Tom Swift And His Photo Telephone
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Victor Appleton >> Tom Swift And His Photo Telephone
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TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE
OR THE PICTURE THAT SAVED A FORTUNE
BY VICTOR APPLETON
AUTHOR OF "TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR CYCLE," "TOM SWIFT AND HIS
GIANT CANNON," "THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS," "THE MOVING PICTURE BOYS
IN THE JUNGLE," "THE MOTION PICTURE CHUMS' FIRST VENTURE," ETC.
CONTENTS
I. A MAN ON THE ROOF
II. BAD NEWS
III. TOM'S FAILURE
IV. RUN DOWN
V. SHARP WORDS
VI. A WARNING
VII. SOFT WORDS
VIII. TOM IS BAFFLED
IX. A GLEAM OF HOPE
X. MIDNIGHT VISITORS
XI. THE AIRSHIP IS TAKEN
XII. A STRANGE DISAPPEARANCE
XIII. THE TELEPHONE PICTURE
XIV. MAKING IMPROVEMENTS
XV. THE AIRSHIP CLUE
XVI. SUCCESS
XVII. THE MYSTERIOUS MESSAGE
XVIII. ANOTHER CALL
XIX. THE BUZZING SOUND
XX. SETTING THE TRAP
XXI. THE PHOTO TELEPHONE
XXII. THE ESCAPE
XXIII. ON THE TRAIL
XXIV. THE LONELY HOUSE
XXV. THE AIRSHIP CAPTURE
TOM SWIFT AND HIS PHOTO TELEPHONE
CHAPTER I
A MAN ON THE ROOF
"Tom, I don't believe it can be done!"
"But, Dad, I'm sure it can!"
Tom Swift looked over at his father, who was seated in an easy
chair in the library. The elderly gentleman--his hair was quite
white now--slowly shook his head, as he murmured again:
"It can't be done, Tom! It can't be done! I admit that you've made
a lot of wonderful things--things I never dreamed of--but this is
too much. To transmit pictures over a telephone wire, so that
persons cannot only see to whom they are talking, as well as hear
them--well, to be frank with you, Tom, I should be sorry to see
you waste your time trying to invent such a thing."
"I don't agree with you. Not only do I think it can be done, but
I'm going to do it. In fact, I've already started on it. As for
wasting my time, well, I haven't anything in particular to do, now
that my giant cannon has been perfected, so I might as well be
working on my new photo telephone instead of sitting around idle."
"Yes, Tom, I agree with you there," said Mr. Swift. "Sitting
around idle isn't good for anyone--man or boy, young or old. So
don't think I'm finding fault because you're busy."
"It's only that I don't want to see you throw away your efforts,
only to be disappointed in the end. It can't be done, Tom, it
can't be done," and the aged inventor shook his head in pitying
doubt.
Tom only smiled confidently, and went on:
"Well, Dad, all you'll have to do will be to wait and see. It
isn't going to be easy--I grant that. In fact, I've run up against
more snags, the little way I've gone so far, than I like to admit.
But I'm going to stick at it, and before this year is out I'll
guarantee, Father, that you can be at one end of the telephone
wire, talking to me, at the other, and I'll see you and you'll see
me--if not as plainly as we see each other now, at least plainly
enough to make sure of each other."
Mr. Swift chuckled silently, gradually breaking into a louder
laugh. Instead of being angry, Tom only regarded his father with
an indulgent smile, and continued:
"All right, Dad. Go ahead, laugh!"
"Well, Tom, I'm not exactly laughing at YOU--it's more at the
idea than anything else. The idea of talking over a wire and, at
the same time, having light waves, as well as electrical waves
passing on the same conductor!"
"All right, Dad, go ahead and laugh. I don't mind," said Tom,
good-naturedly. "Folks laughed at Bell, when he said he could send
a human voice over a copper spring; but Bell went ahead and to-day
we can talk over a thousand miles by wire. That was the telephone."
"Folks laughed at Morse when he said he could send a message over
the wire. He let 'em laugh, but we have the telegraph. Folks
laughed at Edison, when he said he could take the human voice--or
any other sound--and fix it on a wax cylinder or a hard-rubber
plate--but he did it, and we have the phonograph. And folks
laughed at Santos Dumont, at the Wrights, and at all the other
fellows, who said they could take a heavier-than-air machine, and
skim above the clouds like a bird; but we do it--I've done it--
you've done it."
"Hold on, Tom!" protested Mr. Swift. "I give up! Don't rub it in
on your old dad. I admit that folks did laugh at those inventors,
with their seemingly impossible schemes, but they made good. And
you've made good lots of times where I thought you wouldn't. But
just stop to consider for a moment. This thing of sending a
picture over a telephone wire is totally out of the question, and
entirely opposed to all the principles of science."
