English: Photo of standard Marconi shipboard spark wireless transmitter in the radio room of the S.S. Minnetonka in 1902. Operating from batteries, it transmitted with a power of 100-200 watts on a frequency of 600 - 1000 kHz. The induction coil (cylinder, right) produced a high voltage which charged the 6 Leyden jar capacitors (center). A spark across the spark gap (right) discharged the capacitors through a spiral air core "oscillation transformer" in the box on the wall, creating oscillating currents. The transformer is connected to an external wire antenna strung between the masts and the power from the oscillating currents is radiated as radio waves. The transmitter transmitted data by wireless telegraphy; the operator taps on the telegraph key (bottom center) turning the transmitter on and off, to spell out text messages in Morse code. British-Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi invented the first practical radio transmitters and receivers around 1896, and his company, the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company, dominated marine wireless through World War 1.