The original scan of this article is at: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1912-07-29/ed-1/seq-1/.
 
The San Francisco Call, July 29, 1912, pages 1-2:
 

Longest  News  Air  Line  in  World  "Bridges"  Honolulu  and  This  City

 
San Francisco to Honolulu graphic

DEATH  KNELL  OF  OCEAN  CABLE  IS  RUNG
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Greatest  Achievement  in  the  History  of  Communication  is  Attained  by  the  Federal  Telegraph  Company
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NEW  POULSEN  WIRELESS  SYSTEM  JUMPS  2,100  MILES
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Residents  in  Hawaiian  Islands  Now  Will  Have  Latest  News  Flashed  to  Them  by  "Ether"  Route
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SAN  BRUNO  POINT  MASTER  OF  TRACKLESS  DEPTHS
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SAN  FRANCISCO  AND  HONOLULU  HAVE  AIR  LINE
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Poulsen  System  of  Wireless  Now  Bridges  Island  With  Latest Dispatches
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Greatest  Achievement  in  Communication  When  Ether  Waves  Jump  2,100  Miles
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FLASHING the success of the most distinctive achievement in the history of wireless telegraphy, newspaper dispatches amounting to 1,800 words were sent direct from San Francisco to Honolulu early Sunday morning, a distance of 2,350 miles, and opened for commercial business the longest wireless "bridge" in the world.
    Like the telephone, the automobile and the incandescent lamp, which a few years ago were curiosities--mere inventive freaks--the wireless has emerged from the doubtful stage. It has become a commercial utility, for the test yesterday proved conclusively the possibility of maintaining direct and constant communication with Honolulu. At the same moment it sounded the death knell for the old, out of date cable.
Trial  Messages  Sent
    Actual communication by the Federal Telegraph company's system was established early last week, when complimentary messages between the company's new Hawaiian station and the brand new station at San Bruno point, South San Francisco, showed that the line was clear. It only remained for the line--or is it a line?--to be opened for commercial service, and yesterday morning was chosen for this auspicious event.
    The world's news follows the line of least resistance--the shortest, quickest and easiest line. Wherefore Honolulu residents have ceased to read "Special by cable" in their papers. Instead it will be "By Wireless from San Francisco." The gap is bridged and the Hawaiian city is moved up next door to the world.
Greatest  Service  in  History
    The distance traversed is the greatest over which a regular service has ever been accomplished. From time to time, under favorable conditions, wireless stations in San Francisco have "picked up" the government stations in Key West, or off the coast of Maine, and sometimes in Japan, but there has never been any possibility of sending commercial messages. The Marconi wireless across the Atlantic is about 1,800 miles, but the cable there is still the chief means of communication.
Poulsen  System  Is  Used
    By means of the Poulsen system, which is a radical departure from the earlier styles of wireless communication, the distance to Honolulu is made a small factor.
    With the possibility of crossing the Pacific rendered thoroughly certain by the performance yesterday, the Federal company will commence at once to build stations similar to those in Honolulu and San Francisco, either on one of the Midway islands, which is the nearest land between Hawaii and the orient, or on some point on the Aleutian Islands. No matter which route is chosen, it would be an easy jump to Japan, as the distance is practically the same from either of these points to Japan as from San Francisco to Honolulu.
PACIFIC  SOON  TO  BE  BRIDGED
    Thus will the Pacific be bridged, and in two relays commercial messages will be sent from California to Japan.
    During the sending and receiving of congratulatory messages Friday and Saturday between the officers of the company in this city, including Beach Thompson, president: E. W. Hopkins, vice president, and H. P. Veeder, secretary and treasurer, and the chief engineer, C. F. Elwell, who is in Honolulu. W. G. Irwin, the Honolulu and San Francisco sugar magnate, sent his friend, E. W. Hopkins, the following:
Honolulu, T. H., July 26.    
    E. W. Hopkins, San Francisco--Visited your new wireless station yesterday and congratulate you on what you have accomplished and its successful issue. It is wonderful. Hope that your health continues good, and your bridge is improving. Mrs. joins me in kind regards. We return in about 10 days.                                W. G. IRWIN.
    All of the members of the company are delighted with the opening of the Honolulu service. Besides the officers above the board of directors comprises: John F. Deahl, J. Henry Meyer, Charles D. Marx, Carl Philip, George A. Pope and S. E. Slade.
    A. Y. Tuel, the chief operator of the company, operated the sender during the transmission of press dispatches. He experienced not the slightest difficulty.
    The achievement of the Federal Telegraph company is likewise a victory for San Francisco, since the corporation is owned and controlled entirely by San Francisco men. Through sending an agent direct to Poulsen, the inventor of the new system, the American rights to the patents were secured, and California energy has done the rest in developing the plant, which operates up and down the coast and as far east as Chicago and Kansas City. Honolulu is now added to the wireless map of the concern.
    The Honolulu station has just been finished and is located 12 miles outside the city. It took two months to build. The station at San Bruno point consists of two 440 foot towers, which are the loftiest wireless supports in the world. The two masts are triangular in shape, measuring six on a side, and are built of wood. They are 600 feet apart, and between them is suspended a total of 35,000 feet of antenna, or wires used to discharge and receive the electric currents bearing the messages.
600  VOLTS  OF  DIRECT  CURRENT
    Two complete sets of 30 kilowatt generators have been installed, capable of supplying 600 volts direct current. One of these generators is to be kept in reserve. The total area covered by the masts, guys and antenna is about 25 acres.
    The Poulsen system makes its wireless signals in a manner entirely different from the Marconi method. The advantages claimed for it are that the messages are as confidential as the ordinary telegram; that there is freedom from amateur interference and that it is capable of high speed in transmission. The speed of the ordinary wireless is less than 50 words a minute, while the new method approaches 300 words a minute.
    Briefly, the difference in transmission is this: the Marconi system makes signals by closing and breaking an electric circuit. Every dot and dash signal represents an independent electric current impulse transmitted through the air; the Poulsen system makes signals by varying, at the will of the sending operator, the electrical wave length in a continuous current.
    The Marconi system opens the line of transmission for each separate signal. The Poulsen system, on the other hand, opens the line once and keeps it open by continuous electric impulses while the signals are being transmitted.
    A rapid mechanical method in transmitting and receiving messages is possible under the new system. A message can be punched on a tape so as to differentiate between the dots and dashes, and then sent through a mechanical sender at the rate of 150 to 300 words a minute. At the receiving station these impulses are received by a vibrating gold wire of extreme fineness. The shadow of this moving wire is thrown on a moving photographic tape, which furnishes a record for the receiving operator.
PREVENTS  INTERFERENCE
    "Tuning" is the method used to prevent other wireless stations from interfering or receiving messages not intended for them. To illustrate, a pistol fired near a piano sets all the strings in vibration. This compares with the present wireless system, where a message arouses all the stations within range. A C tuning fork struck near a piano will bring forth a response only from the C strings. This may be compared with the Poulsen system, and also illustrates the possibility of having several transmission stations within a close range sending messages simultaneously without interference.
    The reason for the greater distance which messages may be sent may also be shown by a physical comparison. The waves sent out by a "spark" system are like those from a rock thrown in a pond. If the rock is big enough and the pond not too large, the waves will finally reach the shore, though much diminished in size. In the Poulsen system the waves not only preserve their original form, but as the energy is being sent out constantly each wave reinforces the next in a continuous vibration.