"What do I care for principles of science?" cried Tom, and he
strode about the room so rapidly that Eradicate, the old colored
servant, who came in with the mail, skipped out of the library
with the remark:
"Deed, an' Massa Tom must be pow'fully preragitated dis mawnin'!"
"Some of the scientists said it was totally opposed to all natural
laws when I planned my electric rifle," went on Tom. "But I made
it, and it shot. They said my air glider would never stay up, but
she did."
"But, Tom, this is different. You are talking of sending light
waves--one of the most delicate forms of motion in the world--over
a material wire. It can't be done!"
"Look here, Dad!" exclaimed Tom, coming to a halt in front of his
parent. "What is light, anyhow? Merely another form of motion;
isn't it?"
"Well, yes, Tom, I suppose it is."
"Of course it is," said Tom. "With vibrations of a certain length
and rapidity we get sound--the faster the vibration per second the
higher the sound note. Now, then, we have sound waves, or
vibrations, traveling at the rate of a mile in a little less than
five seconds; that is, with the air at a temperature of sixty
degrees. With each increase of a degree of temperature we get an
increase of about a foot per second in the rapidity with which
sound travels."
"Now, then, light shoots along at the rate of 186,000,000 miles a
second. That is more than many times around the earth in a second
of time. So we have sound, one kind of wave motion, or energy; we
have light, a higher degree of vibration or wave motion, and then
we come to electricity--and nobody has ever yet exactly measured
the intensity or speed of the electric vibrations."
"But what I'm getting at is this--that electricity must travel
pretty nearly as fast as light--if not faster. So I believe that
electricity and light have about the same kind of vibrations, or
wave motion."
"Now, then, if they do have--and I admit it's up to me to prove
it," went on Tom, earnestly--"why can't I send light-waves over a
wire, as well as electrical waves?"
Mr. Swift was silent for a moment. Then he said, slowly:
"Well, Tom, I never heard it argued just that way before. Maybe
there's something in your photo telephone after all. But it never
has been done. You can't deny that!"
He looked at his son triumphantly. It was not because he wanted to
get the better of him in argument, that Mr. Swift held to his own
views; but he wanted to bring out the best that was in his
offspring. Tom accepted the challenge instantly.
"Yes, Dad, it has been done, in a way!" he said, earnestly. "No
one has sent a picture over a telephone wire, as far as I know,
but during the recent hydroplane tests at Monte Carlo, photographs
taken of some of the events in the morning, and afternoon, were
developed in the evening, and transmitted over five hundred miles
of wire to Paris, and those same photographs were published in the
Paris newspapers the next morning."
"Is that right, Tom?"
"It certainly is. The photographs weren't so very clear, but you
could make out what they were. Of course that is a different
system than the one I'm thinking of. In that case they took a
photograph, and made a copper plate of it, as they would for a
half-tone illustration. This gave them a picture with ridges and
depressions in copper, little hills and valleys, so to speak,
according to whether there were light or dark tints in the
picture. The dark places meant that the copper lines stood up
higher there than where there were light colors."
"Now, by putting this copper plate on a wooden drum, and revolving
this drum, with an electrical needle pressing lightly on the
ridges of copper, they got a varying degree of electrical current.
Where the needle touched a high place in the copper plate the
contact was good, and there was a strong current. When the needle
got to a light place in the copper--a depression, so to speak--the
contact was not so good, and there was only a weak current."
"At the receiving end of the apparatus there was a sensitized film
placed on a similar wooden drum. This was to receive the image
that came over the five hundred miles of wire. Now then, as the
electrical needle, moving across the copper plate, made electrical
contacts of different degrees of strength, it worked a delicate
galvanometer on the receiving end. The galvanometer caused a beam
of light to vary--to grow brighter or dimmer, according as the
electrical current was stronger or weaker. And this light, falling
on the sensitive plate, made a picture, just like the one on the
copper plate in Monte Carlo."
"In other words, where the copper plate was black, showing that
considerable printing ink was needed, the negative on the other
end was made light. Then when that negative was printed it would
come out black, because more light comes through the light places
on a photograph negative than through the dark places. And so,
with the galvanometer making light flashes on the sensitive plate,
the galvanometer being governed by the electrical contacts five
hundred miles away, they transmitted a photograph by wire."
"But not a telephone wire, Tom."
"That doesn't make any difference, Dad. It was a wire just the
same. But I'm not going into that just now, though later I may
want to send photographs by wire. What I'm aiming at is to make an
apparatus so that when you go into a telephone booth to talk to a
friend, you can see him and he can see you, on a specially
prepared plate that will be attached to the telephone."
