The Beaufort tribune and Port Royal commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1877-1879, 1877-03-22
PROFESSOR BELLS TELEPHONE.
The Human Voice Carried Hundred ant
Forty Miles.

The Human Voice Carried n Hundred and
Forty Miles.
Professor A. Graham Bell, the inven-
tor of the telephone, comes from the
staid old city of Salem. About five years
ago he first began to think about the
possibility of the transmission of sound
by telegraph, and the idea took posses
sion OF him completely. His invention
had SO far taken form eighteen months
ago, that with the assistance of prac-
teal electrician, Mr.. Thomas A. Watson,
he began to experiment, using for the
purpose a wire between Boston and Cam
bridge, about two miles long.
The first time the practical success of
the telephone was demonstrated to the
satisfaction of others was on Oct. 8,
1876. The telephone then spoke for
itself, and the conversation of the ope-
rator in Cambridge could be distinctly
heard at the Boston end of the line. An
interesting dialogue took place, the
speakers talking in their ordinary key.
One of the experiments, which occur
red on Jan. 21, was eminently gratifying
in its results. Not only every word
spoken in Boston, but even the tones
and infeMons of the several voices were
accurately transmitted and readily recog-
nized by those at the Salem end of the
line. Other experiments demonstrated
the fact that a lady In, Maiden could
sing "The Last Rose of Summer" and
| every note could be heard in the room at
5 Exeter place, Boston. The sound was
perfectly clear, and had about the same
| effect as if the listener were at the rear
of a concert hall, say one hundred feet
away from the singer. Subsequent trials
showed that laughter, applause or in
strumental music could be equally well
transmitted. In the case of the latter,
not only the key could be transmitted
but also the quality Of the music. A
violin could be distinguished from vio-
loncello.
The greatest distance that has been
vanquished by the telephone is 143 miles
from Boston to North Conway, n. 81.
The most recent improvements made on
the instrument do away with batter
les altogether, and premanent magnets
are now employed instead, the electric
wave used in transmitting the sounds
being generated by the voice itself. This
is regarded as a very important step in
advance, as the bother and expense Of
keeping batteries in order has been the
great drawback to the employment Of
the instrument for private purposes.
| The honor of having received the first
newspaper dispatch ever sent by means
of the telephone belongs to the Boston
Globe. A report of lecture by Prof.
Bell in Salem was transmitted verbally
to it last Monday night. This lecture
was about the telephone, and in the
course of the evening series of remark
able experiments was made in the pres
ence of the audience. Songs and brief
syeeches we're sent from Boston, and the
applause which greeted their reception
in Salem was distinctly heard in Boston.
Imagine sitting in hall and hearing a
man, eighteen miles away, sing "Hold
the Fort"
81 haven't the slightest doubt" Mr..
Watson said, "that in o few months
things will be so that a man can make a
lecture here in Boston and be heard by
an audience in any part of the country. "
"Do you expect that the telephone
will entirely supersede the present sys-
tenn of telegraphing? I asked.
eyes, we expect it will, eventually. A
company is now forming for the purpose
of manufacturing and introducing the
instrument. In time it can't fail to re-
place the old dot and line alphabet sys-
tenn entirely. We expect, at first, it
will be used mostly on private lines and
for city business. 1t will probably take
the place Of the present district tele-
graph companies and the like, as it will
be especially convenient for that class of
business"
"Won't the receiving operators have
to learn shorthand %
"Yes, I suppose they will. In our
experiments we have generally paused
after saying a sentence, so that the re-
ceiver had time to write out in long
hand"
Mr.. Watson remarked that the intro.
duction of the telephone would probably
have the effect of increasing the tele-
graph business to such an extent that it
| would hasten the time when the wires
would have to be laid underground, in
stead of being strung on poles. Apropos
to singing by telegraph, I asked if it
would not save good deal Of expense to
our American opera managers. can
American audience could hear Nilsson,
Patti, or any European 1orinaa donna,
without bringing them across the Allan
tic" suggested. "Just place the re-
ceiving machine in the Boston Music
Hall, for instance, and let the songstress
put her mouth close to the mouthpiece
! in Paris, London, Vienna or st. Peters
burg. and the effect would be the same
as if the prima donna herself were pres
ent in the fesh."
"Certainly," said Mr.. Watson. smil-
ing, "and it would becurious to observe
what effect the presence of the voice and
absence of the person would have on
! the critics. Homely singers would prob
ably advance in public esteem, while
some of the beautiful cantatrices might
suffer a corresponding setback when
their voices were judged on their
! merits"
No trial has yet been made, however,
of the transmission of sounds to SO great
a distance as across the Atlantic. Mr..
Watson said that as far as they had been
able to ascertain, there seemed to be a
limit to the distance over which the
sounds could be made to travel; but he
expressed himself as confident that In
due time any given distance could be an,
initiated. "We have, In fact, he add,
cd sstalked thronch a wire ARRANGED tC