Air Wonder Stories, August 1929 — page 14: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

108 vided mechanieally into a series of horizontal lines or rays of varying intensity. These rays act upon a hght sensitive ‘valve’ which passes more or less electrical current as the intensity of light from various parts of the face opens or closes this valve. This varying cur- rent is then used, after being ‘amplified,’ to distort the carrier wave of a regtlar broadcast transmitter as though it were the varying current from a microphone. “This distorted carrier wave is then picked up on the receiving antenna and used to operate the valves in an ordinary receiving set. When the distortion is ‘ampli- fied’ sufficiently it is used, instead of operating a loud- speaker, to vary the intensity of the light from a special lamp. The varying light from this lamp is then cast in a thin line upon a screen and when the placing of these lines of light are exactly synchronized with the pick-up at the transmitter we have an image of the original, * “By way of analogy: If we should stretch pieces of thread tightly across a frame, so close together that the result appeared to be cloth, and then paint with dyes a picture on this cloth after which we should remove | the threads and tie them end to end, we have accom- plished the purpose of the pick-up. If we then blow the assembled length of thread through a tube to some distant point we have done the work of the transmitter. If, at the receiving point, they cut the lengths of thread apart-and assemble them in a frame exactly as they originally were they have acted as a receiver—they have the picture. “Because in the first attempts they used a _motor- driven disc through which was drilled a spiral of holes, for lining the image at the transmitter and also for laying it upon the screen at the receiver, the image, because of the slowness and other limitations. of the disc, was necessarily very small and coarse. And: syn- chronizing the receiving disc with that of the trans- mitter was a source of constant trouble.” A Sumptuous Meal ssN our present day apparatus,” continued the officer, I indicating a huge lens, “the image to be transmitted is brought to a flat field at the focal plane of this lens. This image, which is very bright, is divided or lined by these three tiny lenses—there is one for each primary. color—and: the threads of light-focused upon these three special light-sensitive valves for transmission. These tiny lenses—pick-up lenses we call them—are connected: by levers to highly responsive piezo crystals. These crystals, which, as you know, change shape in Tesponse to varying or alternating electrical currents, are agitated by crystal-controlled local oscillators, mov- ing the pick-up lenses on: their vertical axes through an arc that just covers the twenty-inch wide image field, The lenses are moved on a horizontal axis to cover the twenty-inch height of the field, being moved up-and then downto cover the field twenty times per second by a carefully governed motor. Thus, by im- pressing upon the piezo crystals an alternating current with a frequency of 40,000 cycles per second, we have 4,000 lines per picture for each color or 12,000 lines for the picture ‘in colors—600 lines per:inch of screen. By a-similar arrangement we lay the varying light on the screen at the receiving station. Since we have a large number of transmitters or ‘plates’ as we call them, set in various parts of the vessel’s shell for viewing our surroundings, we use a large oscillator to-control all of the piezo crystals for the televisions, lookouts and telescopes.” = — oe |e ion AIR WONDER STORIES “Telescopes !”’ : “Yes, By using many of the tiny pick-up lenses at the transmitter and receiver making hundreds of lines to the inch and examining the receiving screen through a microscope we have a telescope.” Back in the control room the captain explained how the four screens above the control table could be switched over to-any of the receiving plates about the . hull, revealing the surroundings in the light of the infra-red. searchlight. “And here is a telescope,” said the officer, indicating a screen set in a table over which was mounted an eye- piece in a swinging support. He closed one of several switches and a cone of light appeared on the screen. “That is the glare of the infra-red searchlight di- cs tected toward the ocean.” Addison peered through the eye-piece and was startled to see how close the waves appeared, They sat for a time in silence and then the com- mander picked up a “phone and talked for a few moments. Presently a chef appeared bearing a tray of small cups which he served to all in’ the room. Addison looked: into his cup of pills dubiously and turned his questioning eyes toward the captain. “T told the chef what your colors are and he arranged a menu best suited to your needs. This is synthetic food from our laboratories,” said the officer, swallow- ing one of the pellets. Addison grinned several times during what the cap- tain called-a leisurely meal. How different from the teal feast of the Steel Age! This struck him as being , ludicrous and he chuckled inwardly as the dozen-or so little pills slid down, “I wonder what these people would do if they were at-an old-time table-with its back nearly broken under the weight of food,” he thought, struggling to hide his amusement from his gracious ost. They settled down for an “after dinner chat” as the captain put it, and Addison bubbled over with mirth. It was more of an “after pill chat.” “What is this mission we are on?” he asked finally, _ “We are on otir way to a spot-in the Likiang moun- tains near the village of Likiang on the Yangtze river. One of our agents reports that there is unusual activity there and thinks that is-the place where the Orientals are making their anti-nullifiers—machines that destroy the gravity nullifying power of any ship during’ the time they are directed at the ship. If that is true, and we are fairly certain that it is, you can imagine that the spot is protected by every means at their disposal and that we are going into the lions’ den. But orders are orders.” Ser, CHAPTER IV A Slight Annoyance GAIN the conversation lapsed and Addison A watched the screens over the control table, Sev- eral ships crossed their field of vision, but-every bi move seemed to be so carefully directed that he ceased Pa ae to worry about tke possibility of a collision at this frightful speed. The ship was silent, ominously silent, Addison thought, although the crew seemed to be at ease. It did not seem possible that this was a battle craft on a dangerous mission—it was more like a pleasure trip. Gradually a slight hum pushed its way through the stillness. The captain listened a moment atid-a look of annoyance crossed his- face. “Someone is careless,” he said, pushing a button. A man appeared, evidently a mechanic, ~ | a, Z cComicbooks.co Ce ee te ee a