Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-10-19

at the same time. I worked upon this for
o oea RS. ana the telephone was the outgrowth
OF TINS idea, and Of my studies in connection
WIN the deaf and the effort to produce some
| klnd OF an instrument by " hich speech could
re maze ineligible to them. 1t was while
| was Teaching in Boston that succeeded.
mad discovered that could transmit must
| cal sounds by wire, and from that it was
only step to the conception of the tele-
| phone or the transmission of speech. The
| discovery came slowly, and had all sorts
OF difficulties, both imaginary and real to
contend with. had first number of reeds
as soana t, instruments at each end of a
wire, with permanent magnets attached to
| them, these reeds being of different pitches
then found 1 could produce the same re-
suit with a battery and one steel rod. 1
worked for months after had the idea that
| speech could be transmitted under the inn
preston that the power of the voice would
pc SO lost in its transmission that though I
Knew all the sounds could be transmitted L
dld not believe they would be loud enough
TO be audible to the human ear.
| working With Dead Mans Ear,
Il made all sorts of experiments at this
| time in testing such matters, and in NV
| investigations wanted diaphram as near
| ike the human ear as possible. One day, In
| talking about this to DIR. Terrence Blake
OF Boston, he remarked, Why not use the
ear itself?' I said that that would suit me
| exactly, but asked him where 1 could get
a man who would give me his ear and how
could possibly keep 1t in good condition after
l had gotten it He replied that he would
| get me one, and shortly after that 1 re-
ceived from him a human ear cut from a
dead subject, and so treated that 1 was able
to study it and use it in my experiments.
This was of great value to me-
have there been many improvements
tom"
No" replied Mr.. Bell There have not,
The principle of the telephone is unchanged
There have been many improvements, but
they have been in the line of transmitters
ana receivers, and things connected with
the telephone. AS to the machine itself
and its fundamental principles, it is about
the same as when it was first made
TelephOning Without Wires.
Twill we ever be able to telephone with
| out wires?"
Yes replied Mr.. Bell; 81 think so,
| though the distance may be limited. / re-
member some experiments that made one
day in a field near New Haven, Coma. We
had about fifty feet of wire stretched be-
tween two pokers, which we had driven
into the ground and had attached bat
terry to them. l put the receiver to my
ear, when 1 heard the sound of clock
ticking. There was neither clock nor watch
at the other end of the wire. and by listen
ing to the ticking, 1 recognized that it was
the ticking Of the University electric clock
at least half a mile off. BY this clock num-
Der of the clocks of the city were regulated,
and the sound had evidently Travelled from
| these wires to the batteries connected
with our pokers, and that for long dis
lance without actual wire connection.
| think that our great steamers, by means of
the heavy dynamos, which they carry, could
| telephone each other on the sea when miles
| apart, and 1 have no doubt that we will
| in the future be able to telephone for
| limited distances without wires.''
How about telephone cables? Will We
| ever be able to talk across the ocean,
| ut may be, but there are difficulties
| there which have yet to be overcome. These
| will have to be mastered by some one who
has the cables at hand to experiment with.
have never made much investigation
| along these lines"
| While in the laboratory picked up from
| one Of the shelves a piece of pine board
about half an inch thick and eight inches
| square out of the center of which extend.
| ed speaking tube, which apparently rest-
ed against a thin disk Of bright metal
sunken into the opposite side This metal
was like silver mirror, and was about as
large around the bottom of tumbler.
l asked MIR. Bell what it was and he told
me that it was the instrument with which
he discovered that he could talk from one
point to another through the medium of a
sunbeam, or in other words. could send
sound along ray of light without the aid
of the electric wire He took the instru-
ment and put the tube to his mouth, hold
ing the mirror so that it caught the sun,
and cast a little shadow-disk of light on
the opposite wall. Then by breathing slight
ly he made this shadow increase and de
minish and go-into all forms of shape by
the action of his breath against the mir
| ror diaphragm. That shows you," said
he, 'how the action of the diaphragm is
carried along that ray. Now, if you will
put a little bottle with some SCOT in it
where that shadow is the wall, and
speak into the tube, you will find that the
sound will travel along that ray of light,
and by having a receiver connected with
| the bottle, one would be able to hear what
you were saying. We have spoken by this
means to and from points 200 yards apart,
and there seems to be no reason to doubt
that speech may be sent along a beam Of
| light for great distances. In our experi-
ment in this we first used selenium, a very
rare substance. and very sensitive to light.
We have found, however, that We can pro-
duce very good results with common SCOT,
and discoveries may yet be made which
will make such an invention commercially
practicable"
Mr.. Bells Habits of Work.
Upon the back of this board read tho
record of the invention, stating the time
when it was discovered, and signed by
Alexander Graham Bell and Sumner Tain
ter. AS l looked at it 1 asked Mr. Bell as
to whether he always recorded a discov-
cry as soon as it was made, and told him
of a recent interview which had with Mr..
Charles Brush, the inventor of the electric
| light, in which he told me that such rec
ords had proved to be Of enormous value
to him.
Mr.. Bell replied that he tried to do so,
but the excitement at the moment of dis
covery was so great that he often forgot it.
He carries on all his Investigations at
night, beginning in the evening, and sell
dom going to bed before 4 o'clock in the
morning. He leads, in fact, two lives-one
by day, that of the ordinary man, and an
| other by night, that of the inventor. He
finds the quiet of the night conducive to
| DIV and hot hfc ella frnr, A
IL is amply sufficient to keep him in good
health, and as restful as that which other
men take in the dark.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.