t!hatlac(:h.sowy~na~~rlt·a_teonemt~1~~co~~.r-abObteleche!eecavchne-(r.mahwpehitatowhnogatunewttlse~eghsaro~tJmhupethe~

au impose, to· enable: hini. du'ring the

next yC':ar to
In presenting

c&:Jm1in~plpeetct:iti·tohne-

demonstrat
t dC'sire ..to

ion. say

th:tt I I>C'rforrn a duty, and I· content myself

cabl!= or merats of

.wares. at; but

. I1

I 1know. commen

n d

othi the

negnteorfprta.h~·ee

of the papers

yroeufn~rgrem~.ant.o

He asks to ..ha\'C: .has the: $of!!mattee on

with rcmarkinK .that: it . is either a Jffeilt Appropraahons.

··

, ··

-. e!£1po~ot cuhnodfinrrmtt:hoaokenesphrlon&inre'cx~pi·res~rsosfat

5nmvca:nr~kis~n.a an ·opmao.n.

great I do upon

• •

.· ·

·• · :

. The· motion . was

ultimately 'the m:ttter

: ·

.

.

awg~rseeidn~ctfoin;itepluy.t

1tht. e

I :~sk the rcft"rt-nc:c: nf the C01mmittcc on r:ateJit!'."

pc:.tt•taon

tp

po· stpo· ne<·1·. -·.l'Y·Ia·111o-n.... L.o·o·m.t. •s~·· o b.ta·•m·ed·

· ·

• · letters patt:nt fpr _Ius mveptton.:. The

Rt'm:trl~c; were m:t<lc tfpon the suh- follo,vinft ·forms a p:trt of tfu! sam~

ject· by Se_n~tqr~· Wlllcy, Grimes, ~(r{o. 129,971, patcdJul,x 30, tB_J~):.

-

I'omcroy :tn<l ~Vilsqn. moving it.s ref-

· ·

~ ••·. •.. - · ·• .t :

crcncc to othcr.committees· ·

.

•

. ..,. I

w,.h 0' ... · ..De it knowa that 'bilahlon Lonn1is,·

denti.st. o(.

nKtOn, i'Jr.ict Colum-·

Mr.. l'nm'i"oy: . "I cli(J nnt nndC'nt:md bia, h:~,·e invented or discovered " nC'w and·

· tht• n:1mc of(thc r>etitioner. Wn! it ~iven? in~prov~d·n1od~·or tt'ltgrap~ing aiul.gener·-

J.,•t lht" n:une be rt"ncl, for T w:mt tum to attn~ h.,;ht, hc.•at lWei· motl\'0, JlOWt'r. . . . ·

h:~':e the b~nt'fit u( it, w!!oe.ver he. i~.': :

"1'he nature or my invention or.'di,coy-

. I h~ S,l).{n<'tl

Ctu~:r Cleric: ... 'Ibc fCtltJon l'f:1hlon l:nC)I!1is; M. D.' . I.

as-.

enr:ayt.ucraolnsci:sltesc':"t.irnicitgyc- naenrdaCetsetarb.lm~~s1t_oi{n'K,utailinilailt¥·..

Mr. \V1llry: '.ft " n.ot .an apphcat on, ural ~lectrical curren~ o~~·t l~r tele-

a.;. I undc·r~t:uul 11, fur a J>atrnr, or any·' Kr:aphac and other ·puq.,Oiei.Without the

tluu..c of th:tr duar:u~tr-r."

}1 ~· Sumn.rr: ·;But it is for. an ~ppro·

(lrl~l Ill!!· wh1~1 Will he a llllJSIIttlte for I

p:~tt"nt.

.

M r: \Vihon: lw arne ·to tlu·

C"n.1mmhiot(~le~ethoen (,l~eat itteino.nu.wilIt

fin not know thnt· th~_rc •~ anytlun..c an the

nit! o('wiret, artificial hatteries'or·cablu to

form such eledric;al ci~cuit; •ttd' yet con1~

111UiliC:ttt! rro\n tone .''I:ODtiq~nt Of the I(IQbC

o/ tioci"t'a'Tnnoo~ethet~onr~·ibnlaelco)out~or•·t

· ·
:imkiylJdeidse·Ionve1reylc, cItr.i.Vcailll

delcrtbe thd :a,.. 1~mef\ta aAd mode:• t\t

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17w~c~.~}J 1!~,:..~~-~~·-

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operati~n:~ As .in dispensi~g · wi_th th~· .~. OhiQ, 'in a ·speech :before. the Jlouse,

.dca~b1~ "Ware {wluch:w~s first u~e.d ~n tel~-· said among. other .•hings: .

.

tgurta:p~nhgmtghe).

anu makmg ·earth instead

use of

of one, subsua wire to 'form

·• .' · · - · • .. · .

. -· .. ··

··' ..The .practicabilitY" of this project .'pro-

one-half the circuit, so I·
with botli wires, using tlie

now earth

daiss

pense one-

posed for an-~erial Telegraph is a question · which l .und.entand has puzzled some of

half the circuit and 'the continuous electri• · the inast experienced' electricians of.. ibis

cal element f:tr' above the' earth's surface·. country. I .diot profesi to· know a.sy•·
for the other part· of the circuit. L~.also . tl1ing more· of thi ·subject thall' a child, 'but

disp,ensc: with all artificial batteries, but use · I understand al1tlu: ·highest authorities· the: free electricity of-:the ·o~tmosphere, ~o- on electricity, botb in America and ·~turope,

operating with that• or the earth, to supply - sustain the .theory .upon .which this ptoject.

the electrical dynamic force or current -for· is based•. No project of •hia S9rt was·ever telegrapfting :tnd other useful ·pun)oses, demonstrate~ wilhout experiment and ·triaL
suc(1 a~ light, heat, and motive power; ·I· art.d expenditure.· • It was · what . was said

. ••As atinospheric electricity is • found belOre whe~·the first application was made

·more :tnd more when moisture, clouds,. ·to C6ngress for· some. sort ofapp'ropriation
h~ted c:urr.cnts of air and 'other dissipat- . to demonstrate tiy tri~l-.nd experimen.t. the

in){ iilflucnc('~ :\r(" left be-low and' a grc::iter . practicability or the magnetic. telegraph.

altitude :ut:tiucd, my j,t:m is to.st•ck as high .. We fteard in this chamber the.other night.
a~ elc-\'ation _as practiC:lbfc on th~ tOpS 0~. W~l\..,~ ~grQt .CoVent.' Of .h"Uituin •bistorf-

hrgff mnunta1h:o;, and tim~ trenc.-trate or es· W:tS being ceJebrated, that tfl.C: first .ez:~diav· .

tahlish c.-h·ctric:ll connections with · the• .• ors • o£ demonstra~ion · were absolute fail·

atmo!ipherk stratum or ·oce:ui overlying iard. · The only \Yay to know whether what.

loc:tl di!iturbaru·t·~. Upon thelie mountain . is her~ prop9sed is practicable, ~ither· for

tnps, I cn·ct suit:thle tf~\~crs :1nd ~pparatus purp~~e! of telc:g~aphy or ~qr the purp~_~c

to attract tht· clectrJcJty,-or an other .o( utahzang electr1caty Cor laght.or heat·.Sr-

words, to dist urh the clectric:al equilibrium motion, is to tzy it; and lhere is no 9Y to

and thus nhtaiu a current of electricity, or try it, I apprehend. without· sorne' c6"sid-
shoc:ks, nr pul~ation!', which tr.sverse or ~rable use of .capitaL- •J pra7· the ·House to

no uisturh tht• po:o;iti\'C. C'l<"ctrjcal body or the .. consider it favorably and allow it ·to 'pass.
atr~10suhcrc afu,\·e :pul _hch~eco two giv~d If good comes of it•. there can Lbe_..no

pornt~. by t'nmmnnlt'~atmK 1t ro the' nega- . harrn ~ ·and favomble actaon by the ~{ous~·

ti\'C clcl"trit·~al ho«ly in the t•arth bt"fow, to of Representatives ·on the bill .will signify

form the cll·\·tril':'ll cirC"uit. I deem it ex- . to-the World th~t the House is disposed l!l

pcdi<'lll to usc· :\11 insul:atrcl wire or cqn· consider, and not treat with 'derision :ant\

du~tor :t~ formiiiK a part nf the: local ~corn, every endeavor to ·better. in so01e.

nppar:uus arul for c."nruluctintc the tlcc:tric- ~ort l!le c:ondi'tir• .of individual :and 't>l·

ity down tn tht· font n( thc:·mnuntain, or as lec:tivc:. nu'ln.••

far :tw:ty as ma~· hr coiavrnirnt fnr a tclc:·
gr:aph oflic-t•, or to ut ili:r.e it fnr other

I" ·
'or

·
a,

p~r1· 0u.'~.·

' (
0

more

than. ten , •

purp,!sc-s.

•

·

,

. years, endang .an 1873, Lo(~nus-s

or "I do rant daim .any new k~yho:trd .nr .'\erial Tclegrapll was the s~llje!ct

any any but

new w·w wh:at

na·1l~potec_ao,l;:aaftli·umr·t'oa~rs>.argcmn::ctyln;rti1n1vInMgdl~tmi~nntnorutomrctllnenlltlil.\i,

c:nvrry, a11d clt·sirr.. ·to !lc:c:urc: hy lettCTs

m:my ilewspapcr criticisms. Some

'·were: (I'aspos~'1 others treated

~o 1t

n·~I1' ~\1'Ic wath th

t
e

hger·ar~ut.attt~trts,.

or patc·nt, is the utili:r.:ttion of natural dc:ctric· impor~ancc dc;serv.etL "The Was lng-.
sty fn~m t"lr,·at.t·cl pnint~ hy rns~nrc."tintc the ton pai>dt:c \ll'i a ritlc \Yerc the ttcr

c: · \ _orrp~wp~iorn_ntSa~Jllch-hyRll'c·h~s«•u·snittayohf-lnetfi.Ctch'mc•trus..lc.u~slclty:ot!o'anltltnndl-na•cl!ll•tdr-tftno'"rtr:--cgtt:v\~<i'ln~ , not

fc.. · c tlotfttioo~~ · · he,:e.

t, I

• · ..

,only as showmg 1ubhc

tc:l~graphic puqu,~u. relyinR upnn the dis· opinion on the subject •. hut as show~

tsirha~t"e pr<~chat"r«l in thC' .two t'leetrn· ing the publicity 'thc:n given to it. TI1co

oppns1t~ pJu•rc:) b

yhu:\1t1h~II,IIC(o'rrfllptll!lef.lllCo':tfrththe:antc'lUJt~lImJ{I'I.I'I\y

1 of nnt nf tht- rnnclucton fmm the ¢1ectric::d

stil"rir
cau~~

f e•vents.' followinr"r' .the• · w:tr t us.....onc o( the most uupor·

or body hciiiK iucJi,·ntt·«l upon it~ npflnsit~ or I tant mvcntinn~ the age~to be lo~t

~o,rc·o;po_ruli•~J.t tc·rmi11us, nr_11l t_l1111 prucltu·- sight of for m:my Yt:ars :, but .fntcre~·t

au.: a l"lrt:nat or t'lltnr_n_u~ut·atllln ht·twt·rn

tlac two furtlac·r

11wo; 11•tla. .urulwi:1n11·~arollrht•,a·:aalhltl·ts:lff1t.•,ryc-uonrnct·ht·et

wa~ the ('o•oru·ratin..: st:lliuns."

TIH· suhjC'cl.

:also clist'll!'iSCcl at

considc:rahlt·

lc:ug-tlr

in

tht•

I

.
louse

of

J Heprest•Jl.l ali Vl'S. 1\ciJ.:"f" Binl{hilm of

j~ no 1 t tc

wa 1·1rq(t{':t'l'\1\·ak"aen~v~~~dutina•on·th·e·:.o$f.u•bj~ttgt1boyr

'.'C,\r~~kl;:. r. ~larcon.i.

·

From the w,uh.inl(tOrl

T"dT«h'~t·oehrialplh

lnt·urporatin Company

arp1ahllee1d1-o·otmh~la·

~crlal Senate

yt·:Ut·rclay, :uul with the al~naturo of .the

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. . l:fR.' M.\I1LON. LOOUI~ ••

· 'Presidt'nt will brcomt a law. The propos•· tion ou which· the bill is basrd is to tele· gr:aph (rum .a high point o( the Rocky Mountains to .the hi~ehest attainable .peak

'

• •

• I

stand th~re is a propositioll ma~c by the

cof!!Pan)' to transmit the: aamc: a~y.ou,nt of

nfiHagea that th~ cable transmi~cM .ill any

paiL year for onc:-sixrec:nth tne n1onc:Y.

--Cl!Lhe.Alps. · -AL GKb1MMnt-•tOWfl'-1s-to be paid. .

.

, •

.

erected, on the to11 o( which an apparatus II r.; •..The House. Com-r,ll'tee 'on Com·

C"apahlc of ~oncentrating electricity 11 to be merco Gt tlicir mcc:tinl{ yesterday agreed to

put, by means· of which, it ia c:l:aimet.l, :1 . report favorably on a bill 'ntr~'"~d by

:-tratum of\1UmolSpherc will be reached of Mr. Bingham to''.incortlor:&h: the Loomis·

Jtcculiar dtf:{.(,ic sensibility. It is cl;~imc:d• Ihat tllc: sliHrt. t llulaation at .one tower

Aerial vldes

f1o'rel·eth!gero\p\.h,e

C.oofm1"t1llaenyA•.e•rTihail ~tebl\1e1grparpoh·..

will ,,r,tlucc: n c l'rre&ll.,~ula:ation :at 'r lltll3fatus invctntcd by Dt. M:ahlon Loomis'".

the othrr." ·

•

...