"You mean see him as in a looking-glass, Tom?"
"Somewhat, yes. Though I shall probably use a metal plate instead
of glass. It will be just as if you were talking over a telephone
in an open field, where you could see the other party and he could
see you."
"But how are you going to do it, Tom?"
"Well, I haven't quite decided. I shall probably have to use the
metal called selenium, which is very sensitive to light, and which
makes a good or a poor electrical conductor according as more or
less light falls on it. After all, a photograph is only lights and
shadows, fixed on sensitive paper or films."
"Well, Tom, maybe you can do it, and maybe you can't. I admit
you've used some good arguments," said Mr. Swift. "But then, it
all comes down to this: What good will it be if you can succeed in
sending a picture over a telephone wire?"
"What good, Dad? Why, lots of good. Just think how important it
will be in business, if you can make sure that you are talking to
the party you think you are. As it is now, unless you know the
person's voice, you can't tell that the man on the other end of
the wire is the person he says he is. And even a voice can be
imitated."
"But if you know the person yourself, he can't be imitated. If you
see him, as well as hear his voice, you are sure of what you are
doing. Why, think of the big business deals that could be made
over the telephone if the two parties could not only hear but see
each other. It would be a dead sure thing then. And Mr. Brown
wouldn't have to take Mr. Smith's word that it was he who was
talking. He could even get witnesses to look at the wire-image if
he wanted to, and so clinch the thing. It will prevent a lot of
frauds."
"Well, Tom, maybe you're right. Go ahead. I'll say no more against
your plans. I wish you all success, and if I can help you, call on
me."
"Thanks, Dad. I knew you'd feel that way when you understood. Now
I'm going--"
But what Tom Swift was going to do he did not say just then, for
above the heads of father and son sounded a rattling, crashing
noise, and the whole house seemed to shake Then the voice of
Eradicate was heard yelling:
"Good land! Good land ob massy! Come out yeah, Massa Tom! Come
right out yeah! Dere's a man on de roof an' he am all tangled up
suthin' scandalous! Come right out yeah befo' he falls and
translocates his neck! Come on!"
CHAPTER II
BAD NEWS
With startled glances at each other, Tom and his father rushed
from the library to the side of the house, whence came the cries
of Eradicate.
"What is it, Rad! what is it?" questioned Tom.
"Is someone hurt?" Mr. Swift wanted to know.
"He mighty soon will be!" exclaimed the colored man. "Look where
he am holdin' on! Lucky fo' him he grabbed dat chimbley!"
Tom and his father looked to where Eradicate pointed, and saw a
strange sight. A small biplane-airship had become entangled in
some of the aerials of Tom's wireless apparatus, and the craft had
turned turtle, being held from falling by some of the wire braces.
The birdman had fallen out, but had managed to cling to the
chimney, so that he had not reached the ground, and there he
clung, while the motor of his airship was banging away, and
revolving the propeller blades dangerously close to his head.
"Are you hurt?" cried Tom, to the unknown birdman.
"No, but I'm likely to be unless I get out of here!" was the
gasped-out answer.
"Hold fast!" cried Tom. "We'll have you down in a jiffy. Here,
Rad, you get the long ladder. Where's Koku? That giant is never
around when he's wanted. Find Koku, Rad, and send him here."
"Yas, sah, Massa Tom; directly, sah!" and the colored man hastened
off as fast as his aged legs would take him.
And while preparations are thus under way to rescue the birdman
from the roof, I will take just a few minutes to tell you a little
something more about Tom Swift and his numerous inventions, as set
forth in the previous books of this series.
"Tom Swift and His Motor Cycle" was the first book, and in that I
related how Tom made the acquaintance of a Mr. Wakefield Damon, of
the neighboring town of Waterford, and how Tom bought that
gentleman's motor cycle, after it had tried to climb a tree with
its rider in the saddle. Mr. Wakefield Damon was an odd man, whose
favorite expression was "Bless my shoelaces!" or something equally
absurd. Waterford was not far from Shopton, where Tom and his
father made their home.
Mr. Swift was also an inventor of note, and Tom soon followed in
his father's footsteps. They lived in a large house, with many
shops about it, for their work at times required much machinery.
Mrs. Baggert was the housekeeper who looked after Tom and his
father, and got their meals, when they consented to take enough
time from their inventive work to eat. Another member of the
household was Eradicate Sampson, a genial old colored man, who
said he was named Eradicate because he used to eradicate the dirt
about the place.
