Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/460

LEFT WINTHROP 392 WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY England he collected a body of colonists and settled with them in Saybrook, Conn., and was appointed their gover- nor, retaining the office till his death. He was devoted to scientific pursuits, and had the honor of being one of the founders of the Royal Society of Lon- don. He died in Boston, April 5, 1676. WINTHROP, ROBERT CHARLES, American statesman; born in Boston, Mass., May 12, 1809; was graduated at Harvard College in 1828; studied law with Daniel Webster, and was admitted to the bar in 1831. He soon left law for politics and in 1834 was elected to the State Legislature, where he served five years, three as Speaker of the House. In 1840 he was elected to Con- gress, serving for 10 years, two years as speaker. He was appointed Webster's successor in the United States Senate in 1850, and served one year, after which he retired from public life. He died in Boston, Mass., Nov. 16, 1894, WINTHROP. THEODORE, an Amer- ican military officer ; born in New Haven, Conn., Sept. 22, 1828; was graduated at Yale College in 1848; traveled exten- sively; studied law, and joined the 7th New York Regiment in 1861. The 1861 "Atlantic Monthly" contained sketches THEODORE WINTHROP from him of early war scenes. He left completed material for five volumes of novels and essays: "Cecil Dreeme" (1861); "John Brent" (1862); "Edwin Brothercroft" (1862) ; "The Canoe and the Saddle" (1862) ; and "Life in the Open Air, and Other Papers" (1863). His sister published "Life and Poems of Theodore Winthrop" (1884). He was killed at the head of an assaulting col- umn of Northern troops at Big Bethel, Va., June 10, 1861. WIRE, a metallic rod, thread, or fila- ment of small and uniform diameter. The largest size, numbered 0000, of the Birmingham wire-gauge, has a diameter of .454 inch; but smaller sizes even than this, except when drawn out to consid- erable lengths, are generally known as bars or rods. Lead wire for the manu- facture of bullets may considerably ex- ceed the above diameter. Wire is us- ually cylindrical, but it is also made of various other forms, as oval, half-round, square, and triangular, and of more complicated shapes for small pinions; for forming the pattern on blocks used in calico-printing, and for other pur- poses. Used absolutely for telegraph wire, and hence, colloquially, applied to the telegraph itself; as, to send a mes- sage by wire. Used in hunting language for wire-fencing. Wii'e of Lapland is a shining slender substance made from the sinews of the reindeer, soaked in water, beaten and spun into thread. Being then coated vnth tin, it is used by the Laplanders to embroider their clothes. WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY AND TELEPHONY. A system of wireless telegraphy has been developed through three different methods, which may be classified as conduction, induction, and wave methods. By the method of conduc- tion, currents are sent through the earth from one electrode to another, at the sending station. By the induction method, use is made of a property passed by alternating currents, of exciting simi- lar currents in neighboring conductors with the aim of obtaining as intense a current as possible in the secondary circuit. The two methods were com- bined by W. H. Preece, of England. The third method is by the use of electro- magnetic waves. This was introduced and developed by William Marconi, to whom is generally ascribed the invention of wireless telegraphy. After experi- ments were carried on through many years, practical use of wireless teleg- raphy was first demonstrated in the rescue of the steamship "Republic", in 1909, and of the survivors of the steam- ship "Titanic", in 1912. Both of these vessels were equipped with wireless teleg- raphy by which notification of disasters was given. Within a short period, all trans-Atlantic steamers and naval vessels were fitted with wireless telegraph ap- paratus, and wireless stations were erected in many parts of the United States, the British Isles, continental Eu- rope, and other parts of the world. Serv- ice between the Eiffel Tower, Paris, and the United States was put into effect in 1911, and in 1913 wireless communication