. the: \veil kn9wn dt:.ntist of this city. ,No

1f. "We see many comments in our e,c-· cnm~tctillt(· wires arc to be u~ed, the in-

cCuh~aunt)K:lelslyin (.rtclJi.C!laprteJnstion~.thwe iAt!•c·:ria:1rltjTficdlaclarbaapth· :

tvoenatdcrt>crtl:aalhm~'ia"lltfittuhdae!t

b~· extendfnlf It atrikC?- an

a wire ele~tric.

tcrw:t, e:ahlc!l, etc.). 1he Suntl:ty Chronic/1 C\lffl"nt wluch will. c: mmunacatc · to. all

was the
to this

afiyrssttt·mJl:,lpaenr ctlo~tdoraawd·vpoucbalitce:

attention a libcrnl

. oprtuhveirtlcwslrtchlat~tthtehoc·at'palmtal'1thqecl;kah' pt.haJfT-~h.ec=:btlwlol

. . ~ppropriat.ion by Government to put it
antn practu·:al working orc.Jct. \Vc under··

cmotqlJliooan:mdtoorlslarMa•athfl.onnec· dl;eo.do~fannlad,JiaAml~e.xaasnJdn~.r,

!
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city, P. R. Amidon of
·or Boston,: and Isa:aC:·
Lukins Delaware."
· Wertdei~·: Phillips.. :
delivered a lecture
in Bo~ton on "The·
Genius· and· Mech:1anism of the Saxon Race," and drew ~l .. _beautiful picture of what elcctridtv is ,·ct destined· to :tc-~omp.lish, in which he said: ·' ·

".\Vc ·stand to-day.."

and laboriously lay a ·
• wire to . San Fr:m-.

cisro, five thousand

miles away, and with

one: man at t':tch rnd of
the win~ send a mess:al{c:. ·
._:msl ·think- it a l{rcat

.achievement. Uut the

men at eadt end

know wh:tt is sent, and cnnlcl.·hetray tite confidence reposed in them if they pLc:ased.
\V e think we have rc::ached tJ1e goal i but
t.he palicnt ingenuity of the Saxtm bloQd, of the Yankee race, will ~c:ep :tt work until

poin't of the c:lectrical period he 'speaks ·of
than perhaps he imagines. There is ac this
moment a citizen of Washington, whose I name ·is Ur. M. Loomis, who is prepared:
.to demonstrate to any ..t:ientbt in the

as finally in your granclchilclrc:n's day it will .world the 'truth ana pcacticability of what
:wnd a mr~sage frnm San Franci5CO to Mr. Phillips advances, a mere theory. Host on without a wire. Nn 111:\n at eith~ 1, Dl". Loomis has ,:riven many of the ~est .

c•ncl 'will know \Yhat that mt·ssaJCC: i5, ancl it will run both w:iy5 a~the scune time. We :an: oi1ly touching just ·on the ccll{c or
fringe nf the K:irmcnt, ancl uncluubtt'dly rlectririty, supc:rs~dinl{ steam, ·\viii light

years of his lire to the study or electrical science, and has • proven to his own satls- .. faction, and that of o\h.crs.- the utftity of . tbis gr~at inntor as a means of c:omnluni.. ·cation of 11Jtht and hrat, An<t a thous:anrl

our houscs, J'c:rhat's lirt U!' into the air, other 1mrpose·s entc:rin·l{ into· the physical

qrry us across the world, and absolutc:l)· and mechanical ·lmlfl'.ovemeht of· mankind.

au;ake mnn the lord, without a rnovc:rnent, His plan is to r't'ach cert3in altitudes by

of creation."

natural and mechanical ;appliances, so.as tC?

form ·a connection with the natural cur-

The fopowin~ .ncwsp:tpcr com-· rent .of elc:.ctt:i~ity surroundina-. the ~ar~h

'!' IP<·nts on tlte lcct urc ·nf
- · · r·-~1-;t.(·- 1· -·

Mr. Phillips :mel an wlu.ch at floats. and, wath .the aJd
·~(f ··1-··~-···--0f-n~R'UataQ-pla~·-Of;-·11eedlu,-b--f~4l-

!'lfC O

rc:. :as s 11 JWIIlg" IC cc ll'fg • JHUH•s to Jclegr:aph front any two gaven·

at I he tunc:

points, it matters not what ·the disumc:e

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i

i~. without the :aid· of wire, cable, or the

"N() cluuht Mr. Pllillip!l, in KivillK ~x- prr~rnt artificial battery. His me:ans of

prcsaiun lu thiK ~tavc: _tt"Jt •. with. his

lii'IIUt ifni thnul(h~ UI:\Y lll'arc.•u, LhnJ hi:t lltJ(ht of.

1

•

fnrn1in~ ll
lhe- natural

eotnplcte ' circui~ . jbelwt"en
stratA.., of electricity. above

will unal(111at1o11 wa~ so111ewhat c-xaKK•·ratc:d, unci chat which i~. con~tantly •passing

allll lhar what Ill' .lh•·n proplac·sic·cl \VII~ tp tflruul(h the t":arth,

be ·by . •arti-

111" the~ work of 1111 a~c· f;tr :alw:ul o( !J~r.~ 'facial wiru conatt•rfing with the 'earth and

own; that the- reality ~~~ ~uc·h :a ciH'!1111 was the two points u( attittulc: connected with

not .dc:stint'cl for uur time-, :111cl lhaJ it !'I rev· . the elc:ctrlcity :above. ·This is much better

rlataons hrlolli(C:cl In lhc rc·c·c·ssc·~ of a far . rl(plainc-cl by :a diotKrnrn, but ·any cltc-

fnlurr. Hut w~ fc·c·l some~ priclc~ in tc·lliug triC"ian .ca11. rasily undc:rstund what we

·Mr. PhillitJS that we· ;1n• muda ru·:ar~·r the mran. Thr~~ cnnnt"ction~. onee-.eP.~l~

I
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efmr.aoldmem$~~ntt~r.n.eat'b!m'aetcxaw~~nal·UlJr~rurob.tlaO.eo.narlg:ye1-s1s-u:ftp!a~e_r.taeree-.dB~eeh,~otd~eraa~~w~,·

·

·ec1 with

·fr~-o- m

.

th .

e ·

leii_.iiy~r:-.-; New York
. . .·

Tlrliib~un-elO.-l-lo·-W--J~n.g::i_s_·;_·

. • __

·

hght and war.JD_our · bouses, · but ail 1ts -· "The man. w~o · proposes to tele~h ·

adaptability even. JUrpa• .the ·atravagaJ¥ ·without wires-·has been-·clfscovered.. He
prediction o_f Mr. fhillips. . Yes, such. is-· "l.ppear~ beforf. the Senate· yesterday as a.

ou( faith· in the irre~istiblc:~d..inevitable_....petitioner.- for- funds Jo--per:fec:t ·hii ·disc:QY•: laws 6fthe.AlmightY; that we believe this ery. -We. h9pe. ~ther. than believe·tliat he

power:fur eJement--electrictt)--Will eventU• .. 1nay have hi~ On somettling of the Utmost-

wa:r. ally become_
bet ween this

the ana

road of coinm.uiiication g.th.U....hahab.itable worlds.

. -n~out~' U;l·e·~but

he should• remember that it is of disco\i:erer, .and inventors

This .. Mal.· be stretchiq_ the .pos:aibilliy ·: t atten on:.~vernment jupport.~ .

pretty ·hzPd, but not any more to than ..: New York ·"Tiff414:,- ..A geniu~' in the

science has done heretofore. Dr. Loomis District. . of· CofuJDbi-.· ~has discovered· a

has received a charter ftQin Cengresa with meaJts of 'telegraphing without the aid. ~t corp9rate pbwers to organize a. stac:Jc.'cOm--wirea- or- cables.---..- ~:--:e-Se'natar Sumnet-

pttny to test' 'the .utility of· hia .theorj; but ' well remarked that the ·scheme. was either·

unfortunately, it is so grancl in its ·con~ep.. ·til moons&iae o.r·.ag .epoch -in telegiaphing

tion that moneyed men ·ahrink from it, and ... that" ritarJCed a most( :flonder.ful improve-.

as they· can see· no immediafe sSiYidend::.:..· · · ment in -science."· . :the: TiiMi ~ that;

forgcu~ng that there is their own-they treat. it

a as

future bexond ,.• mythical, and.---

bsaenfoaredoC'Hioanngreto~'

_ap,p'ropriates~ fifty •lh~~ ita de~lopment·, as·' prQ.·

'lorJ.tet that· there e"er' ·was a ·.~an lJke ..· posed, it' wo·uid ~ :,vep_ }O fi~<,l ~ut wliich. :.

9 Morse,
laughed

who· not .only. suffered and- was· at, but lived .(o.see the vindication :·

·I ·
· . t;J$

~·o·t

t h e

pu_rposctI

f .u:1U•'~ ~.·t:t•ac1e

of his per~everanc:e and the triumph qf his to da$parage the mgenuaty· o£. ?•gtu~r

thc~r.y. Dr. Loomia oc_c;upies· the tame ... M;rconi • or· pluck .,'a/ single laurel

po~~taon to·da>:· he lab~ra under tile_· aame 'from his brow bUt. simply to rescue

obstacles; and as restrained by aome.opposition; and' we rear th.ttl unless the Govern-

1·~om.

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g

e

f.
t u

1n' ~·ss.

t h e

ge~tU·'S,· · per:

mcnt or some liberal gaft of capital renders··· sastent efforts and dascouragmg strug-

him the ai(! rcriuired, his gr:and id.ea. wifl ·~ gle_s of t.he briglna~ inv~ntor of. the

h:n:c to w:ut for a mote enhghten~d •ge. ~ ~ystein of telegtaphang wathout wares, Tlu~ .should. nor ~e•. and we ~ope that· which involved every principle claimed

or Amcracan· pr.tde wall not ·suffer Jt to pasa
out of our hands, and the credit and Jtonor·

to

be. of

· · · tecent

dt· ~co~~ry.

.

Th , • e .mertt

be reaped by others."

.

. . tlhs gra.nd. concept!on..a~··:o.f the

._ ·4. JiNt t'et-~~ 1ts prnctacaWlity, ·made

Numerous extrn\:ts !t'om ·contem~ ;more th:m a quarter~~ a century ago;

poraneou~ publications, speakh1g in belongs. to the Uqittd States. After.

mo~t enthusiastic terms o( the dis·· 1873, until the time o£ his death in

cqvcry and urJ:ing upon U>ngress to 1884, th~ struggles o£ Dr. _Loomis;

con_~_idcr favorably thc"petition for a · single handed and alone, to 'win 'fo~

stiltable appru.priation . to enable the ·his . discovery a recognition of · its

di.;covercr to demonstrate the truth ·wor.th fornL an· tpisode in t.he hist-
of his theory, mil{ht be added to iht tory oC. Americas\ invention an~ of
a hove. Some of the lending pnpcrs crt'·:. hhman. H(e both .interesting .and pa-
thnt d_;cy, however, regarded the__~roj- •th~tic.. :

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'

MARLON LOOMIS-1872.

'0111111111

In 1872 :Mr Mahlon Loomis, an American- dentist, pro-

-

- posed to utilise the electricity of the higher atmosphere for

telegraphic purposes in a way which caused some excite-·

ment in America at the time. It had long been kno~ that the atmosphere is always

charged with electricity, and that. this charge increases

with the ascent: thus, if at the surface of the earth we

represent the electrical state or charge as 1, at an elevation

of 100 feet it may be represented as 2 ; at 200 feet as 3 ;·

and so on in an ascending series of imaginary strata.

Hitherto this had been considered as a rough-and-ready

way of stating an electrical fact, just as we say that the

atmosphere itself may, for the sake of illustration, be

divided into strata of 100 or any agreed number of feet,

and that its density decreases pro rata as we ascend through

- each stratum. But Mr Loomis appears to have made the

~- further discovery that these electrical charges are in some way independent of each other, and that the electricity of any one stratum can be drawn off without the balance being .

.

d b

ra1 d. ·b ·

i -
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f 1

m1mediately restore y a gene re 1stn ut10n o e ee-

l See, amongst other accounts, the 'English Mechanic,' September tricity from the adjacent strata. On this assumption,

8, 1876 ~ 'EDginee~ng,' April 13, 1878 ,; aDd .the Fren~h jouroal, :La which is a very large one, he thought it would be easy to

Nature, ~uly 8, 18t6. For Bourbouze a earher expertments, see La tap the electricity at any one point of a stratum preferably

Lumiere Electrique'' August 19' 1879.

· an

elevated

one

h w ere

the

h atmosp ere

·
IS

' ·· comparatively

undisturbed, which tapping would be made manifest at

any distant point of the same stratum by a corresponding

t fall or disturbance there of the electrical density ; and thus,
he argued, an aerial telegraph could be constructed. The following is an extract from his (.American) patent,
chted July 30, 1872:"The nature of my discovery consists in utilising natural

-

electricity, and establishing an electrical current or circuit

1 for telegraphic and other purposes without the aid of wires, ~
artificial batteries, or cables, and yet capable of communi-

eating frC?m one continent of the globe to another.

. ....;

"As it was found possible to dispense with the double wire (which was first used in telegraphing), making use of ~­ but one, and substituting the earth inst~ad of a wire to

form the return half of the circuit ; so I now dispense with

both wires, using the earth as one-half the circuit and the

continuous electrical element far above the earth's surface .

for the other half. I als~ dispense with all a1·tificial bat-

teries, but use the free electricity of the atmosphere, co-

operating with that of the earth, to supply the current for

telegraphing and for other useful purposes, such as light,

heat, and motive power.

" .As atmospheric electricity is found more and more

abundant when moisture, clouds, heated currents of air,

and other dissipating influences are left below and a greater

altitude attained, my plan is to seek as high an elevation as

-

practicable on the tops of high mountains, and thus establish -

J
j

~ ~

electrical connection with the atmospheric stratum or ocean overlying local disturbances. Upon these mountain-tops I J

. . ~ll~ ...... 1 _ 1_. _~...~- _~.111a1 a. ~-.~..-.._1_1~-·~

1~~ .!~b:=~=~~e~!~ ~~~~~-·--·~(1,,

~ or, in. other words, to disturb the electrical equilibrium, and
thus obtain a current of electricity, or shocks or pulsations, - which tmverse. or disturb the positive electrical body of the

-

atmosphere between two given points by connecting it to

the negative electriotil body of the earth below."

To test this idea, he selected two lofty peaks on the

mountains of West Virginia, of the same altitude, and about

ten miles apart. From these he sent up two kites, held by

strings in which fine copper wires were enclosed. To the

ground end of the wire on one peak he connected an electrical

detector-presumably of the electrometer kind-and on the

other peak a key for connecting the kite wire to earth when

required. With this arrangement we are told that messages

~ were sent and received by making and breaking the earth connection, "the only electro-motor being the atmospheric current between the kites, and which was always available

-except when the weather was violently broken."

I -

So 'veil did this idea "take on" in the States that we

learn from the New York 'Journal of Commerce' (February

~ 5, 1873) that a bill had passed Congress incorporating a

-

company to carry it out. The article then goes on to say: b ild

tall

"We will not record ourselves as disbelie\·ers in the Aerial Mu a ""!ery A towter alson

h t e

hi h g allest

willp~ak

f
0

h dt e

Ro k chisy

.