Koku, just referred to by Tom, was an immense man, a veritable
giant, whom Tom had brought back with him from one of his trips,
after escaping from captivity. The young inventor really brought
two giants, brothers they were, but one had gone to a museum, and
the other took service with our hero, making himself very useful
when it came to lifting heavy machinery.
Tom had a close friend in Ned Newton, who was employed in the
Shopton bank. Another friend was Miss Mary Nestor, a young lady
whose life Tom had once saved. He had many other friends, and some
enemies, whom you will meet from time to time in this story.
After Tom had had many adventures on his motor cycle he acquired a
motor boat, and in that he and Ned went through some strenuous
times on Lake Carlopa, near Tom's home. Then followed an airship,
for Tom got that craze, and in the book concerning that machine I
related some of the things that happened to him. He had even more
wonderful adventures in his submarine, and with his electric
runabout our hero was instrumental in saving a bank from ruin by
making a trip in the speediest car on the road.
After Tom Swift had sent his wireless message, and saved the
castaways of Earthquake Island, he thought he would give up his
inventive work for a time, and settle down to a life of ease and
quiet.
But the call of the spirit of adventure was still too strong for
him to resist. That was why he sought out the diamond makers, and
learned the secret of Phantom Mountain. And when he went to the
Caves of Ice, and there saw his airship wrecked, Tom was well-nigh
discouraged, But he managed to get back to civilization, and later
undertook a journey to elephant land, with his powerful electric
rifle.
Marvelous adventures underground did Tom Swift have when he went
to the City of Gold, and I have set down some of them in the book
bearing the latter title. Later on he sought the platinum treasure
in his air glider. And when Tom was taken captive, in giant land,
only his speedy airship saved him from a hard fate.
By this time moving pictures were beginning to occupy a large
place in the scientific, as well as the amusement world, and Tom
invented a Wizard Camera which did excellent work. Then came the
need of a powerful light, to enable Uncle Sam's custom officers on
the border to detect the smugglers, and Tom was successful in
making his apparatus.
He thought he would take a rest after that, but with the opening
of the Panama Canal came the need of powerful guns to protect that
important waterway, and Tom made a Giant Cannon, which enabled the
longest shots on record to be fired.
Now, some months had passed, after the successful trial of the big
weapon, and Tom longed for new activities. He found them in the
idea of a photo telephone, and he and his father were just talking
of this when interrupted by the accident to the birdman on the
roof of the Swift home.
"Have you got that ladder, Rad?" cried the young inventor,
anxiously, as he saw the dangerous position of the man from the
airship.
"Yas, sah, Massa Tom! I'se a-camin' wif it!"
"And where's Koku? We'll need him!"
"He's a-camin', too!"
"Here Koku!" exclaimed a deep voice, and a big man came running
around the corner of the house. "What is it, Master?"
"We must get him down, Koku!" said Tom, simply. "I will go up on
the roof. You had better come, too. Rad, go in the house and get a
mattress from the bed. Put it down on the ground where he's likely
to fall. Lively now!"
"Yas, sah, Massa Tom!"
"Me git my own ladder--dat one not strong 'nuff!" grunted Koku,
who did not speak very good English. He had a very strong ladder,
of his own make, built to hold his enormous bulk, and this he soon
brought and placed against the side of the house.
Meanwhile Tom and his father had raised the one Eradicate had
brought, though Tom did most of the lifting, for his father was
elderly, and had once suffered from heart trouble.
"We're coming for you!" cried the young inventor as he began to
ascend the ladder, at the same time observing that the giant was
coming with his. "Can you hold on a little longer?"
"Yes, I guess so. But I dare not move for fear the propellers will
strike me."
"I see. I'll soon shut off the motor," said Tom. "What happened,
anyhow?"
"Well, I was flying over your house. I was on my way to pay you a
visit, but I didn't intend to do it in just this way," and the
birdman smiled grimly. "I didn't see your wireless aerials until I
was plumb into them, and then it was too late. I hope I haven't
damaged them any."
"Oh, they are easily fixed," said Tom. "I hope you and your
biplane are not damaged. This way, Koku!" he called to the giant.
"Say, is--is he real, or am I seeing things?" asked the aviator,
as he looked at the big man.
"Oh, he's real, all right," laughed Tom. "Now, then, I'm going to
shut off your motor, and then you can quit hugging that chimney,
and come down."
"I'll be real glad to," said the birdman.
Making his way cautiously along the gutters of the roof, Tom
managed to reach the motor controls. He pulled out the electrical
switch, and with a sort of cough and groan the motor stopped. The
big propellers ceased revolving, and the aviator could leave his
perch in safety.
