Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-03-25

against BELLS ear caused it to act as a
diaphragm. The expert accoustioian in |
mental conception py Bell Of an undulatory |
electric current. The plucking Of the spring
that afternoon might be called an acci-
dent. but Il had happened before and would
probably have happened again. without
the idea in the mind Of the man listening
20 the effect thus produced. however. It
would have continued to be regarded as
one OF the little troubles incident to the
development Of multiple biography. AS it
was Bells theoretical conviction that such
a thing was possible turned the incident
into a great pregnant event"
After that work on the harmonic tele-
graph gave way TO enthusiastic endeavors
to develop the telephone. 1t was but 6
little step to attach a diaphragm-a tightly
stretched piece Of drumhead parchment-to
the steel spring which Watson had snapped
and to devise a mouthpiece for the purpose
OF concentrating the voice upon It. Thus
the spring would be forced to follow the
vibrations Of the voice instead Of vibrating
as before. When these attachments to the
harmonic receiver had been made Bell had
his first speaking telephone.
That First Message.
1t was after this that Bell resigned his
position at Boston university and Watson
his position in Williams shop, and together
they fitted up a laboratory in the boarding
house in Exter place. There, on March 10.
1876, after meeting and overcoming many
perpleXities and discouragements, they had
the pleasure-it seemed that, and nothing
more. TO the young enthusiasts-of being
the principals In the transmission Of the
first telephone message. They were expert
menting. as usual, to produce something
more than a mere drone or suggestion OF
human speech. Suddenly. I'm faint but
distinct tones, came the message-the first
ineligible words ever transmitted by cleo
tricity: Mr. Watson q. Come here
. 1 want you"
Commonplace enough, but epochal No
doubt II Bell had been sure of success that
afternoon he would have been prepared TO
say something worthier of the occasion.
But he was not prepared Some slight i'm
| provement In the instruments, or II may
have been some added experiences in the
use Of them, just made the difference be-
tween indistinctness and distnctness.
Thereafter the development of the tele-
phone was rapid, so rapid. indeed, that in
a few months it was possible to converse
huently between the two rooms. In June
Mr.. Bell brought his invention into public
| notice for the first time by exhibiting 1t
at the Centennial in Philadelphia. The
gagged by the report made by Lord Kelvin
(then Sir William Thompson): with my
ear pressed against this disk 1 heard II
speak distinctly several sentences. first oil
simple monosyllables, TO be or not to be-
! (marvellously distinctly afterwards SEN
fences from a newspaper. need
hardly say that 1 was astonished and de-
lighted. So were the others, including some
other judges OF our group, who witnessed
the experiments and verified with their own
ears the electric transmission Of speech
This. perhaps, the greatest marvel hitherto
achieved by the electric telegraph, has
been obtained by appliances of quite a
homespun and rudimentary character"
| 1t certainly was rude device, that first
! telephone, compared with the compact and
| convenient apparatus that stands today on
! the business mans desk; yet it served its
! purpose-it transmitted articulate speech.
The question that remained was. how far
could speech be transmitted7
Talking Clear Out to Cambridge!
! 90 Oct. ., 1876, came the grand expert
| ment. Until then Bell and Watson had
confined themselves to sending messages
back and forth between their rooms in
Exeter place. Now they were to try 'long
| distance telephoning in earnest, over the
| two-mile telegraph wire of the Walworth
Manufacturing Company, which ran from
the compapy's office in Kilby street to the
| factory at Carnbridgeport. Bell took charge
Of the Boston station and Watson OF the
other. At given signal Watson disco1-
nected his telegraph instrument from the
circuit, connected his telephone and
listened for Bells voice. At first all he
could hear was an incoherent murmur,
and the gloomy thought occurred to him that
perhaps the telegraph wire would not serve
their purpose. On their Exeter place ex-
periments they had used small wires, mucn
like those attached to the telephone of
today; and these wires, by the way, are
now in Mr.. Watson's posession) The in
struments and their connections were care
stantly perceived that instead OF the harsh,
nasal scream of the intermittent current
described as something like the noise
made by the cicada-he heard not only
the pitch, but the peculiar, soft twang of
the spring which Watson had plucked.
and Furthermore. he perceived that the
current carrying such sound was what
! he needed TO make practical his precon-
ceived idea of the electric transmission of
speech.
"such an undulatory current had I'M
doubtedly been generated many times be-
fore, said Mr.. Watson the other day, but
never before had 1t ever reached the ear OF
a man whose mind had been prepared by
years OF thought and scientific training to
perceive instantly what it meant-what It
could be made to accomplish in the service
Of man. The real invention OF the telephone
was no accident, for It dates from the
fully readjusted; but again there was no
suggestion OF speech. 1t was a critical
moment. As a last resort Watson thought
he would examine the wires at his station.
and on going into an adjoining room he
found a high resistance telegraph relay
I'm the circuit Cutting this out. he hurried
back TO the telephone and listened. The
relay was the sole cause of the trouble
for now Mr.. Watson heard Bells voice
clearly; and. as he says himself. I'VE found
that we could talk with perfect ease al
though we were two miles apart" Two
miles apartl-and now every day a man
in Boston converses over the Bell long
distance lines with a man in Omaha, COO
miles away.
The Early Lack of Faith.
The first Bell company had hard time
OF It. The public in general was disposed
to regard the telephone as toy. On the