Omaha daily bee., 1896-10-17
THE FIELD OF ELECTRICITY
Prof. Bells Wonderful Invention Nearing
It's Twenty-First Birthday.
BRIEF REVIEW OF IT'S ACHIEVEMENTS
Successful Tests Of electricity ns n
PuriGer OF wnter-InvndinE the
Mountnins-A Chicago Preacher
as an Electrician.

Successful Tests OF Eicctricttr nS
Purifier of wnter-Invndins "a the
Mountnins-A Chicago Preacher
ns nm Electrician.
The 7,h day o, March. 1897. will mark
the coming OF age OF the telephone. for it
was on that day, in the centennial year.
that Prof Bells wonderful invention was
disclosed to the world by the issue Of his
fundamental patent. 1t was wonderful In
many ways. The result aehieyed-the cleo
trical transmission OF articulate speech.
with all its shades of tone and quality so
accurately reproduced that the voice Of
friend speaking at a great distance could
easily be recognized-was a marvel that
startled the world, says the Boston Herald;
but the astounding mathematical conception
which lay behind it seemed to men of
science almost like revelation, while the
extreme simplicity OF the apparatus and its
dual powers-for 1t could both speak and
hear-astonished every one versed in me-
chanics. Sir william Thomson, now Lord
Kelvin put the thing in a nutshell when.
upon his return to England in the summer
Of 1876 he said in his address TO the British
association: who can but admire the
hardihood OF invention which devised such
very slight means to realize the maths-
matical conception that, II electricity is TO
convey all the delicacies OF quality which
| distinguish articulate speech. the strength
Of its current must vary continuously. and,
as nearly as may be. in simple proportion
to the velocity OF particle OF air engaged
I in constituting the sound" And to sustain
! the statement that the discovery and inven-
tion came to men OF science like revelation
1 1t may be added that on the evening OF the
Z daN WhpD 10 crude
4 shown to him in operation. the same dis
| tinguished physicist said: what yesterday
! I should have declared impossible, | have
/ today seen realized"
WONDERFUL DEVELOPMENT
| Great and wonderful as was the inven-
| tton, stu greater and still more wonderful
| has been the development of its commercial
/ use, which has advanced by leaps and
/ bounds. IL took less than a year to get
\ the telephone into commercial shape. In
| January. 1871. the second patent, which was
/ In reality for a modification and improve
ment. were issued and the work Of Prof
| Bell was done. But much remained to be
| worked out. The invention once made for
| two to walk together over a single wire was
| simple matter But 1t soon became very
/ clear that this was but beginning. and that
| to realize the possibilities OF the invention
| means must be found to enable large mum
bers OF persons TO intercommunicate at will
| Such d device was soon produced. and called
/ a SWltChOOarN. ne nTSt OF tneSe were crude
in design and very limited in capacity.
/ They were slow and uncertain in operation
| and untitled to serve any considerable num-
Der OF subscribers from one center. At the
present time switchboards in the great cities
are fitted for from 3 900 TO s 900 subscribers
each and so arranged that each operator. at
tending to the calls Of from fifty 10 seventy
Eve subscribers. can in a moment OF time
and without leaving her place connect the
wire Of any one OF her allotted subscribers
-.
nected with the exchange. The switchboard
OF today Is an aggregation OF the work OF
very many inventors. AS the business de
velops new problems, growing out OF the
demands. present themselves and are the
subject of constant study and experiment.
Exchanges having been established. the
! ! matter OF connecting one exchange with an
other so as to enable the subscribers IN one
10 speak at will with any subscriber In
another became desirable. Ehis was ac-
! I complished by building trunk lines between
neighbour cities and towns with such
? | notifications in apparatus as new conditions
rendered necessary. Gradually, the greater
part Of the country has been covered with
> network Of such interuroa1 lines ana theh
use has enormously increased as people have
. | learned to app-eciate the value OF the
service which they give.
TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH.
II must be remembered that 1t is the
function OF the telephone to afford means
for conversations, not for the transmission
of mere messages 4 telegram Is letter
: quickly sent and usually very brief one
) An answer comes in due time, a simple
| message. But telephone communication
are conversations between principals talk
back and forth, questions and answers, as
instant, immediate and full as though the
two stood face to face. This radical differ
ence this supreme advantage, is what peo-
! pie have come to know and appreciate and
II is because Of this that the telephone has
~ svFa srff in 10 FaF~
The building OF lines connecting neigh
boring exchanges, and the resulting net
work OF wires did not fill the requirement
in the matter OF communications over lone
distances In the cid days. before railroads
were built. country roads. connecting neigh
boring towns. answered local purposes, but
for long reaches the construction Of greai
J highways, connecting one important center
with another were found necessary. and
usually found their expression in the old
, time turnpikes. Just so long distance tele
, phone lines. superimposed upon the net
work growing out OF local construction
now cover the entire country from the fal
east In Maine to the Mississippi and from
the great lakes on the north TO Memphis
Louisville. Cincinnati Pittsburg and Wash
, ington on the south thus bringing far mOr'
than hall of the population and two-third;
of the business of the country within speak
ing distance o. one another. No such de
! velopment OF an industry absolutely ne7
has ever been seen in the worlds history IL
the comparatively few years which havt
elapsed since the invention of the tele
phone was first made known.
: LATER IMPROVEMENTS.
As the business has grown many changes
: and improvements in method have becom
e necessary II soon became apparent that
T would not do TO cover our cities with a con
stantly growing network OF wires The un
derground problem was a great and un
solved one. II was full of difficulties an
. / for time practical. commercial solution
1 seemed hopeless. But the problem was at
\ tackled, trials were made. lessons wer
e learned from the experience thus gained
and to those were added the results OF tn