The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-03-10
The Telephone.

AT noon yesterday a distinguished
party of gentlemen were assembled at
the office of the Boston Rubber Shoe
Company, on Congress street, in order to
witness series of experiments per-
formed on the telephone between the in
ventor, Prof. A. Graham Bell, here, and
his associate, Mr.. Thomas A. Watson,
at the residence of Mr. Converse, at
Maiden about six miles distant. Prof.
Bell had been invited by some of our
most prominent citizens to give a practi-
cal demonstration of the most recent de.
velOpment of an invention which, in ac-
cordance with its name, has already
sounded far and wide the fame of the
telephone.
The telephone, in its perfect form,
consists of a powerful compound, perma-
nent magnet, to the poles of which are
attached ordinary telegraph coils of in
sulated wire. In front of the poles, sur
rounded by these coils of wire, is placed
d diaphragm of iron. A mouthpiece to
converge the sound upon this diaphragm
substantially completes the arrangement
AS is well known, the motion of steel or
q
creates current of electricity in coils
surrounding the poles of the magnet,
and the duration of this current of cleo
triCity comedies with the duration of
the motion of the steel or iron moved or
vibrated in the proximity of the magnet.
When the human voice causes the dia-
phragm to vibrate, electrical fluctuations
are induced in the coils environing the
magnets, precisely analogous to the un-
dulations of the air produced by that
voice. These coils are connected with
the line wire, which may be of any
length, provided the insulation is good.
The undulations which are induced in
these coils travel through the line wire,
and, passing through the coils of an in
strument of precisely similar construc
ton at the distant station, are again re-
solved into air fluctuations by the dia-
phragm of this instrument.
The simplicity of Prof. Bells system
will be apparent when it is known that
the voltaic battery is entirely dispensed
with. All that is required for communi-
eating between the most distant points
are the instruments and the telegraph
wire, the latter taking the place of the
speaking tube, and the former that of
the mouthpieces. The short distance
which separated Messrs. Bell and Wat
son in their experiments yesterday must
by no means be considered gauge of
the powers of the instrument, as any
effect produced by electricity over a
short wire can with equal facility be
produced over one extending 100, or, for
that matter, 1000, miles, provided, of
course, that the insulation be good. In
fact, the inventors have already con-
yersed through an artificial resistance
far exceeding that of any of the Atlantic
cables. Although to the uninitiated this
might seem to imply that conversation
could be carried on across the Atlantic
BY this means, yet, as all electricians and
men of science are aware, there are
other elements entering into the con-
sideration of such problem besides that
of mere resistance. AS a proof of the
rapid progress made in this science, it
may be stated that it is only within the
past few months that the instrument has
been sufficiently perfected TO allow of
free and easy conversation taking place
through this new vehicle.
1t would perhaps be wearisome were
we to narrate at length the various
phases through which this invention has
passed The history on all important
inventions is the same. 1t is only after
years of weary, patient toll, of success
sive failures and discouragements and
of constant silent watching that a man
can hope successfully to develop the
product of his brain and his intelligence,
This has been the case with Prof. Bell
who, by birth Scotchman, came over
to Boston from Canada in 1879. In the
following year he was offered and ac.
cepted the professorship of vocal physi.
ology at the Boston University This
was chiefly owing to the fame enjoyed
both by Prof. Bell and by his father as
teachers of this much neglected science
in Europe. The Bell system of physio.
logical symbols has been so thoroughly
successful in this country as to com.