. ountams. mas , o very t ,

stan on t

Teleg.raph,. but. w. a1t .meekly and see what the Doctor will tower, and an appnratus LJ!Or , co11ectm' g e1ectn.ci•ty 1 WI•11 top

do w1th Ius brllh. an.t 1dea DO\V. that both Houses of. Con'gress the who1e. F rom t11e 1oft1' est pew_,t of the AIps will ri·se

have passed a bill

1~gtre1·ssssmaet'dn,

nt tl H\

1east, t tl1e

mdoconroptortalut.mnkg p rest'dent Wl'l

lau.mcomwhpoanllyv

fvot.rs.toh1nmnr.y;

Con.and

l s1· gn the b.. ill ; all of whI'ch

anoth.er very . tall tower and d1't.to .mast, w. 1'th electncal affair. At .these sky-ptercmg heigh. ts

1•ts Dr

corona.1 Loom. ts

·
IS

some

• •

evi'dence

that

at· r

te1e0grap11y has •

ano t her

s1'de

than

ecolencttenn.cd.tstyt;haant dhewewicllanrneoatchsaay

stratum that he

owf .ialltrnloota.dedTwheinth,

the nd1culous one. The company rece1ve no money from

Lthoeom.G1·os vpe1rannm, e1•nt tI·,S

.asnodmeaths1m'~ gnoton. et.h1' sAescur ewcet-.aunndderresatadnedrs

the are

estahi"Ishing h1' s ground-wt·re connect1' ons the same as m·

ord.mary messages

tbee1tewgreaepnhst,hehemafsete·1tsopcso,ntfhideenet1ecthtraiftiedhestcrca1ntumsenodf

cau.tione.d n.ot .to laugh too b01steronsly. at It, as also not to a.u mak"mg the c1.rcu1•t comp1ete. The m· ventor c1:u·ms to

-~ behave m 1t till demonstrated.

- The

mventor

proposes

to

h ave

prove d

the

feast'b1'l1'ty of

th' IS

gran d

sc11eme on a sma11

scale. We are told that, from two of the spurs of the Blue

Ridge Mountains, twenty miles apart, he ~ent up kites,

using small copper wire instead of pack-thread, and tele- -

graphed from one point to the other."

At intervals in the next fe,v years brief notices of the

Loomis method appeared in the American journals, some

of which were copied into English papers. The last that

I have seen is contained in the 'Electrical Review 1 of

n'farch 1, 1879, where it is stated that "with telephones in

this aerial circuit he [Loomis] can converse a distance of

twenty miles," to which the editor significantly adds a

note of in_terrogation.
The fact is, however. much 1\Ir Loomis and his vVall

Street friends believed that dollars were in the idea, the

technical press never took it very seriously. This is shown

by the following cutting, which we take from the New

York 'Journal of the Telegraph,' March 15, 1877 :

-

"The never-ending procession of would-be inventors who -

from day to day haunt the corridors and offices of the

I~~~........r-~ ~ ~ ijtjni i::ri~ai:::.:·; ~p;p:;.;; ~

Electrician's department at 195 Broadway, bringing with j

-
-

He announced that that much-talked-of great discovery of a few ye8.rs ago, aerial telegraphy, was in actual operation right here in New York. A. M. Palmer, of the Union Square Theatre, together with one of his confederates, alone possessed the secret ! They had un-
fortunately chosen to use it for illegitimate purposes, and our visitor, therefore, felt it to be his solemn duty to ~se them. By means of a $60,000 battery, he said, they trans-
mitted the subtle 1luid through the aerial spaces, read people's secret thoughts, knocked them senseless in the
street ; ay, they could even burn a man to a crisp, miles
and miles away, and he no more know what had hurt him • than if he had been struck by a flash of Iightning, as indeed he had ! 1 The object of our mad friend in dropping in was mP.rely to ascertain how he could protect himself from Palmer's illegitimate thunderbolts. Here the legal gentleman, lifting his eyes from 'Curtis on Patents,' remarked:
a 'Now, I'll tell you what you do. Bring suit ~aainst
Palmer for infringement of Mahlon Loomis's patent. Here it is' (taking down a bound volume of the 'Official Gazette'), 'No. 129,971. That'll fix Palmer.'"

--

In conclusion_ of this period of our history, it will suffice to say that between 1858 and 1874 many patents were taken out in England for electric signalling on the bare wire system of Highton and Dering, with or without the use of the so-called " earth battery." As they are all very much alike, and all unsupported, so far as _I have seen, by any experimental proofs, it would be a tiresome reiteration to describe them, even in the briefest way. I therefore content myself with giving the following list, which will
1 Thia lunatic must be still abroa.d, for we occasionally hear much
the same thing of the diabolic practice~~ of Tesla and ~[arconi.

be useful to those of my readers who desire to consult

them.

Name ot patentee.

No. and date ot patent.

B. Nickels.

2317 October 16, 1858.

A. V. Newton • A. Barclay.

2514 November 9, 1858. 56 January 7, 1859.

Do. J. Molesworth • H. S. Rosser W. E. Newton H. Wilde Lord A. S. Churchill. H. Wilde

26:3 687 2-'33 1169 2997 458 3006

January 28, 1859. March 18, 1859. October 25, 1859. May 11, 1860. N ovemuer 28, 1861. February 20, 1862. December 1, 1863.

Do. T. Walker.

2762 October 26, 1865. • 2870 November 6, 1866.

Do.

293 January 23, 1874

-
--
--

-
-
--
-

l

. .'PU\ :·1lp. &ll- &alaau>:wben·~-l\ :

.-p& .at-a]tUI'!.O ~ft!lA'PtiM•

.&a4~e_rr~l'.L•h• jiow AL01lft8ai~~---•u_e.D.d6=ilfttdb::=:::~::;::

7011. ~-~· ·ae84~·a~a.\:.• ~----~.-.-. :··-::·· ~-·-·.- ;:- -~ -..:- ~ .. •~: :~··.; ..-~ ·.... ·.~ r. \, --~.,~- :•

~

r.c;·:..t •

-·· .•....~ r' . ..
h&a .woitked tor .me

. .::'-·.
IIIIUi ·

·;·-
•· -

• rs p~ .'. . • D . ac :- -:~•%1!~~ • a q-wi:\!t-~ch ·a·:·

,m;_, de•toe at p~aeat. r~-. ua!nw \~,,.\em 'G-tlact·out thlaga .•

about the .u•lde_Dt!fl•ct noiaea

laterf'•n w! t.h r&dio. reoe!nnc.

and &bou~ .,adl~.t aad a\~t·to.· .'1'~• ·one- I ~ w~r~lq· wl\h -aow l• .·

'l1l~errul)t~cLlJ-7'.-a.._litUa...co.ppeZ.-'W•~·r-W,heel·.~-~\~-Tctl\a~e -:-- .-

i a ~o~· -~he cur~nt. cns~y ...a~ac!lar'ge~. from .the &nte~J.DA ·thl'O-a.g~ the

~ongea~__p_~'!l~_.!.! __ the wheel.·· Whell··the ··•ol\age· la. hl'!h-·1\-;f11Jna - -· ·
al_l tour • .- Soma of ua oaa hear ! t click:at our ·rece'l•lag atiatloaa aon'bdeo~r·Yte-r_AIlDai1~dh~earoec-f ow_hrl!·~t-.t--.l; ts-.-h- ~- A.- ",- P- l:- J-- 8- D~~ lr-~- ~~----)- o--Df----- t~- h~-e-~-~..1Lt-~!-~d~~!.1•'o._}.~_.c-•~··• ~-.~.•-.-• ~

At·IM8]'here h7 ·set,ti1l~ U]) D~roua 'Loomis "&1l\.8iUl~ w!th·c1o~k. . . o,eiat.ed spaT~ gal'• lfa•illg ·_ d_'l tferen~ t..imali i~te~TUpti~ll~e:-J.a·-a·· ·

- -large· c_~r~le arouJSd hlm azacl h1s reae.l•lq av,.ratua. , . ,-!~:·

. .
_....,.,..-

•. . . . \."

•

•

..

.

• I

. ""
. .

· ·
. . •· .':'•;
·

"I~·tnot~man ~n•e\~rat.~ starr reader·, '\~t ao far._a.a·.,I ~. __.t!a,._~~a

w?

. a. ·

~&Ye

Crf'~~trlooked
.

·t.he. ·l'o•.•· 1111.litlea:

·ot

\h• . .Looala· a~e11na. .,

-

•

• •

:

•

•

••

•

•

•

----

.-- -

•

• •

•

•

0

•

•

• •

••

•

•

••

"Loomis WftS "itwe.y ahe&d of 'his t..lme.,. P.ia 'J)&t.eDt was· DO\ .O~l7·,0r. ·-

C,~1UlfC&tl~ without wires. O~t- fqr t&k!~'electriclt)'·f~om·the'·--.

atmo-.phere. ··Pe ·ap1)'"ttntly dld not re&~ois· tLOC·O~d!Dg to~-the· radio_·.

~heory,

'but

the

ide" .he- 1'"-te~~~~~~tk•

t

h

A

t

2 wAy'.

"~--~:-

__

----::-r~-----

~~-· _

(lifot.e:

Pe-rh"-"P.• he d ld reAson eolDewhat aacGrd!Dif \o the .

."rac!to theory". .rn nr- ~o~m~t•••. :ttt·ary' •• f1ad.'\he· f~ll~w~'ll~! ~.' .. - -··

"Tlte ea!"~h Ia like \he laalde of A ·le).dan:jar, ··and .\ha

11-l'"Oer strAta of "he· R\111081''181"11 like \he ou\afde -of A leyden jar;

...

•

,

0

..

•

0

and the t'ii\.,rYeD1'1l~ air lt.ke· the iflaas ..of. a leydeD jar.".-

•
: ·

....

:,:...____ ---· ! - • ..

,._••- .. ~~. . • • •:: ::-~.~ . ~

}18 BAld h8 ~oped to be •.ab.!e- to a_••· \he 11SeCODdttr)" OUrr4Jat."• • .. :

A.nd ,,, deaoribe.d what took plAce. a• "electrio WATea".

'. .

. :

-· ........... ·--·-.···,..-··' --

( liar7 TexA.JlD& Lo~m! • ),
·.\ ..

• .

.'J'w8·1«tn~-.,.~•~ine ar,tolea tellia~r-•~o'l"y o' ,_hl_oa-~~~~,.ared-

a ~..,~~~ ~ o 11 ~wa t .

, ,,

• · •·

!•

: \

I •

RADIO lrzlrS, Jfo.,e"'ber, 1922, arttole.._by S. Jt. Wla\ers . "

_,.

:,

\

WIJ~ELl!SS 'J1AGA7.IlfE, London. ?!nKlaad, May, 192A,· b7 Jl'ranala llo\t ··

-
I -I
-'

';r1rf•P,.:.a-a......"'~.~.......,...."'~.~ llll,....."....,....-•--·"1111t•~

-~

'

.

- . ~

--

:~oa .

· p·~nla\lo-. .

-Ji»~•.'b'~t~:tlnpo~£Jn.~aa1.~ta;;:1-li~~a-o ~-~~'~;~~~~~~;=~~~~:~~~~~~.

-the lt,..,a\191l whioh haa-·aow \raaa:toftlacl-

··

.•~cl~wMob.".18·;: .-~f~~~-

.. ooaa!clen~ .t~- gre~J.··' eleo\r.!oal' 1••~\to~·:of ~.~....,. -~&r;.··;· .. ..!:' ~

.af .:..or~ .. IOC.la waa \h!r'z ;!••. ah8.a \he r•allaa, 111i~eeata .. Wile

Seaat.e•a reooria P~•~l\,

.· . -~-·

·~~ ~ '.:

. . WASH_ING'!O' -~-~~G ·S~ -: _._.· '_~;_:_~---- ~-~----:~

. . I·

.

.. · A'Pril 30, · _-:_ .1909 · ·. ···

.

..'

.. . -

'i.

,

.

'· - ·--·. ·

.

WID'£ESS VIA ~Ins·

.

. .

.• •

. · .. ~

'. . t~; . . -- ..

Wfreless telegraphy· without the u•e ·of a'Peoial lnat.rumen\a may be

_poasi ltle by eX'P8TlJMDt 110.. l'l"ctjeoted. oatald·• of -Waalilzag\on. . Old· ~esid~nta will ~~co~leo~ \b&\.for\7·1'••rs ago, before ·etthe~·~coai or Pertsi&D ·w&Tea wer~ ·e•er heard of. ther' ~&a &~ lD Waah!Dgton· named Kahlon Loomis.•. wh·c;· d•al~re~.~ \hat·· h4 had_ aolYed·. ~Jl!. p~bl~ ..

of tranam! t~aloa· wi thou\ wires '\h!"ougt\ ralalng 1n t.ea to & .~rea\ . ·.
R.lti_t.ude and t:.-.l~grAl'hin~ :)a,_tween l.hem. · 'l'hi·a. atoz:y ·~·· beea.r~~~rred

• -
I

to.preYloualy ill \he· Star.· tooad•-hlmaelf. will be.reaolleated ly

.
aome

ot

the

olde~ ·waah1J18toi&1&Da~

ll•

~l&t• '~d-

that.

I
·he-:·h&'d

.

~ I

•

t.raaaiaitt.ed

·

mesa&~... .4oo mi lea •. There waa ao mach~ 1'nter'ea\ ·ln h. la W.. CJi'k at ihe

.. time thR.t a S'Pealal· bill was 'P&aaed ln CoDgTeaa tqco~poratln~ a
com~an7 t.o oR.rry out hla pl~n•.

.•

. ~

-

'l'h.la OOIIa'P&DY waa wreaked la \b. J)&Dlo of. 1973 • . -W~t.hiilg ·-~·· waa :~. .. ,.......

thought of the mat.~er uDtll Marooal demoaat~at.ed the poaalblllt.7 of

wl'releaa t.ran~~1~st~n • ·• ·• . •

,.

, ..

I -

T~e ad~e'a.t..~~, the box k1~• ..~ t~e ~t.ten\lon_ ot.ao1e1l~·1t1o meri·be~n~··

t~l"ned. ~o ·k~te fl7in~t .a~ ,h~~h alt.ltud•~•--l~:..waa. to~ad..t.la.,t. a a_trong .·

curr~~tnt of eleotrlolt7•&• geaeratetf, eapeclalt7 when·\he ld\e waa

flown by wt~ft 1Dete~d of co~d. !he Weat~e~ ~r.au ta· at P~•••a'
a"ndln~ up box ld\•• aYer7 day at. Mount. Wea\har, Va., ·atad. haa to-Dd

:it necessary to uae plano wire In f'l7lD~·\bea J!-t rre":~.... ~lid\t.·a •. :It·. ···. ~­

WAS found,· alao,. t.hat. l t wAa Deoeaaary•t.o laaulate the ~ el ·on ~1'l!oh \be

~~...

wtr~ waa wound, nwln~ t.o th~ atroag ourreat.· that. waa broa!ht ~o~ tro~

. d.-,:., the t1louda, eYen on olear

when t.httr, .~. an: ~~veara~o• ot. a at·~~~·

.

