The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-03-08
The Telephone The simplicity Of Its
b secret.

4 -
transmission. =
/. The point Of this affair-the trans
mission OF concert over the, wires
which seems TO the reader the most mar
velous, is really the most simple-that is
| to say, the most familiar. II rests upon
the principle of "co-vibration "--it is
ILLUSTRATED every hour of our waking days
by the method in which the ear trans
| nlits sounds to the brain. We know that
sound is caused by the vibration of the
sounding body, and that it Is transmitted
to the ear by corresponding vibrations,
or waves, in the connecting medium,
usually the air. We know that the pitch
of the sound increases In proportion to
the rapidity Of the vibrations-the slow
est motion which produces continuous
sonorous sensation is forty vibrations to
the second. The highest generally audi
BILE sound is 10000 vibrations to the Sec
ond, though some ears can detect still
higher pitch. Now, if we have string,
or anything else, so stretched or arranged
that it can give but certain number of
vibrations in second, and produce near
it sound with a like number Of vibra-
tions, the first body is set to vibrating
also. This is the way in which we hear.
Within the human ear are fine chords,
one for each shade of tone within GER
tain range of octaves. When a sound oc-
ours, the air waves communicate its syibra-
ton to that chord, or those chords, which
have an equal vibration, and they trans
NIT the sensation to the brain.
We may illustrate this point more clear
ly upon the piano. With the left hand
press down the keys of the two C's in an
octave gently, SO as to raise the dampers
| I~,,k x,sl
the right hand, strike any other G on the
key board, and, after moment, let its
/ damper fall again. The other two G
strings will then take up the sound, vi
brating synchronously. One other illus
tlation will complete our case. There is
little instrument long in use, made by
Konig, of Paris, called a "resonator." 1t
is a hollow sphere Of metal, of greater or
less size, with an orifice at one pole, and
little tube made to fit into the ear at the
other. The air within it can vibrate more
or less according to its quantity; therefore
the size of the sphere regulates its pitch.
| If we take one of these instruments
pitched say for the note G, and place its
tube in one ear, firmly closing the other
ear, we may listen to whole overture,
and, although the passage to the ear is
| perfectly unobstructed, we shall hear alb
solutely nothing except when the note G is
struck. That is the only one to which
the f" resonator" responds, and that one it
invariably detects. =.
Now, in these facts, all long since
known to science, we find the secret OF
the transmitted concerts. Given the trans
mission of the sound waves from Mil
waukee to Chicago, we have only to place
one or two. octaves of strings where the
sound waves will fall upon them, and
each string win pick ou. its proper note
and reproduce It. A simple sounding
box will answer for the shorter distances
and the simpler melodies, the ear doing
the work of the sresonator.
Q. Nor does this Transmission of the
sound waves by the telephone differ any
more from facts hitherto known and ap-
piled, except in one particular. Any
elastic body, whether solid, liquid, or
gaseous, will transmit the sound waves,
and, other things being equal will trans
NIT it the better in proportion to: its in
compressibi1ity. If the air were not COM
pressible, sound wave commencing here
would travel Is far as there was air to
communicate it, and the crack of a pistol,
OF the fall of q pin, would be distinctly
heard in China, other noises not interfer-
ing. But. through the airs compressi-
bility1 the force of the wave Is slowly
checked, and finally lost. By conining
the air in tube speaking -tube) we lessen
| the compfcssi5ility on the sides, and
| greatly extend the reach Of the sound
waves, For similar reason water, or
metal, transmits sound further than air.
The sole " discovery" therefore, in this
business III it is discovery is the won