Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1877-03-08
The Telephone.

The Telephone IS an Invention py
Prof. A. Graham Bell, a Scotchman
who removed from Canada to Boston
about four years ago, for the transmits
sion of the sound of the voice by the
electric wires. 1t is represented to be
an outgrowth of the system by which
deaf and dumb persons are instructed
by means Of physiological symbols; it
is the application. of the principles Of
physiology to the electric telegraph, the
the sound of the voice being transmit
ted by the electric wave without the
use of batteries. Several highly suc-
cessulexperiments,a at short distances,
have been made.
The telephone itself is simple affair
and one which every person acquaint-
ed with the electric telegraph would
understand at sight. The instrument
consists OF a powerful, compound, per-
InaDent magnet, 10 the poles OF hich
are attached ordinary coils OF insulated
wire. Ia front of the poles, surround
ed by these coils of wire, is placed a
diaphragm of iron, while mouth
piece to concentrate the sound upon
this diaphragm substantially completes
the arrangement. When The hum an
yuice causes The sensitive diaphragm
to vibrate, electrical undulatIOns are
induced in the coils surrounding the
magnets precisely in the same manner
as the un1ulatiOns Ofthe air are produ-
ced by the voice. These fluctuations
then travel through the wire, anu,
passing through the coils of an lnstru'
ment of similar construction at longer
| or shorter distance, as the case may De,
are again transformed into air undula-
tions by the diaphragm of the instru-
ment. 1t will be borne in mind that
the voitaic battery is dispensed with
entirely, and all that is needed for
transmitting the voice sounds are the
instruments and the telegraph wire.
In this connection remarkable pecu-
liarity of the telephone is that prdc
| tiped ear is able to distinguish the
voices that speak through the instru-
ment. The inventor claims that as any
effect produced by electricity over 3
short wire can with, equal facility be
produced over one of 1U0 or 1000 miles
in length, provided the insulation be
good; so can the electric wave OF the
Telephone be perfected TO render free
and easy the sounds. generated by the
human voice to aRy length. In fact,
with such advances as the system has
made of late, there would seem TO be
no limit to which it may be put and
the practical advantages likely to re-
I suit from it. The invention is now in
! h,.f /
lastonish The world by what it may be
allie to 10 do. s
1t is probable that among the first
practical use TO which the telephone
will be put Will he its use by several
of those railroads that have special
wires used only for railroad purposes.
Next, private banking houses and
large manufacturing establishments.
etc., will tinL it advantageous to use
The Telephone. Ii is well known that
the expense and trouble OF batteries
and keeping them in order has been
! one of the ma n items in the account
Of teIegraphing, and with the present
system expert operators are required.
Under the system of telephony the
cost oi constructing the line and put
ting in the instrument Is all, and the
affair is permanent so long as the wires
and poles shall last. The invention
will be wonderfully economical. to say
the least, as well as more expeditions
and easier to learn to operate than the
present system photography. of This in
ventien will not only be u decided i'm
provement, but may exert powerful
influence in breaking up the telegraph
monopoly and reducing rates to lower
scale than that now in vogue
Respecting the adaptation of the in
ventiOn to long distances, the late ex-
periments warrant the belief that it
can be made to answer all the purposes
of the telegraph either under the ocean
Or across the land. The artificial re
sistance employed in an experiment
between BLsiOn and Spain, was much
greater than equivalent of the length
of the wire between New York and
San Francisco of the Atlantic cable.
In fact, the Inventors hope soon to talk
through the cable, and send their COM
pIiments 10 Queen Victoria.