. . ..

nox-kJte flyln~ haa reoeDt.17 beeD \rled b7 Paul"Swol'•• .. naldea\ ot

Falla Churoh, who h~• but\\.& Dumber of auah kttea and. flowD \h••·· · ·

~artl7 for Amna'I!_D_eD~-~~~--.P~~-l_r_~~_!':_~oleat.lf!o o~••"•'io,a, :·'·He hat

utlllwlaK U touDd auoh a at.roD~ ourr•nt brouR"ht.· 4oWD \he wire tlu~_,_·Jta.~li•~&IM

!:::;;::~:!~h t.he po,a~l.ll\7 ot

hdel•~-'Phlo ,....

.

....i

j ~

.

... ..

~

~~ ·~·-~=~.-=~~·t1J 1.1.~~:~::1_1~·

-

-

. . .. ... .

- ...:~SC·.IJ.:ft.·IF.IC

Ala:aiCU
. ....

rs'UPPI..m·;-m- f.t

.•0.

~

.1834

.. .. r

.•
.

•• • •! ·•

• . ·.~• ·-!,X.·?....,

-- ·-· ----- . . ---- .-- ---~~~:_-~~f-. ~~1~~:~~j~~-- ._~...·-~ . ,~~- .~ . ~:~~~:. _:_· _>·~T~·~

(Dnund copy ayatlabie to· publ!a' ln the i.lb~arf-~t. Coll~aa.)_..~ • . -.·

~-

.t· ~- ,•~ : t -":'-- ...

0
: · - · - . •- - - · - : ' - · . - - - : - - .- . - .' -. •- - - : · - - -:-::::·

•• ·~\ .., 1 . ~t-:J.;:l

'!A' ~UL~· PROJJI!C'l' ~~ '~DL~s· ~z~EG~.· . .. ~:I·•. :: ~

'

•

.

.

•

. .

.

. • : '.!, .. ·.-i: :'

"It wi 11 · probab1;r· be .Dewa to 111oat readers. \.hat ~ wire1eaa. \ele~&-ph ":'- .•

com-pi.ny waa t'noorpo.zatecl l;y .act· of· Coap~,.~ . .l:r.l.: ~~··· :r•~r _ia?3. :.··.!be :: ·.. .

cOmpu7i corpo~atioii .... · •!l!~~tle~ :'the.·r.o~..-...Aerl•l, 1'elepa1th~

·.~ _"!\~·...:

.

merabf!rs· Chamberl

wer·s: Jl AlD ot

t,hlon Waah

Lo011d'at'· Alez&ader~r -P.
lq\oD, .P. -P. ·Mn~cloll

l

l1o Of

,t. !'

1
o

-ad·· atoD,

Wlll
·.&Del

tUI --•.--~--~·-~
·taa!·ah-~I.~1re!l~:'7·

0

•

• ~

•

I

I,

•

•

•

.,

•

•

of•Del8W&re. and to !nar•"

I\ •'·

•• \he

•

~P-•-~lt~ot·S~2.,\qoooh,o&' oYoe

& oaplt&l atoak
lf 'u la\erea\

ot.
~f

t.20,0,0.00 ..
t·he .. oa.,&Jl7

.
··

. should be re,'.ut Ped. _ · · · ·• .

. · . · . · · .· ~-- · ' ' ·•

.~ ·.. '

• •
I
I -

-

-

•

•

•

• .

.
• 01,111"''·..

~

.w.-hiact• for
-··. •

~7·7-&ra.:·' .. • --·

:·"·:."'.·..~~..~~ ;-~-·.-··­J·-·

~·Loomis_. was of :aa lBYeza\1~' .t.ln-D o~=~_lld •. a :cl~·. ad

. ----

·a~parentl~ bad &D eztr~=-17 ~ltt1~.~\ \l~• tia&AolaL17·~-Pro~a)l7 ·. · ~

·the JIIBjOF pari O.t his illaome we'D\ ..-!.ato Jda ezMriJMD\a. He .hd 'a· ·.. • ,.

•cle: : ?~geta'ble -sa?deD: l_a.Spr~1i.rt1el_ci ~hicli·u r!rp~·•p with 'b11?.1ed· wli-es ·· ·
for e~ec_t?ioA.lly·· heatlq ·.t,he-"M11-.-\o .a C;.-na1Jl ;(aaperature. P.•

1 b.~lo~n~ ·~hlah ·~r• heaY1lT .. co&te4_w! ~lLB~~ct..p~_!n\~ ·. ·;..& a coDd1lc\oJt.---

-

jJt .elec~ri~i ty, . with ~hlch lie hoped .\o. o'b~&lll eleot-r.! c. ))o.P•~· froril·.

. .· _t_h_e_..__a__ta,a_~p-h--er-e •. .

..:,__ .....· . . .:.~---.· -------.. . . .... ·--------~--..
.

... -- · ~ .·.

·--;··-;:-..· ·-:---.-

... .. . . .

Dr. Lnomi • •rote· that the ·11u'J)je'!' · strata· ot•.the &t.moaph~re.. 11 a n-eat _... :

e 1actrlcn 1 "•~"-. ·.:nt·a. ~ert&llll1 ~aDtlo!~atea · t)le· '"Pa&Yi S"111'• .laye~". . · Pe use~ kt t.ea fo?" aertala 'Aild oa.Ile~ ·h~a _•7ate~ aerial· ~alepaphy. ·

- - ... : t"irty years b'efore ?larcoil-1 · "iDYentad . tMe ki ta aerial•~".· .

"

. .·.

. . ... . . : ·•. . ..· .'·

.-· ~~ :...;:..: ·-~. ~~-. ~- -. -. .· - ... _:- . . . ~ .

• •
I

Dr. Ro·R•~"•• of P,-at.t.a?i l1a, sale! .''He:1i&cl~th.a:..a.ztt&l :·.. --,h~r•-1• ·IIG::- .... ...:.-.-
doubt_;about ~-h~t-~. ~· :ua~d t~ _'hans )~Dg. Jll:eoe.a. _o~ copper ·wire fro·~~ ··.. · ·

-~:.a ]!.1.':!'~!~~~~- ~~·~- C~ppe~ Wir_ea_ \?"OUJht .-~~~ll- !_~~~- t~~~~~-~·.'~~~ ..:._ ·:.'r.~··.

. . . . . . ... .. ··=-- .·.. :. .:...·. -- . . _lo~er end a. always hact .. t·o -be· grouDded ..11 . · -r ·• ... . · • • . .•. •

~.

~

. _ •
-~···

!hte~rds. ~f t~.e ft-lJ~~us· ·uiuid_- lD·. OOJ111eotto~.·~{t.~ t.he~'f· ·gr(,'u~c!ed: ·.... · . •

aeriAls &re Tague •. · Apparently the taduotlon coil• ~so-metimes ·

· ·

employed t wl t.h ··~ -Mor~~ ·. 'el~«raph. )(ey• .'~n;: ~ "~~der: ·\he· r.e~el-.:l~g ..

-

---s~t-a!_t1i1ozin_~.·g__Paot~wpe'Y!~,rt,~~rhici•

~A.Yorite
~leotr!o.!

t·my8tf.ohrodh·i~'ae:1cma~~\noi"~haat?leoz~i...

·.. ~tehra~.\&pqat·

· ·.

·

•o t. hi a ...,. •. bttcf\aae he .,ad 1! tt.le moiley to d.o tiJiinga ti'!,tll. lii t'ta · •·
at a.i~pleat form,. thfa ma·t)\od. CoDa{'a)~d me~el7. COnDe.o~iDg a· .• ~·

P:" lYf'n~meter betwe~~ ·~he. aeri.&-1 wire &nci. the: ~round. •t/' the trl'tia-:· : ·.

mftt..l"nR and &t thfll reoelYlng e!ld of. the. ".llue•~ •. ·. WheD atraoapl'lerio . :

el·e-ct:r"!oi·t.7·· ~a~. ~b.ai-~ed 1 -~~·· _ga~~~~t~z:. ·~~~~=-~-~~.:..c!.~[,~.~~-!1~-•. ·· --J..~ . ...~

·Then, by t,_Jc.1n~ the •1r~ ~~io\i,..baa.' ~,l.ila8 become kDo,u _.&a- t_he ·"lef!d•!n'"•

-

tt:nd 1'1A.kln~ p'nd brea.Jdzig_· the clrO'Gi t from· \he~· &6rial: tl'\:.=oae·~-~~'"'-:-

R"l..-&aomitter binding post a, he .cAtJaec:t hla ~·d1St.u.Mance--ril.t1te ·

.· :-

_ eleetri~sl. e<tul'iibrt.fsm of th• ~\mos'pl\ire." &Dd,·· .&CC~rdhlg to .. w.it.Deaa~· ·..
. o~~.a.Ord.-\'ous~eiClle of t.he 'gal?ano~_ter ..at__._th~ ::r_e~eJ~t~g ·~.·~~-~q_~-~·.

waa d.ef'leeted In 'duplicate•· Thla could not;· ot coar~e·, "·'be c:ona_lde_~:ed ·,

a~ ""elf! cleat ·me thoa -:·c; r· t.el4g!'a'PhiDg;-_-1nlt. ·~i \ -w~.o.at;· .cezo~&in.!.7 t.,• · ::.::1:

tlrat t'hlDg ot the kl~d, ualag an ele?ai'ed airia1. tor. r&diatlllK ·

:.

·-· .. - eleotrle W&Tea 1

&nd W~B
...

t,~; ;orerunner 0~ ~derD radio

.. h

. •

...,., . • I.

C~maanio&tio~.

•

.•

•

•.

.

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. .. . . .

.

. :

.

-..ir.· ·Me.h1on Lonaai a-made~m&n7 _attallq).ta~ia_.fi.Da.DQ.ej~..il~-~r.J'.ru_e of ·.

'reot!Dg hla high.ml!lata ia.nd towers for·the .auppor:t .ot hla e-.riala~·

.A.lso· ~or earr7i Dg hi a f de& of uti 11 zing. atmoaph•t"rto. ~le.c\riei ty.•. _·

J~ I~ lneiatln~ h~aft :~·~spht~ho,.~oot.O·t.~ag.wl~~~·\ ~· ·-~~I -
I

~

A.fter a lna,- &nd dl-aoo1iraginR· struggle, dur't-ng wh~_oh--~~T -people---.~-
called h tiD ·A· crank, ~nd during Whlah· l\la"t•lte ,l,-r\ hfm OD ,aocouG\ o i her b" li" t t h&t he w&•· Or&sj, •" 7hag ''lfe 111111• t. lte ~&•t •.: "!or 1ut •.

keep•

t:;

~ -

-.~ -. 1-l:,1:.::!e-:=xl ~!:.z":l-1 ~'

-
-
-

~·.!· eake i5a 1r! th:--.-rteo\ auoaeaa,"'lte~ .

wo···m.'lea ·..

&l)&ri • . I am· Do aoieil ·

f &Jid ha•e-1tu,~11t.''l•.launrleclp·.:

ol~&A.~~a.g!~,oe'~·o~1fo~a~7~•·J.mS&oD•'o

aa.7_~~ !1 m,~~a3~h~e-a~-:~.._~i\e8-l~eopBt1~a~p~~nl~:.~~~~~·~;!:l~.:.J:r:•'•::•.·~t·.~~·t.

7

'.'·;
.•:

two Yitssela,, •• I ullders\azad It, ••• it.a• fol-la.a •. ·· .i~·.....~ ......;...~.· i.~.·-·: ;.:··· ·

. I

• • ·--~ •

-

• •.

, •

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·. •

... ..- .. -
. . . - -

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w1.•• "On each Tease! waa a teleJ.tr&})h1o·-&ppa.ztaba; ··. A

, . • . · - ::.:..~ ·t-·. ~ •

.,..· •....

.

. ..
,~w' aa _.

·-

'
.

att&ch4d to the !natrimen\ &Dd ou ezact .\b.rGn._.lat.o..'.f.u··:_W&te~. r:_

to a -mode~'-• lhtpth•__...ADGthed~a11l~\~d-..·lr.:..-.!-zrw•'•~~r

waa let down to a. grea\·de~th. into a· oold•r a\ra~u.-o~ wa\e~.-.-. ·
· 'l'he ·two,' ·~rata o~ wat_!~· ..c. ;·r d~~!·.~·~' ·,\•~•rata~~·· ,.\h11a .~ •-~·::~·

oonneo.~e_d to t. he aarne 'bat~er7, ·ru.de-·• ootSpl•'•~TJttu.. •ad.. . ..

... . . . ~nabled ·'qaanunlcatT.a·D

to. ·

pa••· 'be\wee~a ·t.he .\w.o

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e .

a

a

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a

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tee!

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.· ~mplete.. ••~oeaa .••

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(Notes 'hr. JAmes Har-r!a Ho~era,·.o-t H'7&ttaYllle. ·ll&r7l~d •..

·"in•snta1"". ar ·the undergrouad and a·Dde2' wa\er r..ua _of ·~edlo . .
oai'II'IIUnloatlon, TerT Ksnero11•l7 iaY.. ored.l~ \e Dr.'*r,o.oa!a.-for,.
hi~ idea. He t_ald_ me .Jn peraon~----'-~~~--~~~!_;. . Dr,..;.~~~~

Laoad. s YtJ1"7 "ell,· \hat. Jle. peraoD&ll7· \ook Dr • .toocala .\o th• \ : ·

Smith•oDJall Instl\ute and· lD~~oduoed hlm \o ~ .,, ••ecu \o·:. ...

me that tha -peraon ~as Joseph lfenrJ·.---Ii£'.etrb&'L:.tEI1'•~~-"'~·

Le...br~a.:u-*P4~1tt1f~O?\ •••· Dr;. ltoc•~·~al.s~ _·

·+.:_ oto;l'dcomaneunilnoap.etrlaoo~Dunffrytt-,.pwlaasildtr

ona :tldd

ih·u'.~~.J~.oro-a!t&i ''af!\~J~,·It~'~A~D·.d!_!'h_e~·~t1h'e;~.~.{)_~~~~..:~~~

1\A•.• ide& tandNnentAllT ri~ht. 'l'o this 'da)" I

DeTer ~··~ _-~lll.•. ;-.:

to 1mp1"oT!t upol\·tt, and.the wlrea lftst be ot dlfft!~•a\ ·\_•Jli\?'.,,.L

t~ wo-rk auooessful.l7... nr. nogera ·was ··referiln~ \o dlno\l1t11al,

oornmuDloat.l aa •

'· ·

· ·· . ··

. ··

,..•·. ·.r ·.

