Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1916-04-26


i 1875, that the telephone first trans
mitted ineligible words. The men
on both ends Of the wire on that i'm
pOrtant occasion are living. They
have seen the great invention spread
its way round the world; they have
seen the expansion of distance trans
mission until the American continent
was crossed by wires over which San
Franciscans can talk with New York
ers. They have seen wireless tele-
phony developed as another wonder
of their day.
First Conversation Over Wire.
But no event in their lives will sur
pass in Importance the quiet scene IN
an attic workshop at 100 Court street,
in Boston when, forty years ago Alex
ander Graham Bell spoke into his
mechanism, and his assistant, listen
ing at the other end of the wire in
the next room, heard the inventors
voice clearly and distinctly. The lis
fening man was Thomas A. Watson,
now a noted shipbuilder, who was
ant in the long, painstaking ETAO
Bell dluG anu COulOCIlAcl4 clooAoISbAA1
in the long and painstaking expert
ments that led up to victory.
Mr.. Watson has told the story him
self:
Il was the only witness to Bells
accomplishment. / heard the first
words ever transmitted distinctly over
a wire by an electric current. These
IL
First Words Passed Over Wire.
THE first time that the telephone
ever uttered ineligible words was
on March 10. 1876, and it is certainly
to be regretted that on so epOchal an
occasion the instrument was not on
dress parade. There is nothing in
the history Of the telephone to match
the famous message of the Morse tele-
graph What hath God wrought
..The first recorded message of the
telephone was commonplace in the
IRENE. 1t was simply Mr.. Watson,
come here, want you Probably II
Mr.. Bell at that time had thought that
he was making history he would have
been prepared better.
The occasion was merely one OF
an extensive series Of experiments in
which some small improvement in the
instruments or our increased expert
ness in using them just made the diff
ference between indistinctness and
distinctness.
Improvement Rapid.
after this first communication. the
Improvement was more rapid, and in
the early summer of 1876, it lad be
come possible to converse fuently be-
tween two rooms.
1T was my good fortune to have
been associated with Mr.. Bell dur
ing the whole Of his famous expert
ments BY which the telephone was
developed from the crude and imper-
feet form into a commercial success.
/ was employed to embody in prac-
tical form his ideas. I assisted in the
tests.
Theory Confirmed by Accident.
.On the afternoon Of June 2, 1875,
an accidental discovery during our
experiments confirmed Mr.. Bells
theories that exact sound could be
transmitted. Bells grand idea OF
current of electricity which shall vary
in intensity as the varies in density
during the production of sound was
nearer practical realization by our
heaven-sent accident.
mir. Bell. in an endeavOr to i'm
prove the working Of the receivers,
was returning one Of their springs to
ascertain if the pitch was correct. He
had pressed it against his ear and was
listening to the faint sound Of the in
termittent current passing through the
magnet. All at once the spring OF the
transmitter in my room stopped VI
brating, and / snapped it with my
finger to start it. Instantly an eXcit-
ed shout came from the other room,
and Mr.. Bell rushed in demanding
what | had done I explained and he
asked me to do it again. | snapped
the spring again. We were expert
menting the rest of that afternoon
and so late in the evening that the
ianitOr, forgetting us locked us in.
What happened was this: The
spring that had plucked had became
permanently magnetized and was in
condition by its vibration to generate
the sought-for undulatOry electric
current. This it did when l snapped
it. And when the current passed
through the magnet of the receiver,
which was pressed against Mr.. Bells
ear, it set into vibration the spring of
that instrument, which spring being
confined against his ear, was in a
condition to vibrate as a diaphragm
and not merely as reed.
THE trained accoustician at once
realized that he heard loudly and
clearly, not merely the pitch due to
the length of the spring l was pluck
ing, but the peculiar soft twang of
that identical spring, and recognized
instantly that the current carrying
such sound was realizing his long
cherished idea.
oIa cav that he had here the in