Abstract
THE problem considered in this volume is that of communicating to a distant mechanism a movement the magnitude, direction, and sense of which are definite functions of those of a transmitting mechanism. The character of the movements which it is desired to transmit varies very much in degree from the simplest of all (traction), in which the three “commands”— forwards, backwards, stop—are alone the orders to be obeyed. The author classifies the different mechanisms employed, not according to their complication, but according to the methods that are characteristic of them. These form seven groups—(1) direct action apparatus, (2) apparatus using relays, (3) apparatus employing rotating fields, (4) Wheatstone's bridge devices, (5) apparatus based on the use of induction sparks, (6) escapements, (7) Hertzian waves. The various devices that have been used from time to time are very clearly described under these headings with the aid of diagrams. In chapter viii. an account is given of the commutating device of Lieutenant-Colonel Rivals, by which the sending and receiving instruments can be used as either in turn. Altogether the book forms a very useful and suggestive summary of this very important branch of modern military practice.
Les Procédés de Commande à Distance au Moyen de l'Électricité.
By Captain Régis Frilley. Pp. vii + 190. (Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1906.) Price 3.50 francs.
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Les Procédés de Commande à Distance au Moyen de l'Électricité . Nature 74, 125 (1906). https://doi.org/10.1038/074125a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/074125a0