Nexus - 0702 - New Times Magazine-pages

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their desks; instead, they climb to exalted positions, usurping the work of the innovative. Nikola Tesla, the poor immigrant Serb, knew all about that phenomenon of life's unfairness. No electrical engineering school ever gave Tesla the time of day, and General Electric stole all of his inventions. Sadly, both Tesla and Loomis withdrew from the excitement of day-to-day life. It is particularly difficult to measure signals with frequen- cies below 100 Hz, due to interferences of technical origin (for example, the 50 Hz or 60 Hz power current frequen- cies and the 25 Hz telephone ringing signal), whose inten- sity is usually far above that of fields of natural origin. They must be suppressed by means of a suitable filtering technique. Furthermore, these low frequencies, both in electric fields (Clayton et al.) and in magnetic fields (Konig), present special antennae problems. [: 1954, W. O. Schumann and H. L. Konig wrote a paper on electric fields (Clayton er al.) and in magnetic fields the radio frequencies generated by lightning in the atmosphere. (Konig), present special antennae problems. Schumann fared better than Loomis, since the low-frequency- radio components of such atmospheric frequencies are called At the time of Mahlon Loomis, nothing was known of the light- Schumann waves. ning-generated ELF standing wave frequencies. The desk profes- During the 1950s and 1960s, Konig studied those waves in sors therefore decided that, since there was no battery, there could detail. He discovered that such waves are generated by the 2,000 be no electrical waves. They apparently had never heard of Ben to 4,000 lightning strikes that occur Franklin's elegant and dangerous around the world each day. The experiment. ionosphere above the Earth forms the It is easily understood that the volt- upper layer of a huge, resonant cavity age and current from the ELF and filled with atmosphere. The light- VLF waves, that are generated by ning stimulates the long-wave radio Konig discovered that such lightning, furnished the current to waves which resonate in the Earth- both the receiving and transmitting ionosphere spherical cavity. As in [Schumann] waves are generated wire kite antennae. any cavity-resonant system, the ener- by the 2,000 to 4,000 lightning Why did Loomis not need a detec- gy ‘focuses’ and forms standing . tor? Young answers that question waves at certain wavelengths (see strikes that occur around himself. When Loomis opened and figure 1). closed his meter circuit, he created a The atmospheric spectrum of radio the world each day. huge surge of current in the form of a frequency is divided into two rapidly damping pulse. Since both regions. The first is the ELF region kite wires were connected to the same of extremely low frequencies below surrounding atmospheric battery, they 1000 hertz (1 Hz = 1 cycle per sec- responded in time to the opening and ond). The second is the VLF (very low closing circuit—thus the first ‘Morse frequency) region from 1000 Hz (1 kilohertz) to 50,000 Hz (50 code’ transmission without connecting wires: RADIO! kHz). The radio broadcast band goes from 500 kHz to 1700 kHz, far W:: happened to Mahlon Loomis is indeed a sad story. above the atmospheric region. Work by Toomey and Polk shows In 1854, he received a patent for kaolin plates for mak- that the main ‘foci’ of atmospheric standing waves in the United ing artificial teeth. Two years later, he married Achsah States and most of the world are 8, 14, 21, 27 and 33 Hz (see fig- Ashley of West Springfield, Mass., and some time in 1860 moved ure 2). The main standing wave in Florida, as in most of the to Washington, DC, where he gave his first public demonstration United States, is 14 Hz. of wireless communication. In 1868, he repeated the experiment Laka. Ak On The radio broadcast band goes from 500 kHz to 1700 kHz, far \ ), That happened to Mahlon Loomis is indeed a sad story. above the atmospheric region. Work by Toomey and Polk shows In 1854, he received a patent for kaolin plates for mak- that the main ‘foci’ of atmospheric standing waves in the United ing artificial teeth. Two years later, he married Achsah States and most of the world are 8, 14, 21, 27 and 33 Hz (see fig- Ashley of West Springfield, Mass., and some time in 1860 moved ure 2). The main standing wave in Florida, as in most of the to Washington, DC, where he gave his first public demonstration United States, is 14 Hz. of wireless communication. In 1868, he repeated the experiment before eminent scientists and members of Congress. Professor Toomey, in his excellent review article, writes about In 1869, the Loomis Aerial Telegraph Bill was proposed and the difficulty of measuring the ELF waves: $50,000 in financing was sought. Discussions went on for two years until 1871, when the disaster of the Chicago Fire robbed Loomis of promised financial support. On July 30, 1872, Patent No. 129917, titled "Improvement in Telegraphing", was issued to Mahlon Loomis. The patent date, 1872, is proof that he did indeed invent radio transmission by antenna. In 1873, the Capitol Loomis Aerial Telegraph company was chartered by Congress, authorising capital of $200,000, to be increased to $2,000,000. President Grant signed the bill. However, Loomis never saw the money; it was probably diverted by political robbers to somebody else's pocket. Figure 2 Continued on page 83 Professor Toomey, in his excellent review article, writes about the difficulty of measuring the ELF waves: n=1 n=2 NEXUS -57 Konig discovered that such the world each day. FEBRUARY — MARCH 2000