Marconi transatlantic stations

At the request of President Marriott, Mr. Hallborg of the Marconi Company, who has lately returned from Europe, described the Transatlantic Marconi station at Clifden. The power used is 125 kilowatt, of which about 50 kilowatts is radiated from the aerial. Power is supplied by four 5000 volt direct current generators in series. These generators are of special type with slotted commutators and air blowing between the segments for cooling and prevention of destructive arcing. These machines charge a storage battery when it is desired to run the alternating current machinery which may be used to feed the high tension transformers. These last are of the American Transformer Company's manufacture with special means for avoiding high tension surges. In receiving a static preventer is used wherein two balanced crystals are employed. Their current voltage characteristics are identical. The arrangement is similar to that employed by Eccles with the valves. The alternating current generators are each 500 kilowatt and 25 cycle. The receiving aerial consists of 4 wires each 2000 feet longer than the sending antenna. The transmitting aerial is sometimes employed in a curious way to assist in tuning, by tuning it to the incoming wave and using the reradiated energy to assist the receiving aerial.