,.

·

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~r~r~-~-~~~1111~~~-l-l~~

-
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"l!!~!:::;~:~~!f;.~;i; tecure~nr~~Lc~u ~~-c-,-:-~· w1tfi ·-pr·:aretltuci:t:fds··.~. ~~;;~~:W~~~~~~J~~~ trom_,~, ·•elenUst.. ·

• ;; --_.;... . - .:. .,... . : -~ - •.; -l

~- _-

·· ·.
~ ":

Thirty
...~·

Ye-a.r.s:.

·Ago.
·:-~ '..

· ·

.-· ;
..... ·..

-~

·:
.

WORK~~-Qt- ..A_ WASHINGTON MAN

~ia:llY .'the· telegTaph

ceeded; however; tn enlls ot severaL congressmen and ·

ing by actual ·expe.rtmettt in

1872 . b)· telegraphing between

stations fourteen mfles · ..

a .

wbyireesl,e"v'ant

isnpgu

rs
&

koift et hoe n'Beluaoc·h

1~~~~~~~~~j~;]
·~

strfng ot which was small

Messages w·ere · Sent O·ter a Dis-
tance of Twenty Miles~
· t:ooMi!
~AHLOS kE''~TI?' DI::COYE.G.'i

tached to & galvanometer,

lytr:~ ln water. . ·.·

, · ·:-. :..

In the Wasilfnarton Chroritcfe ber 10, 18i2, the following ~ppe:ar.s.;

"Professor Loomis has the true

It w:fll e\·entuaJly revolutionize the system ot telenaohy. · --: ~ · . ·, . -
"Loomis' aerial Sl"Stem has Ju~t been

on lines vf different lengths,· wtth but perfectly &atis!actory, result

. s .

.·.·c.•''"'"'•<=••·l

Une. ?' -!00 miles. lineal distance (800

"ll"dtt'" ' " Tb• E""'"< S"or by William Ion" II·
Ubet't-
The recent ·~tonder!ul achievements o! lf. 1
:\Iarconi ha\·e attracted \\"Orld-wide atten- I
I tion, and our own ~'>\'ernm~nt ha3 just se-
cured hi.:> personal l!er•:ices· !or the uppllc~- 1, t1on o! his ln•:ent!vn t•> pro,·ide communi- '

circuit) the tests were perfe·ctlly

tory at an elevation ot 2,100

a· : mountain eleva,.tlon ot 1,200 teet

.

1 and results were v~ry-§'trong at _disti::Lilc~:l

i ot tourt.een miles. These expe1:-tments

: made Slmply by kires covered with

Ilight gauze wit'e ot copper, held- wt
I 'l:'er_; fine Strfng 01" tether Qf the SalDe

terlal, the lower connection With

end o! wliieh the ground

tonned by lytng

·.an

~ativn betv:een K~:,· \Ye.st an1l Havana. an•l
to extend It to all the \\"est Inure,;. In some l]uarters it rs said th~t tbls Is a
no,·~i tm·ent.icm. nl!,·er b~!ore dreamed of.

co-l·iT~I-no

a oonl of '1\"ater. galya.nom.:>ters werl!

· In

· .·-· circuit eon:

nectf•)ll at tho! two di!Terent ets.tfons and

each lm!>uls~ or lndlcn.tion was a.a pe

as. t_hat ot the ALlantlc cable,

and th:J.t l·l:tn:nnl !s th.: tlrst t.) p1·opus~ it.

qutrmg VP.l"Y nic~ manfoulatton."- ' ,,

Ott:.!r~ cla!m that it ha;; long been knfJW!'l to b.: !~:l~lble, an.l experiments are r•~!crreu

The Hartford, Conn., Times, In calllrig ten~lon to the subject, said: · ..._

I tQ by n:any sc:.entlftc lnve~tlgatcr.3 In the same line. t"ndvubteuly oC this latter da.ss 1 our oy·n Prt.il. Jo;;~ph Henry v.·oulu hold

·

For T-wenty liUe". _

"Loomis built a kf_J}d ot ~ telescopic--

at the top ot two ·nfgh h1Utops, ~'

tirsc plao.:e, !or h~ demvn,;trat~·l in 1S-t~ th~

twenty miles distant, and frorti

m01king ot signals from constde'rable dis-
tances anti through many obstacles. But lt Is not my purpose to discuss the
scienllti~ asp£cts o! the case. but to !urni~h purely hi.storlc:ll !~cts and to pro,·e

up a steel rod, b:r which a ceitain
current .ot ~lectrfcitlo-' was -r~ached. ·.
m6nths at a·ttme he has been abie 'to
to graph !rom one tower to ano'ther.·'. ~.
Of late he has done ali. his talking

that l!ahl•m Loomis, an American, and a. citizen o! ~·ashiugton, Is entitled to a large share o! credit.

assistant, twenty. miles away !rom the connectfon being aert:ii only."··~
Thus his great claim was proved .. <!·:monstratlon ou;;ht to· na.vP.

~eurl,- 'l'birty Years .-'.go•.

prevailll"g skt!ptlcl~m as to the

Or. the 3t)th of July, 187:!, a patent \\·as

granted by the t:niteu States go\'ernment
to Mahlon Loomis ol ~Vashington, D. c.,

tor a new and lmpro\'ed mode o! telegraph-·

In~. :Lnu o! generating llgllt, heat anu mo-

ti\'e pow~r. This patent decl~res the ln-

I 1

ventlon natural

or dls-:o\'ery to consist tn ut1liz!ng electric::}· and establishing an elec-

1 trlcal current or circuit Co)r teleg:-aph!c and

1 other purpose,; without the aid o! v.·ire:!,

: artitleial batteri"'s or cabl'!!s to !.:>rm such · circuit. It w-ns further de:>cribed as dl~­

pensln~ with the t:sual \\"Ires and In using

the earth as one-halt the circuit and· the

contlnuou~ electrical element tar abo,·e the

earth's s·ur!ac'! lor tho! oth~r part ot the

circuit. The means pro\·hlctl tor reaching

the uppP.r stratum o! electricity was the

erection o! towers, high poles, kites or

other apparatus on rn.Juntain or hilltop.s or

1 ele\'ateu pl<!ces. ·

·

The use ot vertical "'·ires wa.~ requlr~u to

conduct the,electncity !Nm tho:! upp~r a.t-

mospht!re to ordinary telegraphic .Instru-

ments at the e:Lrth's surface; the Interrup-

tion o! continuity of the tlu!d at one end

being recrJgnized a. dl:Hant point.

by

a ..similar apparatus . .- _ .- ·. . • ·

at 1'

'l'his broad c' - n o! utilizing ruLtural elec- ·

I_tprutrdptoys~!sro,m. grou.t:td ..S' ,.,.de. ar-
' ...

t~e~dmpotloot.3cc

• -·-

telo>a-rapllf.., · whole:j

telegthp

' ·pre- '

.'0\"er ad

':Jl\·e- ·

~::_:__,.\!'

- :;~

his discovery.

-- - -

Som~ time bc!or~ he had secured

ent Loomis had memorialized Ccm1rr~~ss
an appropriation~ ot $:i0,000. to estabUsh the pract1c;3-b!Uty ot _...,.,.oslr...-.;':'1

telegt·aphy.

· ·. ::.'· · · . •. ~ .-. · ···: .

llr: Charles_ Sqznner, ·iri. prese-ntltig

pcttt11m tn the Senate, said that "It fs

talnly a great caso o! moonshlr:e

marks an epoch In the ·progress 'lf

to' as tlon.. "

.

·~

·_-,, __ ·_··.·.·

.After. considerable discussion

appropriate reference 1t .was ·1·eterred

the commit tee. on patents. ·.:-:- __ . •

Senator Pomeroy ventured to lndor3e

Loomi:i scheme. He said: "I believe

I have seen t\\·o- or three experiments

I think there Is somethlns- In lt. I ba.ve

!cen It tested In a small wny .and I am

Inclined Alter

to think re!_erence

It l\'111 to_ the

scu~cmcmelettde."e'

- -· ·on ·p£

ents It was .succe~stvely referred to· committee on co~merce and fhe committe~

on to1·e!gn relations. from tne_.la.tt.er '"o(

which Senator Sumn4;r reported -ildversely

and It ~-as defeated. •·

· =··" ·..-. :, ~:-~

.: Et!orts in '_co~- •>P"'"· ·.•:.
rn the Hvu:3c 'ot Repr; 'Ltfv~~.·.-· hoi--.

wa: e\·er, Loon1is' plan ·met·~
Cerent- receptJon: ';It

quite a .dlt~·:
_m~f!?ncu ·b_y j

n_epr~se~ta.u..=e _·John A._j

"~-.!f!.! <?ill~.!

•w'.:LJ,.vlo·o,rnt_.ln.et.r~o-celd~,lQ_,CL~;.dL_a~.1!~1J!~.!l'.-}E,Jr

~~JP:t_t.!

,t~~j gsJ

------~~

.
!
• •
-•

-
-
--
-

·-~-~~~lllfilf'~7~'==·--·;~

tr!~~;melnt'of the ln~ ;made•..\.He .saJd: ' ..~he time ma1:. _ -Whe..''l "It 'Ifill be .lhe proudest.

-t-·iail~p\Udt~-U-4~.e··~_:t9iJ!i:- ~·~pl~~~e~•n~.Jc.~t,:~s.e.~o·,w_a...l,..~ e~~d~g- '~ i~:~'b~~•
-~eea.·~~· -~-J:_o(. :Seve~te.en~;-&il4 !-i~eP,ft:.

.; •
::

<Mabton ~aucht~e ""'4Jstrict --=-.schooL -~i~e .

: ·.iije(J.~ci.:if~i&bf·~~ ~t~c ":to_-:.:w~~~.9..n.!· ~­

llstemng _];o the de!l&te~ ~ar~~!ll' 'the_ Ubrarles•.

~
;:;; ~-

~,:;-:j<:-~_n~c-.r.-e;·-~..;s.....~ ~n* d:

:

He. 'Was:· always whicb._Ie;l him, by

_:tohte.·aadv. miceec·hoatn·lhci:s:.tlfa·ttuhrenr.,:·'

• :

honor-of those -gentle_men who now 'Il&ten

to direct ·his ·attention to ·dentistry, 'and _;

with dreamy rn011ference •to. the hopes .and asp~a.Uoint. bf.;th!s .:rwrentor •ot the a.erfal

when twenty be decided to _go ~o _Cleveland, :
Ohio, and enter.the·.omce <!f an old. fz:tend

.te!egi'aph_aystem ':to .llave had thell." na.mes

o! ~ !ather. Dr. ·Wright,.' :who w,as a sue·

coupled -with" :this· Immortal -disc!overy .bY. even -the.1!mpty .encouragement of a. re--

cessful practitioner ·.In t.bat city.: -Be ac~omp:lshed, his jouri:!!Y to ~leveland Jaartly _

luctant a1!lnnat1ve vote-." ' · - .:'' - · . ·
.._stra,nge· ta. relate the" great objector, Yr.

on foot and by heTp. from passing· tanners oi' other, .who _would 'give him a. meal or ·a •

W.-&;--Halman of Indiana., f&\"ored the blll.

ride tor a. few pcttn!~s. ~r_bis pocke~ ~e. ·

He said! "Thera -a.re more things in heaven and 'eaith than our philosophy bas dreamed

1

ot. ·.we do. not know _over what ·Brand

wblcb he parted wi~.'i _tor this purpose. · , .
~ ~ p.·rai.ettced;Jjl~: Profe~~lon.. ·~· -_ ·_-::

truths we are stumbling every day ot our

· A.tter ~taylng t~oi'"three yea.J.:s with Dr.

~·~dom. ;htd:-w; o~h· ·! I 11\•es 6r how near we are to the solution o!
· tha.t mystery'" which leads Into the portals

of.ettn'n:il

see dtml;

and shadowy a:S tL \lream-an intellectual

v!ston.:•

·;..; · · _ . . ·

A!!er !urther consideration the House

WriC'ht .h~ went t\:f. ~arJ,;ne~ N •. Y.• "·here
he commenc.ti. t~~ p_~actice o! dent~stn·. His !ather ha\ing: been appointed a com.:.· putor in the t:nited -~ates m1utlcal aima·- e' na.c otftce, then"!"locittecl at Cambrt~;e~·­ lfa.ss., '3-Iah!un re~~:~e~ to Cainbrldgeport....

acijourned v.'ithout.3r;;t!cn, but lhe nexL day i ,. where he esta.blhsJ;led ·.himsel! in h!s pro-·

•\!.:.:. .C.mi!rer ca.ll~d~ lt up, and the bill wus

!esston and pfacticed .Jt very successfully

pass_e-! w!thout opposillon. When it reached .'I !or several years. '· 1t was here that he in·

tht.' Senatc:, l!r. H. B. Anthony ot Rhode

vented the celebratcd.xnlneral pla.te teeth,

Island took a. liYt:i)" interE'st in its con·

wh!ch he patenteu . fn the Unaed States,

s'deration. and 1t ,..·as fina.lly adopted by

Great Britain and Fr:ince, and which gave

)'o!:LS, :!!J; n~f:!, .'..!!.

him a. high standing rn·the pro!ession. · · ·

• . Jneorpo~·mtecl In tbe Dlatriet.

I The :;,m r..;~.s· sign~d by the President on
the. 2rst of Jauunn·. l8i3. If Incorporates

the L•)')r:.tis . Aer!al Telegraph CompanJo·, .1.

at "'lth .)!ahl'Jn i.ooniJs, .Alex. E111ott, Wm. N.

Chamh•~rla!n

""cl..Shington city, P. R.

III Ar::~ic!on oC Bvsturi and IEalah Lul~ens of I
D. ia-..:..ro'! as ~jrp~.!·ato~ \\'ith !uH ;J:nw:r:s, l!;::!l: d. h•l'\\'~\·er, to the District •Jt t:olum-

b:o.. :l!:d n'lt to be exercised \\"ithin an)• 1'1

s:ar~ • xc~:Jt b~· its con::~ent. The cupital .

:•.•):;0. .. s:o~!~ ''lV:lS r-n.J,'Jt.~). \\"lth ·limit of $~.- '

1)~..

