This method of transmitting army orders is quite dependable. With the most recent developments and improvements it is now possible to direct the movements of a great army and navy simultaneously from a centrally located point.
FIG. 106.—Wireless equipped automobile.
One of the most interesting and spectacular applications of wireless telegraphy in military service is the wireless telegraph automobile.
The automobile is a stock pattern touring car of 30 H. P. provided with a special body arranged to carry six passengers. The seats are elevated so as to afford storage space below for the entire wireless equipment and a truly astonishing amount of miscellaneous supplies.
FIG. 107.—Company D Signal Corps at San Antonio Texas, 1911, showing pack sets and telescoping pole carried by pack mules.
The mast used to elevate the aerial is of light steel construction divided into eight sections which nest into one another with admirable economy of space. The socket for the foot of the mast is located in the center of the tonneau. Only a few minutes are required to raise the mast and aerial. The same gasoline motor employed to drive the automobile also drives a small dynamo which supplies the electric current for the transmitting apparatus.
Two of these cars have been experimentally operated over a number of the old battle-fields of the Civil War.
