Short
Stories
of Science and Invention
A
Collection of Radio Talks by
Charles F. Kettering
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Weekly, from
September 1942
to July
1945, Charles F. Kettering gave five-minute intermission talks about Science and Invention during the
radio broadcasts of the General
Motors Symphony of the Air.
Kettering
invented the first automobile
self-starter, and for 31 years directed a research laboratory
for General Motors.
These radio
talks are a fascinating
legacy from the mind of a prolific inventor. The obvious
anachronisms now add a historical perspective of the
war-time period in which they were written.
These web pages now preserve some
of the most popular stories for a new generation to read The
text and art come from a General Motors booklet of selected talks.
(Reprint, March 1959)
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31. Dots and Dashes
A Radio Talk by Charles F. Kettering
Next Wednesday, May 24, [1944], we understand
there will be re-enacted
in Washington a scene which took place just 100 years ago. A telegraph
message will be sent from
Washington to Baltimore - the dots and dashes
will again spell out, "What hath God wrought ?"
Today when we hear the word "telegraph" we naturally think of an
electrical device, but many other methods of sending messages have been
designed by men through the ages. Over 3,000 years ago the Greeks
relayed back to Greece news of the capture of Troy, by signaling with
fires.
The American Indians used puffs of smoke for
signals. One of the
largest of the mounds they used for this purpose is near Miamisburg,
Ohio, about 10 miles from Dayton.
Tribes in Africa and on the islands
of the Pacific have for centuries had a form of telegraph, using
specially made drums; for extreme distances a listening drum is exactly
tuned to the same tone as the sending drum.
 
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