This he did, edging along until he could climb down and meet Tom,
who stood near the ladder.
"Much obliged," said the birdman, as he shook hands with Tom. "My
name is Grant Halling. I'm a newcomer in Mansburg," he added,
naming a town not far from Shopton. "I know you by reputation, so
you don't need to introduce yourself."
"Glad to meet you," said the young inventor, cordially. "Rather a
queer place to meet a friend," he went on with a laugh and a
glance down to the ground. "Can you climb?"
"Oh, yes, I'm used to that. The next thing will be to get my
machine down."
"Oh, we can manage that with Koku's help," spoke Tom. "Koku, get
some ropes, and see what you and Rad can do toward getting the
aeroplane down," he added to the giant. "Let me know if you need
any help."
"Me can do!" exclaimed the big man. "Me fix him!"
Tom and Mr. Halling made their way down the ladder, while the
giant proceeded to study out a plan for getting the airship off
the roof.
"You say you were coming over to see me, when you ran into my
wireless aerials?" asked Tom, curiously, when he had introduced
his father to the birdman.
"Yes," went on Mr. Halling. "I have been having some trouble with
my motor, and I thought perhaps you could tell me what was wrong.
My friend, Mr. Wakefield Damon, sent me to you."
"What! Do you know Mr. Damon?" cried Tom.
"I've known' him for some years. I met him in the West, but I
hadn't seen him lately, until I came East. He sent me to see you,
and said you would help me."
"Well, any friend of Mr. Damon's is a friend of mine!" exclaimed
Tom, genially. "I'll have a look at your machine as soon as Koku
gets it down. How is Mr. Damon, anyhow? I haven't seen him in over
two weeks."
"I'm sorry to say he isn't very well, Mr. Swift."
"Is he ill? What is the trouble?"
"He isn't exactly ill," went on Mr. Halling, "but he is fretting
himself into a sickness, worrying over his lost fortune."
"His lost fortune!" cried Tom, in surprise at the bad news
concerning his friend. "I didn't know he had lost his money!"
"He hasn't yet, but he's in a fair way to, he says. It's something
about bad investments, and he did speak of the trickery of one
man, I didn't get the particulars. But he certainly feels very
badly over it."
"I should think he would," put in Mr. Swift. "Tom, we must look
into this. If we can help Mr. Damon--"
"We certainly will," interrupted Tom. "Now come in the house, Mr.
Halling. I'm sure you must be quite shaken up by your upset."
"I am, to tell you the truth, though it isn't the first accident
I've had in my airship."
They were proceeding toward the house, when there came a cry from
Koku, who had fastened a rope about the airship to lower it.
"Master! Master!" cried the giant. "The rope am slippin'. Grab the
end of it!"
CHAPTER III
TOM'S FAILURE
"Come on!" cried Tom, quickly, as, turning', he saw the accident
about to happen. "Your craft will surely be smashed if she slips
to the ground, Mr. Halling!"
"You're right! This seems to be my unlucky day!" The birdman,
limping slightly from his fall, hurried with Tom to where a rope
trailed on the ground. Koku had fastened one end to the airship,
and had taken a turn of the cable about the chimney. He had been
lowering the biplane to the ground, but he had not allowed for its
great weight, and the rope had slipped from his big hands.
But Tom and Mr. Halling were just in time. They grabbed the
slipping hempen strands, and thus checked the falling craft until
Koku could get a better grip.
"All right now," said the giant, when he had made fast the rope.
"Me fix now. Master can go."
"Think he can lower it?" asked Mr. Halling, doubtfully.
"Oh, surely," said Tom. "Koku's as strong as a horse. You needn't
worry. He'll get it down all right. But you are limping."
"Yes, I jammed my leg a little."
"Don't you want a doctor?"
"Oh, no, not for a little thing like that."
But Tom insisted on looking at his new friend's wound, and found
quite a cut on the thigh, which the young inventor insisted on
binding up.
"That feels better," said the birdman, as he stretched out on a
couch. "Now if you can look my machine over, and tell me what's
the matter with it, I'll be much obliged to you, and I'll get on
my way."
"Not quite so fast as that!" laughed Tom. "I wouldn't want to see
you start off with your lame leg, and certainly I would not want
to see you use your aircraft after what she's gone through, until
we've given her a test. You can't tell what part you might have
strained."
"Well, I suppose you are right. But I think I'd better go to a
hotel, or send for an auto and go home."
"Now you needn't do anything of the kind," spoke Tom, hospitably.
"We've got lots of room here, and for that matter we have plenty
of autos and airships, too, as well as a motor boat. You just rest
yourself here. Later we'll look over your craft."
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