El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-02-17

| learning in Pittsburg. His hobby was
J electricity, and my office was favorite
, place for him to spend his spare time.
In the beginning of October, 1876,
when the Centennial exhibition was on
IN Philadelphia, father MCTghe visited
it and when he returned and was re
latlng to me some of the wonders he
( had seen, he exclaimed: Vaughan L
saw strange thing in the electrical
department. It is called telephone
and can be used for the transmission
Of oral sounds by electricity. When
you go I want you to hunt it up
Sees His First Phone.
october 20 found me enjoying the
sights and wonders Of that great expo
sitiOn, and, mindful of the request of
my clerical friend I visited the eIectri-
cal department and found the tele-
phone. The apparatus was rather
crude, but was told that at
the other end of the wire that ran
across the room was another instru-
ment that would act as a receiver It
was late in the evening of October 2S
when found this baby as the inven-
tors have called it. Who would have
instrument would revOlutionize the
transmission of sound and make the
whole world a whispering gaIlery?'
Build a Telephone.
'On my return home I promptly re
ported that I had seen the wonderful
telephone; and the more we thought
and talked about II, the more we
wanted to make one; so one afternoon
in December, 1876, with the aid Of sun
dry permanent magnets, electro mag
nets and diaphragms of the crudest kind
we succeeded in getting feeble 'hellOs'
and the ticking of a watch from one
room to another
This was encouraging and we i'm
proved the phones and extended the
distance until we had the villages of
A ms (1gRanIa
connected, and the coal mine at Osceola
used it for some time to send in its
reports to the AlpsvilIe office.
All Patents Covered.
ION investigation. we found that Dr.
Bell had secured his invention by a
transmitting oral sounds by electricity,
and we could only use our phones for
experimental purposes, but we found
that the Bell phones were using a
straight electro magnet one pole only
being used to produce the sound Vibra-
tions on the diaphragm. Here was a
chance for an Improvement. and we
made a phone using a horse shoe mag
net with one leg shorter than the
other. To the longest leg we attached
the electro magnet, and to the shorter |
one the diaphragm and moUthpiece.
This made use of both poles for, II the |
end of the electro magnet was north |
the center Of the diaphragm would be I
substance near another magnetic sub |
stance will produce a stronger current (
than il only one is magnetic. On this |
principle we made our bi-pOlar and |
multi-p0lar telephones.
Improve on Magnet.
TT is a well known fact that an /
electro magnet with a solid core does [
not change its magnetism as rapidly I
as one made with a core of small, soft |
iron wires, hence we find that the |
9 IA 11=or anf sTr la
cal instruments are made with sec !
tiOnal cores. The use of the double /
poles increased the volume of sound /
and the sectional core the clearness, so /
that the aspirates could be heard very /
distinctly 1 believe all of our i'm /
provements have been taken up by /
most Of the leading companies.
Talked 600 Miles.
Not having any separate transmit I
ter we used the receiver for that pur- /
pose and calls were made by tapping |
on the diaphragm with a pencil or some
other hard substance. For clearness /
and natural tones of the voice, I have
never found any phones to equal ours
but the carbon transmitters are louder
several tests were made for dis /
tance-One from Pittsburg west about
200 miles and on one Sunday morning
IN 1877 we had the operators connect &
wires Nos 1 and at Cumberland. a
distance OF l45 miles, and by having
phones on both wires we could talk
on one and receive on the other.
FOEesaw the Wireless.
zone day in 1879, father McTighe wa
sitting IN my office and for some time |
seemed to be in a deep study when
he said: Vaughan, I believe [
the time will come when we will not I
need these wires, but will use the cleo
trio currents that are in the air. On !
top of the hill on this side Of the river. /
and on the hill on the other side. we
IAN put up poles, and in some way con-
lect with the aerial currents and, with !
ground wires, make a circuit
This is something like what Marconi
I'D some years later. In the latter part |
If 1879 1 was taken seriously iii ar
ny home in COultersville and my friend
was also taken i'll at his home in AlDs-
vile. He recovered first and caroe IN
o bid me goodbye. He went to Roma.
italy, and 1 came to west Tay.s -.
81 and we have never met since"