It dcc!are~ the b;u:nt::ss and

ob;!ects ·c: the corporation sha!l b: to dl:!-

\'elop anr..: utilize 'the principles and pow-

ers of natt.:raJ eJcctricilY to bt! ~sed tn tel~- •

He married In 1~; Achsah Ashlelo· o!

Springtield. lla.ss.... and went· to Philadel-

phia. to introduce hi:~ patent. which he did

most successfully, and in No\·ember o! the same year he -curie· ·to Washlngton~and a

=·· op'!n
nue.

ed an otnce nP.ar the con

!t :er

-9-~(t1::j>tPhesntnr~se:trl,v.aa.nnida

pafvae~:--.

t ~

treed his pro!.:s.si0•1 f•1• a. peri:ul ~.._'" ~"

t

twentY geniu:s,

yea~.
and Ju

r

in

gH e~hihs:J.~J imge- rpeaa tteni nt~\ ·de nstel vye-

J:

era! He

in h

venti ad a

o!n!asngo-!uivn.e:,lutet.:np~rament,

was

· . o!

::t. social and kind!y llature. genero1:1::s to a. !ault. wa:;; on lntlm::~td !!ociaJ t_erms wltll a !!ome ot our most p!"orr.inent clttzen~. such v

as Dr. James C. Hall, Peter l:i"orce, JC?hn W. Forne)·, Prot. s::non ~ewcomb, "\\_m. H .•

t c

13~\\·ard anti others.

_....,. . ·

n

graphir.;:. ~en~t·ating Ught, heat and moti>'e

Truateci lD the Future.

h

power. anrl a:her'\\·i:;e to make and operate ,,

sny ~r.achmt:r:; run by electricity Cor any

Jjurpose.

.

I

L<Jomis now ha'\·ing obtained bis patent •

and act c! int>'>:'p~ralioQ. devoted himself

wholh to the pro>mot!on ot his enterpri"'le,

but the times "·er:.: unp1·optt1ous. Tilt: great

licancial Cf)llap.:;e took place ln New .York

and capita!lsts could not be lnduceti to

I Yt:·riture in such a. chimerical project as
thi:s appoaared to be. The Umitatton of his

chartP.r tu thP. District of Columbia. was es-

p.:cia.lly unfortunate and ru!nous. _ ·

HaYin:; sacriftced health, money and bu~­

lness to this gr~at ldca, aCter _several years'

struggle he retired to a farm in Vi:-ginia to

a~alt the da)· wh-:u -others more fortunate

than he should reap the gJor)·.

.

Lnor~i~~~- Enrl)· Llfe.

Mahl.:;n L.jc:nis "'·u.s born ln Oppenheim,

near Glo\'ers,·llle, Fulton count'y, N. Y., on

the 2l:::t .o! July. ;iS2J. He· was a son of

i'
I

Pxoi'. Na.than Loomis of Sprtngftehl, ~tas:5.

He died ot heart !a.iiure at the c()un~rY o

residence o! h!s brother, Judge ~orge_ g

o! Loomis, a.t Terra A!tll, W. Va., O.c'tobe_r _13, l
1856, at the age sl:xty, a.!t~r an !Uness o! t ·only on~ ·week. Hi~ brother remarks: b "During his last lllne~s he was uplltted· and h

strengthened by the co~1sclousness t_hat the s

"'·orld realize

\'lo·ould som9 tbe grandeur

tima . u ot bls

ndldsl~!0r\s"t4aUn"Yd·.

and He

seemed to be 1ndl!'!erent as to hJs huving

the glory and renown o! lt, b~t he "'·anted
mankind to enjoy the fruits ot ~1s dis::ov'=.

eries ·maintaining th:J.t lt would be. ,the·

meo.~s ot establlsbin~ :i brotherhoo~ among

t·he nations and races that nothmg e~se_ coulfl 'a.ccompllsh: and _would glve to ~he

children o! men granJer anJ truer concep-

tions ot De:ty than now prev:J.lleJ. T)'lert-

was one th()ught that at t:mes brought S6d-

ness to hi.3 heart. 'I know that I an: bY some, even many, reg:~.rded a:; a. crank....,bY some perha.ps as a. !ool-!or allowing my· self to the sacrlftce- o! materia.~ advanto.ges

He aeter~·ard remoYed to Butternuts,

Lewis county, 'N. Y. Hl:.> granMather wa3

a Dap~l:;t. cl~rgymar:. and had a la.rg': fam-

I Ily ot chil•l!"en and grandchlltirl!n, ~h~ch he

kept together anti a.ll lived which had tltty rooHns. At

in on~ length_

no
h~

uusee-,

cided to rr.!~r::t.te and went to Sprmc;vale, \!

near Lewtnsville, about tw~nty miles !rom

l\·ash1ngtf)n, and purchased a lar~e tract,

"'·Nch he df·:id-:d. gh'ing e:1c..h o! hts sons a g·

farm. At that tlme .Mahlon Loomis "'·~\~ c1

about ten years old. H~ ha.u the bo;nefit o. rr.

th~ di:;trlct school, but his e<:}ucauon was rr

almost wholly derived from hl:s granll!ath- !r

cr's anJ father's libraries and thelr in- c!
su:u~,!1o:!.;!,_~o·· t.h_~r. "':~!e }?ot~ ma" or cu~- tc

t-o abandon a lucrath·e pro!ess1on and pursue thl.s lgnls tatuu~. but_ I !tnow t~at I am right and 1! the pr.;.;;ent generation ·llv~.s long 'enough the!r op::~:ons will be changed •

I -and their wonder v;ill be that they dl<! not

percel\·e lt before.. I !hall !le,·er see lt per-.

cected-b'o.lt lt the h:mf'U" of

wlll tbe

dlb.;e;~.

anti othe~·s lvery._ ..Sull,

will hav"' l. do not·

.

care tor that-exce:p'f •t I contess, to Hye to see

wtoh~ulwd obreldgraa~tkl!nyo1~nlg-,

-~· ·

euge that ·I 'am at lt:a.5t eane; or at least ;

such a crank as God employ::~ to move the_ .

world. By confining m)·selt to the prulnao:-y

routine o! at!alr.s I could have made, no

doubt a. comtor'table 1lving-, e\·en mere than a. co~pet~ncy...:.th:m passed a~-ay. o.nd bo

forgotten-but. an Impulse· h:1.:1 dr_l\ren ~d

-that I could not resist.')" - ....

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vr ·,_. 4 Obamb~rlain,. of. ashir1gton City, District p{·Colu~bia~; )?.·.

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·. ;> It ·Ammidon, of Bo~ton; .~l~sa~huse:tts, an.~l .Isaialr Lukens,

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.14 this a_ct shnll i1ot. bo oxorcisetl by ani~ co~p~hy -within- any:

State cxc:t :o;scnt .' .

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T-bat~said,coqlpany·~a.y ~a:Ye:·a, ·eap~ta~it~~It;":~r~

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· 3 · _inc~easing 1J}e· ~~me ~o.-two···millioiiS :ot~dqll~rs, ~lf!the· i~ferest.

.

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be. to-dev;lop ~n<t titiljze. ~he p~nc,pf~~~and;po~~t~~:~i.

.

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·.

•-- ·. ·..-.·:1 .. •.: · :: ....:.I • o • ~ •• • . : • Rf~· ·- · ·

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4 .. heat; and m~ive power, and :athe.cvise ma~e.and. operate· any

.

. .

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i · ·· St:c-..-4~ 7'h~t. there_. ~hn~l b~(ffve ~dir~cto~, w~o.s~till be.

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.. . • . . . . . . . . . . ' . ·.. ·•.

. . .• •. t

2. clcct.cd nnnunlly by the stockhold'ers o£; sai4 company;_ at.~the • ,. . ' ; . . . .. '. '. . .. .' ·. • ' ! .. . .. .'l • .• , '. ' .

. . . 3..

:

annual
. ~.

mcethi.g. .;

to

lie designated. by . .: .. : . .

. the· stockholde~s at; theiF
. . ,· . . .- .. ... ' '. . .. ·.·

of 4 ""-.tirst mcctitig, to~orgnnize an~ elect dircctora the~-company.'

-

·-s -The- cinfCC-rs Ofthe co~~~ny $b~l-~&e1e'ct6d from·~nd by tb.~
. 6 .direCtors of thc.said.CompO:ny.~ api~tiief ~~~i(llo:rv6-o,~ye~r~

7 . nnU ·until ih~ir slil!<;CSsOrs·.-~re' elCCiCU. imd_~qu~ffiea.-:Thef~.·

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9 .. the trcnsurcrshnll give such b~·nds as the boara shaH ~etcrmine i

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1o .n. uutjm·ity of· th~. bo~rtl shall· donstitu'te :n qu~~um. (~r th~

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communication. and these arc distinguished primarily by the way in which continuous radio frequency power generated in the transmitter is modulated. This investigation sought. in part. to discover evidence indicating whether Stubblefield's devices could generate radio frequencies. For a general overview of broadcasting's technical archaeology see Elliot N. Sivowitch, ••A Technological Survey of Broadcasting's 'Pre-History.' 1876-1920. JouRNAL OF BROAOCAS'TlNG. XV:I:I-20 (Winter. 1970-71); Robert A. Chipman, "The Earliest Electromagnetic Instruments.'' Unit~d Staus National Museum Bull~rin 240 (Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. 1964), 121-136; W. James King...The Development of Electrical Technology in the 19th Century... Uniud Sraus National Mu~um Bulletin 228 (Pap~rs 28 and 29) (Washington. D. C.: Smithsonian Institution. 1962), 231-331; George W. Pierce. Principles of Wiul~ss Td~graphy (New York: McGraw-Hill. 1910), 75-107; and R. A. Fessenden, ..Wireless Telephony.'' a paper presented to the 25th annual convention of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, Atlantic City, New Jersey, June 29. 1908.
• L J. Hortin, '"Did He Invent Radio?" Bromicasting, March 19, 1951.
5 Edward Freeman. "Stubblefield ... and Radio.- unidentified periodical aniclc in the Stubblefield Papers.
1 Note of A. H. Wear and Son. Murray. Kentucky. dated April 23, 1887. Stubblefield Papers..
T Telephone interview with Bernard B. Stubblefield. Florence. Mississippi. June IS, 1970. Bernard was the oldesl surviving son of Nathan B. ·Srubbleficld. According [0 Bernard. the '"vibrating telephone" parent was the second ol four U.S. patents his father ever had obtained. The first patent was for a ..lamp lighter.- A third patent was approved for Stubblefield's electric battery. and a fourth was granted in 1908 for a wireless telephone system. A Canadian patent was granted for the wireless system about the time Slubblefield developed his 1908 device.
I Evansvi/1~ Pr~ss (Indiana). January 17, 1937. Stubblefield Papers.
• Jim Lucas. '"He Helped Bring Radio Into the Home. But - Tulsan Loses Millions.- unidentified clipping in the Stubblefield Papers.
10 According to the 1902 St. Louis Post Dispatch story. and the report printed in White's book. Bernard ..... would be able to carry out and finish the system or wireless telephony should the father die. so closely has he been allied with every step in its discovery and development.- (White, 299.) Bernard was born in 1888. He lived in Murray. Kentucky until about 1915 when be joined the U. S. Army for about five years. Later. he sculed in New York city engaging himself in a photostat business. He was never employed with any radio manufacturing, distributing or broadcasting business during the years foUowing his brief Army career to his retirement in Mississippi sometime in the 1950s. Telephone interview. Bernard B. Stubblefield.
11 A daughter. Mrs. J. H. White, of 610 Pulaski St.. Little Rock. Arkansas. told a reporter ·•. . . that an estrangement between . . . [Nathan) . . . and the family .•. [occurred}. We went different ways simply because we could not get along together.- LttJe Rock.. Arkansas. Ga:.~ru. February 23, 1928.
12 U. S. Patent No. 600.457, dated March 8. 1898. The brochure described the battery as ... . . simply a solenoid of copper and iron wire. the separate clements wound close and compactly about a soft iron core • . ." The

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time, did reinforce the mystery about the technical capabilities of his early devices. And, Stubblefield's public demonstrations did involve voice transmission without wires. Beyond those documented facts, the "Hertzian secrets" of the "black box" used in his experiments, if there were any, most likely died with him.
Footnotes
1 Rainey T. Wells. '"Heard First Radio Broadcast... The Fratunal Monitor (undated). Nathan B. Stubblefield Papers. University of Kentucky. Lexington. and the Chamber of Commerce Stubblefield Collection. Murray, Kentucky, hereafter cited as the Stubblefield Papers. In preparing a final draft. the writer discovered that another collection of Stubblefield material bad been microfilmed by the Murray State University Library. Permission for access to that collection was denied.. At present there is no way of knowing bow much duplication there may be among the above cited collectioas or to what extent the collection contained new maner. The write:- wishes to acknowledge the guidance and counsel of Or. Lawrence W. Lichty, the University of Wisconsin. in the preparation and refinement of this paper. The writer also wishes to ac~nowledge the help of Mr. Elliot N. Sivowitch. of the Oivisioo of Electricity and NucleM Energy of the Smithsonian Institution. for technical and bibliographic advice; Mr. James Johnson, Stubblefield historian and ExecutJve Director of the. Ch::1mbc·r of Commerce at Murray. Kentucky, for advice and ··opposing arguments:·· Or. Don Le Due. now at Ohio State University, !or some legal research: Dr. L. J. Hortin. Director of Journalism at Murray State University, for advice: Mr. James Skelton, a student of electrical engineenng at Michigan State Un1versity from Calvert City, Kentucky, for technical and patent data, and Mr. Bernard B. Stubblefield. the son and assistant of Nathan B. Stubblefield. for additional information valuable to this study.
z The inscription read. in part. '"Here in 1902. Nathan B. Stubblefield . . • inventor of radio--broadcast and received the human voice by wireless. He made e~pcriments 10 years earlier . . :· Anonymous, "'Nathan B. Stubblefield. Inventor of Radio.- Unpublished paper from the verticle tile (undated), Library, Murray Stare University. '1"he Hermit Pioneer of Radio is Honored After Oe:llh... N~w York Sun, May 17, J930, Stubblefield Papers; '"Another Inventor of Radio... BroaJ~nsrm~:. January 1. 1937, 3: (Advertising brochure) William T. Stubblefield... Before It Was Known... (Miami, Florida: William T. Stubblefield Media Brok.ers). The first published account of the Stubblefield system in a scientific journal was Waldon Fawcett's 11le Latest Advance in Wireless Telephony.- Scimti{ic .Am~rican, Volume 86 (May 24, 1902). 363. Trumbull White, in his book The Worlas Progress in Knowledge, Sci~nce and Industry { 1902) wrote a full description of the Stubblefield experiments based largely on an account published in St. Louis Post Dispatch, January 10, 1902. Other summary articles have been published since I 930, but these are mostly a rehash of the 1902 sources.
3 Broadcasting means the dissemination of radio communications intended to be received by the public, directly or by the intermediary of relay stations. (Communications Act of 1934, Sec. 3.) There are various forms of radio

