Mahlon Loomis
Encyclopedia
Mahlon Loomis was an early wireless
telegraph experiment
er.
-tops 14 miles apart in Virginia
, using kite
s as antenna
s, but with no independent witnesses present.
telegraph in 1872. This one-page patent makes a vague claim about using atmospheric electricity
to eliminate the overhead wire used by the existing telegraph systems, but it contains no schematic
diagram of how to build it, and no theory of how it might function. Loomis envisioned towers "on the tops of high mountains, and thus penetrate or establish electrical connection with the atmospheric stratum ... to form the electrical circuit."
Loomis's patent is substantially similar to U.S. Patent 126,356 received three months earlier by William Henry Ward
who applied for the patent on June 29, 1871 when Loomis was actively promoting his idea of using atmospheric electricity for telegraph communication. Ward's patent also contains no schematic diagram. Instead, Ward illustrates and describes towers that rotate into the wind "to drive an aerial current of electricity into the insulated middle portion of the tower, which current passes upwardly through the upper portion of the tower and out through the ventilator or the top... whereby the tower is receiving continually fresh and new supplies of electricity".
The two patents in some places use almost identical language:
In January 1873, the United States Congress
declined to charter the Loomis Aerial Telegraph Co. One congressman, pleading Loomis' case in the House, said, "He entertains a dream, and it may be only a dream, a wild dream that when his proposition comes to be fully applied, it may light and warm your houses...." Loomis, himself, addressed Congress at one point, stating that his proposal functioned by "Causing electrical vibrations or waves to pass around the world, as upon the surface of some quiet lake one wave circlet follows another from the point of the disturbance to the remotest shores, so that from any other mountain top upon the globe another conductor, which shall pierce this plane and receive the impressed vibration, may be connected to an indicator which will mark the length and duration of the vibration; and indicate by any agreed system of notation, convertible into human language, the message of the operator at the point of the first disturbance."
One version of the Loomis apparatus used a keyed connection to ground at the transmitting station, and a spark gap to ground at the receiver. Radio frequency transients would have been generated by keying the sky-ground DC potential at the transmitter, and if the kite wires were of the same length (which would have the kites at the same altitude above terrain), the receiving apparatus would have been resonant and able to receive such a signal. This may account for his result—not by tapping into the same layer of atmosphere, but because the wires were the same length.
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
telegraph experiment
Experiment
An experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
er.
Early history
Loomis, a Washington, DC dentist, claimed to have transmitted signals in October 1866 between two Blue Ridge MountainBlue Ridge Mountain
Blue Ridge Mountain, also known as Blue Mountain, is the colloquial name of the western most ridge of the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia...
-tops 14 miles apart in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, using kite
Kite
A kite is a tethered aircraft. The necessary lift that makes the kite wing fly is generated when air flows over and under the kite's wing, producing low pressure above the wing and high pressure below it. This deflection also generates horizontal drag along the direction of the wind...
s as antenna
Antenna (radio)
An antenna is an electrical device which converts electric currents into radio waves, and vice versa. It is usually used with a radio transmitter or radio receiver...
s, but with no independent witnesses present.
Patent
Loomis received for a wirelessWireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
telegraph in 1872. This one-page patent makes a vague claim about using atmospheric electricity
Atmospheric electricity
Atmospheric electricity is the regular diurnal variations of the Earth's atmospheric electromagnetic network . The Earth's surface, the ionosphere, and the atmosphere is known as the global atmospheric electrical circuit...
to eliminate the overhead wire used by the existing telegraph systems, but it contains no schematic
Schematic
A schematic diagram represents the elements of a system using abstract, graphic symbols rather than realistic pictures. A schematic usually omits all details that are not relevant to the information the schematic is intended to convey, and may add unrealistic elements that aid comprehension...
diagram of how to build it, and no theory of how it might function. Loomis envisioned towers "on the tops of high mountains, and thus penetrate or establish electrical connection with the atmospheric stratum ... to form the electrical circuit."
Loomis's patent is substantially similar to U.S. Patent 126,356 received three months earlier by William Henry Ward
William Henry Ward
William Henry Ward on 30 April 1872 was granted a USA patent for "Improvement for collecting electricity for telegraphing" . He theorized that an "electrical layer in the atmosphere" could carry signals like a telegraph wire, and thus is sometimes listed among supposed inventors of radio.-External...
who applied for the patent on June 29, 1871 when Loomis was actively promoting his idea of using atmospheric electricity for telegraph communication. Ward's patent also contains no schematic diagram. Instead, Ward illustrates and describes towers that rotate into the wind "to drive an aerial current of electricity into the insulated middle portion of the tower, which current passes upwardly through the upper portion of the tower and out through the ventilator or the top... whereby the tower is receiving continually fresh and new supplies of electricity".
The two patents in some places use almost identical language:
- "I also dispense with all artificial batteries, but use the free electricity of the atmosphere, co-operating with that of the earth... for telegraphing and for other purposes, such as light, heat, and motive power." (Loomis)
- "I entirely dispense with artificial batteries, forming my circuit merely by connecting the aerial current with the earth current... for the use of land lines of telegraphs or for other purposes, such as light, heat, &c." (Ward)
In January 1873, the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
declined to charter the Loomis Aerial Telegraph Co. One congressman, pleading Loomis' case in the House, said, "He entertains a dream, and it may be only a dream, a wild dream that when his proposition comes to be fully applied, it may light and warm your houses...." Loomis, himself, addressed Congress at one point, stating that his proposal functioned by "Causing electrical vibrations or waves to pass around the world, as upon the surface of some quiet lake one wave circlet follows another from the point of the disturbance to the remotest shores, so that from any other mountain top upon the globe another conductor, which shall pierce this plane and receive the impressed vibration, may be connected to an indicator which will mark the length and duration of the vibration; and indicate by any agreed system of notation, convertible into human language, the message of the operator at the point of the first disturbance."
Analysis
Loomis noted that transmission was possible only when the kites were flown to the same altitude above ground, which seemed to confirm his hypothesis that he was completing a DC circuit through layers of the atmosphere that he hypothesized carried such currents. We know now that there is no basis for such a system.One version of the Loomis apparatus used a keyed connection to ground at the transmitting station, and a spark gap to ground at the receiver. Radio frequency transients would have been generated by keying the sky-ground DC potential at the transmitter, and if the kite wires were of the same length (which would have the kites at the same altitude above terrain), the receiving apparatus would have been resonant and able to receive such a signal. This may account for his result—not by tapping into the same layer of atmosphere, but because the wires were the same length.
External links
- Library of Congress exhibit with Loomis notebooks
- United States Early Radio History by Thomas H. White suggesting Loomis' work may have been fraudulent, citing lack of evidence.