San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-08-21
THE TELEPHONE IDEA.
First Suggested In This Country
by the Cracking of Frogs.
Something About DIR. Cushman, the Con-
structor of the First Transmitter,
and the Manner of His
Discovery.

~ 10 hOL common kuOWleuge, eXC6pb
to those familiar with electrical and
telephone history, that the first tele-
phone was constructed in Racine, Wis,
and that the inventor, DR.. S. D. Cush-
man, is now a resident of Chicago, says
the News, of that city.
His litigation with the Bell Telephone
company, extending over period of ten
years and costing one hundred thou
sand dollars, has been reported from a
legal standpoint, but as it is one of Mr..
Cushnan's principles that personal
"reminiscences are in bad taste, he has
seldom given a formal interview. The
venerable inventor, seventy-seven years
of age, who built the first telegraph
lines in this part of the ''far west"
pursues his business with more alert
ness to affairs than the average young
man.
In corner of the room is large,
worn piece of muslin on which is paint
ed in thin colors a representation of
telegraph line stretching away in
the distance, connected with a crude
instrument, set on two logs, near which
is frog sitting by stream. This old
relic represents the telegraph line of
good cedar posts, which DIR. Cushman
constructed west from Racine for the
Erie & Michigan Telegraph company
in 1851, and the experimental lightning
arrester which led to his discovery.
1t is a reminder of the days when
DR.. Cushman was associated with Prof.
Morse in the pioneer days of teleg-
raphy. On his desk is the first tele-
phone transmitter, constructed in 1851,
twenty-five years before the Bell
patents were taken out. 1t is a small,
square box, with a speaking orifice and
containing mechanism on the same
principle as that of the modern trans
mitter.
In 1851 DR.. Cushman undertook the
construction of lightning arrester, his
object being to take the lightning that
struck the wire and run it into the
ground, the instrument being so con-
structed that it would not interfere
with the light current used in tele-
graphing. This instrument was placed
out on the prairie on two logs and in
order to know when it had operated
triple magnet with a sheet of thin iron
at the poles, similar in construction to
AZ modern receiver" was placed in the
corner of the box. In case the light
ming passed through the instrument
the electromagnetic would pull this
strip of iron down into the range of a
permanent magnet, which would re-
tain it until the instrument was in
spected.
A similar device was placed in the
basement of the building at Racine and
connected with the other end of the
line. One day while thunderstorm
was coming up, and DR.. Cushman was
watching the instrument, the croaking
of frogs was heard, thirteen miles
away. This is the explanation of how
the old painting with the crude instru-
ment and the croaking frog is identi-
fed with the discovery of the tele-
phone.
DIR. Cushman is the inventor of the
fire-alarm system in use in Chicago.
His patent-office reports, he says,
would weigh ton" and contain a
great number of his electrical patents.
To the priority of DIR. Cushman there
is said to be no doubt, and the contest
of the validity of the Bell patents be-
gun in 1855 was at last taken to the
United States district court Of Boston
in 1898, where 1t is now pending.
DR.. Cpshman is a descendant Of the
historical Cushmans who came to Vir-
ginia in 1910. He was friend of Hor-
ace Greeley and most of his prominent
contemporaries in what might be called
the era of rapid mechanical develop
ment. In early life'he was a newspa-
per reporter. Some twenty years of
his life was spent in central Ohio, and
he says: 81 never doubted that God
made that country"