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Stubblefield devices did work. However, the important question was whether his devices contained elements which might have been a basis for, or consistent with, a new and slowly evolving wireless technology dealing with radio frequency oscillations and so-called ..Hertzian secrets." According to Stubblefield's onetime attorney, a case could have been made in support of this allegation. But the available technical evidence about the 1892, 1898 and 1902 devices was sketchy and hardly conclusive. The development of radio telephony as we now know it evolved from the experiments of R. A. Fessenden and others who used radio frequency oscillations. Stubblefield·s I 908 letters patent did not contain descriptions or drawings indicating capability for radio transmission and reception. Instead, his system utilized an audio induction technique. This was greatly different from the production of sustained radio frequency oscillations with superimposed modulated infonnation.
The competence of persons testifying about Stubblefield's experiments cannot be challenged. But their competence about what was in Stubblefield's ''black box" is certainly subject to question. Only Bernard, Stubblefield's son, had access to such information. Bernard Stubblefield has stated that his father's devices did not involve the generation of radio frequencies. Any litigation had to turn, in part, on that question. Interestingly, Bernard was not involved in the plans for litigating Stubblefield's claimed rights after his death, although he would have been the most informed participant. There may be more evidence about the 1892, 1898 and 1902 devices, but it has not been brought forward. Stubblefield's story does illustrate how the devices of an ambitious experimenter with limited financial resources could be absorbed by the heavy promotion of investors seeking to repeat a windfall like that of the Bell telephone. The Wireless Telephone Company of America had a long way to go to match the headline accomplishments of Marconi and other experimenters, and Stubblefield probably was correct when he concluded that the emphasis of the company was simply selling stock.
Based on the available material, and the fact that wireless voice transmission evOlved from the experiments of several persons widely separated by time and geography. it is clear that Nathan B. Stubblefield did not ..invent radio broadcasting." His vision of "broadcasting news of every description," while not sensationally unique for the

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he quietly lived out his existence in a small shack about nine miles nonh of Murray. Some observers reported seeing mysterious lights and hearing weird sounds in the vicinity of Stubblefield's home. Two weeks before his death, Stubblefield visited with a neighbor, Mrs. L. E. Owen. He asked her to write his life story, since, "I've lived fifty years before my time. The past is nothing. I have perfected now the greatest invention the world has ever known. I've taken light from the air and earth as I did sound." And he told her about a ·~hole hillside that would blossom with light."la

About two weeks later, on March 30, 1928, a neighbor discovered Stubblefield's dead body in the shack, which was locked from the inside. Nothing else was discovered except a few scraps of paper and portions of his apparatus.

On March 28, I930 Murray ctuzens and two of Stubblefield's

daughters unveiled a small monument to his memory. Since the~

several prominent Murray citizens and others interested in gaining

recognition for Stubblefield have gathered evidence to support the

claim that he "invented radio." Patent papers, correspondence, news-

paper marerials. affidavits, parts of the original coils and equipment

are open to the public at Murray, Kentucky. Conn Linn and one of

Stubblefield's sons, Nathan, Jr., traced the wireless patents with a

view of filing an infringement suit. Linn told a newspaper reporter that

the lawsuit ..... would have upset the financial structure of the radio

world and required an accounting of profits worth millions since radio

began its career."39 An undisclosed New York law firm told Linn

that

their

claims

were

in

order

and

could

be

verified

'4 •••

to

the

final

detail... But the statute of limitations for the filing of a claim ha5

passed. In 1950, Linn wrote to Vernon Stubblefield, a cousin of the

early experimenter: "I went with him to Washington, and helped

secure his initial patents. Had I stayed there, and helped him finish

the job, he might have been living today as a world renowned inventor,

and both of u.s rich enough to make John D. Rockefeller look like a piker. Don•t you think I am right about it?"•0

Comment
Stubblefield did transmit voice without wires as early as 1892. There is enough corroborative evidence in the form of affidavits, letters. newspaper accounts, photographs and drawings to conclude that the

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patent on April 5, 1907 which was granted on May 12, 1908. His system was now limited to wireless voice communication between moving trains and way stations, moving highway carriages and way stations, and ship-to-shore communications. It was a uland mobile·• system instead of a ..broadcasting" one. The letters patent specifically included the use of a stationary ..transmitter'' and "antenna/' with receiver-equipped mobile vehicles passing adjacent to the elevated "antenna." This ,language was contained in the letters patent:
Surrounding the path of travel of the vessel, and preferably elevated oo poles • . . is a coil of considerable magnitude. This coil . . • consists of an outer casing . . . within which is placed a conducting wire comprising a plurality of convolutions . . • each of which is insulated from the other. . . •
In principle, Stubblefield's 1907 device envisioned the transmitter operator, speaking into a telephone transmitter and through the circuit, producing
a varying current corresponding to that passing through the coil of great magnitude [which) . . . will be inducted in the coil [in the receiver] and the speech or other sounds will be transmitted to the operator on the boat.le
A similar system was depicted in what appeared to be an earlier design located among the Stubblefield Papers, and involving a transAtlantic system using a submerged wire, whose idea was to induct signals to ships on the surface. The 1908 Stubblefield letters patent were quite vague technically. except with respect to the point on the use of electrostatic inductance to accomplish voice transmission. This has been corroborared by Stubblefietd•s son Bernard, who, at age 82, recalled that his father used two systems of wireless telephony. One was based on "ground radiation,. and another on some kind of ..magnetic radiation... He could not recall the details of each system precisely. But he stated that the devices used in the early wireless experiments did not contain an apparatus enabling the production of sustained and high-speed oscillations.
After the 1908 patent was granted, nothing significant occurred in the technical development or corrunercial exploitation of Stubblefield·s wireless telephone. In 1913, some officials of WTCA, including Collins, were convicted of mail fraud. 31 Except for an occasional experiment, observed by some of Stubblefietd•s neighbors at a distance,

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ducted his experiments in Murray, also had developed a wireless telephone system. Collins attended two of Stubblefield's Philadelphia demonstrations and, according to a fiyer later printed by WTCA, he had published an optimistic account of the company's future in the June 28, 1902 issue of Electrical World and Engineer. From the standpoint of appearance, the only difference between the Stubblefield and Collins system at the time was that Collins used small zincwire screens instead of nickel-plated iron balls on top of steel rods.30 Collins was well-published in the scientific journals. With his emergence in the WfCA stock promotion, Stubblefield's device appeared to have lesser significance. Since that time, a few persons, in their efforts to seek recognition for Stubblefield, have claimed that Collins and others acted in collusion to steal the Stubblefield system. There is some circumstantial evidence supporting that view, but it is not conclusive. 31
After the Philadelphia tests, some unknown events occurred which caused Stubblefield's withdrawal from the company. He had previously signed over all his patent rights to the company in exchang.e for stock. On June 19. 1902 he wrote the secretary of WTCA charging that one of the stock promoters was u ••• practicing fraud or deception as usual. . ... Stubblefield's letter showed him to be obviously disturbed about an undisclosed incident, indicating that the practice was swindling him ••... out of my inventions, and the defrauding of the public.. .''3: Another incident possibly related to Stubblefield's letter occurred during the Washingto~ D. C. demonstration. He told an old friend that someone wantedStubblefield to use a wire connection between the transmitter and receiver during the tests on land. "... They said they- could sell more stock that way. I wouldn't do it."lS Stubblefield returned to Murray referring to the New York ..crowd" as "damned rascals."3• In August 1902 \VTCA distributed shares of stock. The promotional brochures made a distinction between the Collins and Stubblefield systems, but did not in<licate precisely what the differences were, nor upon which system WTCA's development would depend.l$
Refinements, Patents and Dieilluaion ( 1903-1928)
Stubblefield went back to work in Murray, perfecting his device. With the financial backing of seven Murray residents, he filed for a

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turned down an offer for $500,000.:: The hearsay about those highflying offers was consistent with speculation fever gripping potential investors. By 1901 reports of Marconi's 'Nireless telegraphy experiments increased investor interest, and ·~. . . Every amateur inventor who had ever tinkered with a telephone at once became of major importance."n
The Wirelesa Telephone Company of America
In January 1902, Stubblefield agreed to participate in the commercial exploitation of his device. Incorporation papers for the Wireless Telephone Company of America (WTCA) were filed in Prescot~ Arizon~ on May 22, 1902. Stubblefield was a director but he held no office.24 After some additional testing in New York City,:~ the company undertook promotion of the Stubblefield wireless telephone in Pennsylvania. On May 30 and 31, 1902, Bernard assisted his father in the Philadelphia demonstrations held in the vicinity of Fairmont Park. 28
The Washington and Philadelphia demonstrations maintained the momentum needed to sell stock in the new company. A four page prospecrus, extolling the investment opportunity in WfCA, was distributed during the summer of 1902. It compared the Stubblefield device with Marconi's wireless telegraphy system by stating that both systems utilized "... for transmission what are termed Henzian electrical wave currents. . . ..::1 The technical d\!tails were not disclosed since the prospectus was designed to sell stock, and perhaps deliberately avoided specific evidence on the points of comparison or contrast. The use of steel rods thrust into the ground and large coils indicated that Stubblefield's 1892, 1893 and 1902 systems were based upon an induction principle. (This principle had been demonstrated by Professor Amos Dolbear of Tufts CoUcge; Massachusetts, as early as March I 882).:s In a statement appended to the prospectus, Stubblefield wrote: ..... I can telephone without wires a mile or more now, and when the more powerful apparatus on which I am working is finished. combined with further development, the distance will be unlimited. ·~•
Another experimenter shortly thereafter became prominently involved in the new wireless telephone company. A. Frederick Collins, an electrical engineer in Philadelphia at the time Stubblefield con-

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transmitter and a telephone switch.. ... I took a seat in the box [in a small shed erected near the house] and Mr. Stubble£ield shouted a "hello'" to the house. This was a signal to his son [Bernard) to begin sending messages. I placed the receiver to my ears and listened. Presently there came with extraordinary distinctness several spasmodic buzzings and then a voice which said: ··Hello, can you hear me?'" ...15

Tnen, Bernard played a few bars of music on his harmonica. One mile away from the Stubblefield house, the pair secured the rods about 30 feet apart and listened. Bernard's harmonica music was heard again.18

The January 1902 St. Louis Post Dispatch story created more in-

terest in Stubblefield's invention. Two months later, he traveled to

\Vashington, D.C. for another public demonstration. On March 20,

1902, aboard the steamer Bartholdi. off the Virginia bank of the

Potomac, opposite Georgetown, Stubblefield. sent wireless messages

to receivers ashore. 11 A test also was made on land and proved much

more successful, ..... with the voices of the speakers being more

plainly

h

e

a

r

d .

.

.

"

11 '

After the demonstration, Stubblefield said: ••...

as to the practicality of my invention-all that I can claim for it now

is that it is capable of sending simultaneous messages from a central

distributing station over a very wide territory. . . Eventually, it will

be used for the general transmission of news of every description. "ta

This 1902 statement about news broadcasting was particularly note-

worthy. Although such uses of wired telephone systems were made in

Hungary four years earlier, the emphasis in utilizing wireless tele-

graphy or telephony was put on point-to-point transmission, not

broadcasting. Additionally, Stubblefield's insight into the potential

utilization of such wireless telephone systems provides interesting per-

spective to the often-quoted I 916 memorandum by David Sarnoff,

who urged his superiors at American Marconi to manufacture a "radio

music box" for home use.::o Stubblefield, however, later "direction-

alized" the transmission characteristics as part of what he cailed "per-

fecting" his apparatus.

Between 1898 and 1902 two stories concerning offers Stubblefield received for his devices were circulated among the Murray townfoiJc. Dr. Will Mason told newspaper reporters that he had seen a written S40,000 offer to Stubblefield for the patent rights to his system.21 Another offer was apparently made after Stubblefield's Washington, D. C. demonstration. Stubblefield told an old schoolmate that be bad

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Murray erected a monument commemorating Stubblefield and his wireless telepbone.2
The purpose of this article is to documen~ from the fragmentary record remaining, what happened when Strubblefield experimented with batteries, coils and his strange "black box,n and to provide an
assessment of his work. The important question is whether his wire-
less telephone contained elements forming the first basis for wireless voice transmission, as it evolved into radio broadcasting;3 or, whether his system was based on wireless "techniques" generally known by other experimenters of his time, and subsequently discarded in favor of other wireless theories. The evidence in favor of the former position is very sketchy, indeed. But the story of Stubblefield's work is important because his experiments were conducted when even wireless telegraphy was in an embryonic stage: his 1892 wireless telephony conversation with Rainey Wells antedated Marconi's wireless Ielegraphy demonstration by three years.
Early Life and Experimentation (1859-1901)
Nathan B. Stubblefield was born in either 1859 or 1860, the son of William Jefferson Stubblefield. 4 A self-educated experimenter and a farmer, he left school at I5 and, according to reminiscences of friends.~ spent much time reading scientific journals at the newspaper office in Murray, Kentucky. By 1887, at about the age of 27, Stubblefield had achieved a local reputation for building ··vibrating telephones," some of which were used by the townspeople.• The device was patented by Stubblefield in 1888.7 Four years later, Stubblefield demonstrated his wireless telephone for Rainey Wells. Very few Murray residents were allowed into Stubblefield·s experimental sanctuary during those years. Stubblefield treasured his privacy and was suspicious of strangers snooping about his property in response to rumors about his work.8 In fact, ••... His home was so wired that a stranger approaching within a half-mile set off a battery of bells. If the trespasser was unidentified, Stubblefield waved him away.'" Stubblefield and his wife had several children, but only Bernard participated in his father's wireless experiments. 10 The others either were excluded or showed little interest. 11
Sometime after 1898, a brochure about Srubblefield's electric ceil was circulated among interested scientists and promoters. The electric

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cell provided a source of energy for his wireless telephone. 12 Detailed technical information about the wireless apparatus was not fully disclosed, but it appeared that the steel rods used in the 1892 demonstration with Wells perfonned the same function as the placement of Stubblefield's electric ceUs in the ground. Steel rods were inserted into the ground at the point of transmission and reception. The transmitter device was comprised of a modified Bell-type telephone connected to a large circle of metal which looked very much like an antenna. Wires led from that to a ..black box." Years later, in 1908, when Stubblefield built another wireless system, the circular steel ..antenna" at the telephone transmitter was eliminated in favor of a long elevated antenna extending over several hundred feet.
Sometime in 1898, Stubblefield brought his device into Murray and set it up in a local hardware store. Listeners stationed themselves upstairs in the office of Dr. Mason, a local physician, and ..heard it talk."JJ Stubblefield told the small gathering that he was finally going to patent the device. However, no patent application was filed until 1907. Those I907 papers apparently described a different wireless system from the verbal descriptions and occasional photographs of the 1892, l 898 and 1902 devices.
The Public Dcmon~tratioos ( 1902-1903)
On January I, 1902, a few weeks after Marconi demonstrated wireless telegraphy across the Atlantic, about a thousand Murray resi-. dents witnessed a demonstration of Stubblefield's wireless telephone. Later, Stubblefield told a reporter from the St. Louis Post Dispatch that the successful results of the demonstration in Murray had taken him 10 to I 2 years of development. He is quoted as saying:
... I have solved the problem of telephoning without wires through the earth as Signor Marconi has of sending signals through space. But. I can also telephone without wires through space as well as through the earth. because my medium is everywhere.u
A private demonstration was given for the reporter during the second week of January 1902. The reporter observed:
The transmining apparatus is concealed in a box. Two wires of the thickness of a lead pencil coiled from it3 corners and disappear through the walls of the room [of the Stubblefield home} and enter the ground outside. On top of the box is an ordinary telephone

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THOMAS W. HOFFER
Nathan B. Stubblefield
and His Wireless Telephone
In th~ Winter 1970-71 issu~. the JOUR.J'oiAL published an articl~ on radio's uchnological "pre-history" which included m~ntion of K~ntuclcy mdon farmer and sometime inv~ntor Nathan B. Srubbl~fidd. The following pages offer a more detai(~d discussion of Stubblefielas I!.Iperim~ntal worlc in ratjio and sed to anrNer the qu~stion of whttthttr he K"as an important inno,·aror in radio, or just anorhttr whosl! fringe ~ffort contribuud lillie to thl! mainstr~am of radio d~vdopmmt. Stubbl~fi~las worlc, much of it bl!fore Marconi bttcaml! active in wirelttss dev~lopmelll. is a good ~.zamp/1! of thl! many small-town Aml!rican inv~ntors in this /il!ld who roolc out paunts and rri~d to malcl! a commercial success out of something their backus s~ldom fully und~rsrood. Stubbl~fidd"s ev~ntual commucial failur~ is also, unfortunat~ly, rypical of thl! fare ofthne invttntors. Thomas W. Hoffer currently is an instructor in the D~parrm~nt of Communication Arts at thl! Univusiry of Wiscon.sin while completing worlc on his docroratl!.
0 NE day in 1892, Nathan B. • Stubblefield handed Rainey T. Wells a device, and asked him to walk some distance away from a small shack Srubblefield had erected near his farmhouse on the edge of Murray, Kentucky. Wells report~ "- .. I had hardly reached my post ... when I heard, 'Hello Rainey' come booming out of the receiver. I jumped a foot and said to myself, 'This fellow is fooling me. He bas wires some place.•• Wells moved a few feet to the side, but •. ·•. all the while he [Stubblefield] kept talking to me ... but there were no wires, I tell you." 1 Wells' recollection and the documentation of other public demonstrations of Stubblefield's wireless voice transmissions were used to suppon the claim that the Kentuckian "invented radio'' as early as 1892, long before the wireless telephone demonstrations of other claimants for the title "Inventor of Radio" such as Marconi, Fessende~ and de Forest. In 1930, the citizens of e )o.nufu. or BR04DC.u'Tn'fC, VoL. XV, No. 3 ( Suramer 1971)

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of Marconi's ettorts (Mar-
- coni successfully sent ra-

nected with the ground on both sides run into it and

•

diotelegraphy in 1896, but

are attached to a pair of

not voice} or the efforts or

telephone receivers. The

others to solve the problerr. of transmission of message~

box was built as a shelter from the weather and as a

through space withou:

protection to the receivers.

wires. I have solved the

I took a seat in the box and

problem of telephoning

Mr. Stubblefield shouted

without wires through the
earth as Signor Marconi ha~

'hello' to the house. This was a signal to his son to be-

of sending signals through

gin sending messages. 1

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Stubblefield and his wife had several chtldren. but only thetr son Bernard took
a fancy to his father's tinkering, and he later became a trusted cohort.
Another man. Rainey T. Wells. who went on to found Murray State Teachers College. figured heavily
in the inventor's life and was allegedly present when Stubblefield demonstrated his wireless invention in 1892. Before that. though, Stubblefield supposedly told Holt of his discovery in 1885 However. 1t was not until January 1. 1902. that he gave the first documented public demonstration of his device in Murray's town square.
The instruments he and his son exhibited by the courthouse consisted of a transmitter and receiver200 feet apart- and metal rods thrust into the ground connected by wire to both devices Coils spread all over the walkway
In an interview with a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report· er ten days after the demonstration. Stubblefield was quoted as saying: "I had been working on this ten or twelve years before I heard

space. But I can also telephone without wires
through space as well as
earth because my medium
is everywhere." He never said what that
medium was. Stubblefield demonstra t·
ed his wireless voice device on his farm to the reporter Bernard stayed in the house while his father and the reporter walked to a cornfield about 500 yards away.
The reporter wrote: "The transmitting apparatus is
concealed in a box. Two wires of the thickness of a lead pencil coil from its corners and disappear through the walls of the room and enter the ground outside On top of the box is an ordinary telephone transmitter and a telephone switch. This is the mach.ne through which the vo1ce of the sender is passed into the ground to be transmitted by the Earth's electrical waves to the ear of the person who has an instrument capable of receiving and reproduc· ing it.
''We went into the cornfield back of the house. After walking five hundred yards. we came to the experimental station the inventor has used for several months. It is a dry goods

placed the receiver to my ear and listened. Presently, there came with extraordi-
nary distinctness several spasmodic buzzings and then a voice which said: 'Hello. can you hear me? Now 1 will couot to ten. One-two-three-four-five-six-·. seven-eight-nine-ten. Did you hear that? Now 1 will
whisper ...
The demonstration contrnued with the repor\er and Stubblefield walking about a mile from the house. the reporter placing the rods anywhere he wished and hearing Bernard talk as clearly as when they were 500 yards away.
The reporter quoted Stubblefield: "The earth. the air. the water. all the universe as we know it is permeated with the remarkable fluid which we call electricity. the most wonderful of God's gifts to the world and capable of the most inestimable benefits when it is mastered by man. For years I have been trying to make the bare earth do the work of the wires. I know now I have con· quered it."

I-•• -t

box fastened to the top of a

stump. A roof to shed the

-

rain has been placed on top

~ ...........A. ll I ~
l~l ~·-~ ~-~~ ~

of it; one side is hinged for a door. and the wires con-
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. . Stuhhl~fiE'Id claimpfj hr<

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mvention would work for

b\.Jce che poor perrorm.mce

"Radio IS a device that

,

any distance He also sa1d

to the hard. dry bedrock rn

transmitS and receives

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-

that eventually he would in-

the area.

voice over considerable dis-

vent a tuning apparatus so

Around this time. Stub-

tance without con~ecting

that many conversations

blefield became quite well

wires." Hortin said~ "Stub-

could go on at the same

known. Scientific American

blefield invented, manufac-

time without interference. And, he said it wasn't neces-

printed an article about his work. and a coterie of sharp

tured, and demonstrated -;ucb 4 d.ev•ce and d1d so

sary to use the ground rods. The father and son team

financiers took notice. They
saw his system as a money-

tJefore· anyone else on th•s planet. That's my clatm "

demonstrated the wireless device in Philadelphia, New

maker. A group of New York businessmen formed

He descnbed "considerable distance" as several miles.

York, and Washington, DC.

The Wireless Telephone

James L Johnson is an-

Newspapers and magazines documented the events and Stubblefield's fame grew
The March 20. 1902. experiment was particularly unique in that Stubblefield transm1tted from the shrp Bartholdi on the Potomac River. and It was billed as the "F~rst Manne Wrreless

Company of America to

promote the still unpatent· _

ed· device. ·Several Murray .

sm~emn e

owned stock. But. for reason. Stubblefield

shied away from the opera-

tion after it got underway.

It's rumored that he turned

down a half million dollars tor_ hi~ inventron.

other unabashed Stubble-

f 1e l d

bo ster
0

In a 1961

speech. the former execu-

tive secretary of the Murray

chamber of commerce told

the annual convention of

The Kentucky Broadcaster

Association in Loursville·

... He II 0 Rainey .H e"IIo

Rainey.' These four words.

--

Telephone Demonstra-
tlon .. He transmrtted about
v. of a mile.
During all hrs demonstra-

H·e:ftnally applied for a
"paterrt orrApr1f 5. 1907, and
received it May 12, 1908. He also obtained_ foreign

h1ghly insignrficant.rn t_hemselves. were· the gatewav
that opened a fabulous industry in the late 19th and

tion s. Stu bbl ef iel d emplayed what he called "an earth battery" Although no

patents. Then, for some unknown
reason. Stubblefield re-

early 20th century. These were the irrst words ever broadcast by radio. These

one knows for <ure what 1t was. Stubblefield claimed

treated to his home. disillusioned, distant. and despon-

four words put you people in business."

the cell. which he placed in the ground, converted ·the earth's natural current into electricity. That. in turn.

dent. Some say his invention
was stolen. Others say he became angry at his back-

Following the address. the association presented the chamber of commerce a p 1aque r e cognizing

transmitted his voice.

ers' greed. Still others con-

Nathan B. Stubblefield as

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(Stubblefield received patent #600.457, March 8. 1898. for a "primary battery" consisting of a bare iron wire and insulated cop-

tend he went mad. After a Washington trip
in 1912. Stubblefield told his friends and associates to withdraw their investments.

the inventor of broadcast radio.
He died March 28.. 1928. of natural causes. and two days later Horace Chur-

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per wire wound helically on

go away, and leave him

chill. country coroner. and

an iron core. The patent claimed this construction

alone. That same year hrs house burned to the

h1s son. Ronald. broke down the door to Stubble-

increased the output of the

ground

·field's cabtn. He was dead

couple. using water as an

Later. his wife and chrl-

on the floor.

electrolyte. A couple is two

dren left him and he built a

dissimilar metals touching He proposed placing the

cabin about six miles north .. Be It resolved by the General Assembly. of the Comm~ of Murray There he contin- wealth of Kentucky: That the General Assei'Tlbly of the~

battery'" moist earth. but 1t

was never proven to be the

one used 1n hts vo1ce trans·

mission e'<pertments. al-

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though it probably was l Interestingly enough. h1s
Phdadelphra experrments as well as hts Washington

..._ showings were successful.

a_· but hrs New York trip was a

ued to tinker. and apocra- monwealth of Kentuclcy hereby publicly recognizes Nathan.S.

phyl stories abounded Stubblefield, who was a nattve of the city of Murray, Calloway

about his strange experiments which supposedly in-

_County, Ky., as the true inventor of the radio, and It Is the sen·
tlment of the General Assembly that said Nathan B. Stubb
field Is entltl&d to the highest honOf' and r&!PKt at the hand

valved drawing energy of the ~ople of this Commonwealth and of this nation fOf' his

from the earth for lighting. outstanding service."

-Resolution by theKentucky L~lslature, 1944.

• ~t. Some observers attri· ~ ~ ..o11111111·~ ~ ~

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.....___1 _ _ 1_........ -- ........._, _ _ 1-~

.....,. . ... ~r1 ~.f,.PI-I ~ ~ ~ IIIIW,. ,'..II,F. W-I--I......~.

, ~

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..

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I KNEW NATHAN STUBBLEFIELD THE GREAT MAN OF MURRAY, KENTUCKY,
WHO INVENTED RADIO
Tipton C. Wilcox
My grandfather, Tipton Harrison Wilcox, and my father, Richard Hannibal Wilcox, were good friends of Mr. Stubblefield.
My father told me that one day while in town he visited Mr. Stubblefield in his office (over the Corner Drugstore) and saw this demonstration. A cigar box was attached to the wall, with small bells on top, and a snuff can for a receiver, attached with wire. Mr. Stubblefield tapped the bells with a small hammer. Dad heard a voice say, "Hello." It was Mr. Stubblefield's son at home on the farin near Murray. This was wireless telephone-the first ever of its kind!
Dad said that' when the flour mill was set up in Murray Mr. Stubblefield offered to tap the earth for electric power to run the mill. He would do it for $1500.00. Those who were involved were afraid to trust him.
Mr. Stubblefield raised watermelons on his farm. Sometimes he stayed in the field at night to keep boys from stealing the melons. If he had any visitors he went directly to them; he knew exactly where they were. Did he have some kind of radar?
I understand that in his last days Mr. Stubblefield lost most of his property and lived by himself in very poor conditions. Therefore this story. I had a close friend, Guy Montgomery, a teacher. At this time he was seeking to be elected to the Clerk's Office in this county. He visited Mr. StubClefield who lived in a building as we see in parks, a good roof with posts to s-;1pport it (ed: a type of pole .barn). Shocked corn to protect it in winter. He had electric lights, and Guy saw a tree with a nail driven in it to support both the bulb and the wire to it. The wire was simply put into the ground. Mr. Stubblefield said the Earth was the greatest magnet we knew anything about. That is where he got his power.
A few weeks after he died I was talking to Ronald Churchill, the local undertaker who took care of his body. He told me this story. Some neighbors, friends who lived near Mr. Stubblefield, told him (Churchill) that one fall when they had killed hogs and left the meat out to cool, they were sitting by the fire. The lady of the house said that she wished Mr. Stubblefield were there so they could give him some meat. In some ten or fifteen minutes Mr. Stubblefield came by, saying that he had heard her, and had come over to get some of the meat!
\Vhen I was about ten or twelve years old my father and I were standing on the court square and saw Mr. Stubblefield' coming. He stopped and he and my father had a nice conversation. He put his hand on my head and told my father that if he would let him (Stubblefield) have me {as an apprentice) he would teach me all he knew in his field. This did not happen.
I understand that Mr. Stubblefield went to Washington, D.C., to get a patent on his invention, which at that time he called 'Wireless Telephone." Marconi was there
with a group, and managed to get Mr. Stubblefield where h~ was not quite normal
mentally, and stole from Mr. Stubblefield what he, Marconi, lacked in the same field. This helped him get some patents and the honor. Mr. Stubblefield had demonstrated what he could do from a boat in the Potomac River. He broadcast from the boat and some officials talked to him from the land! We call it Radio today!

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