famous creation - the telephone

7/29/2019 FAMOUS CREATION - THE TELEPHONE

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FAMOUS CREATION OF THE DAYTHE TELEPHONE

Its hard to imagine the world without everyones favourite necessity the

telephone ; the ease with which we can reach anyone anywhere in the world

without even pausing for a second, is truly a work of ingenuity and so in

homage of this wonderful creation, well be exploring its history, the inventor(s)

and its evolution.

DESCRIPTION:What is a telephone? A telephone is universally defined as a

device that converts sound vibrations into electrical signals and

transmits these signals to a receiver using transmission cables.

HOW DOES IT WORK:The basic parts of any telephone are:-

1)The switch : This is used to connect the telephone to a networkprovider when it is removed from the hook or disconnect it from the

network when it is placed back on the hook.

2)The microphone : This is the part of the telephone which whenspoken into, converts sound into transmittable electric signals.

3)The speaker : This is the part of the telephone that reverts theelectrical signals back to sound, enabling the receiver to hear the speaker at

the other end.

4)A duplex coil: This blocks the speakers voice from travelling back to thespeaker.

5)A bell : This is to notify the receiver of a call coming through.


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6)A dial/keypad : This is used to send a series of electronic pulses down thetelephone line, then through transmission cables and onto to the network

provider; a system devised to enable accurate connection.

7)A circuit board: This holds all the main electronic components.

A diaphragm , which is a thin metallic disc present in the microphone

of the telephone, is vibrated back and forth when sound waves

passes through it. The movement of the diaphragm then exerts pressure on what is

called an amplifier (e.g, carbon granules) which contracts as a result of the

exerted pressure. The degree of contraction depends solely on the magnitude of

the pressure coming from the diaphragm, so in other words, the louder the

sound passing through the diaphragm, the greater the pressure exerted on the

amplifier. The amplifier is connected to a power source (could be a

battery or a direct supply unit) which passes a voltage across it, thus causing

electricity to flow through the amplifier. The greater the amplifier contraction, the

lesser the electrical resistance displayed by the amplifier which in turn, causes more

electricity to flow through. The electricity transmitted through the amplifier

is then sent down into the telephone wire as electric signals, then through

transmission cables and then finally to the receiver.

At the receiving end of the telephone, there is an electromagnet placed

slightly below a diaphragm. The electric signals transmitted from the speaker, are

then passed through telephone wires into the electromagnet as electric current,

thus creating a magnetic field . This magnetic field then attracts the


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diaphragm causing it to vibrate back and forth, which in turn vibrates

the air directly in front of it. Since the magnitude of the magnetic field created isdirectly proportional to the amount of electricity flowing through the

electromagnet, the sound waves produced as a result of the diaphragm vibrating

the air are virtually the same with the ones spoken by the speaker. And that is the

basic principle of the telephone.

INVENTOR(S) OF THE TELEPHONE:Like a lot of inventions, a series of

backdrop events had to happen before the creation of the telephone could

occur, e.g the discovery of electricity, findings by great scientists on the probability

of sound transmission; some of these great scientists included Charles Bourseul,

Johann Phillip Reiss and Antonio Meucci. However the two major scientists

attributed with creating the telephone are Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray

(each working independently) and although Alexander Graham Bell was eventually

awarded the patent for creating the telephone; supporters of Gray till this day,

contest that fact.

Elisha Gray was a pioneer of many sorts; he was an established electrical

engineer with over 70 patents to his name and although he didnt officially

graduate from any college, his curiosity in electrical appliances caused him to carry

out several experiments on the topic and later build several laboratory equipment

for the Oberlin College where he taught. In the early 1870s, he began

experimenting with voice transmission using acidulated water as a transmitter. He

carried out his research in secret because his financier at the time, Dr Samuel S.

White,wasnt in support of the idea and on Monday morning, February 11, 1876,


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he applied for a caveat, a provisional patent , for the creation of the

telephone.

Alexander Graham Bells upbringing ensured that he and he alone would

have discovered the process of transmitting sound over long distances. His

beloved mum slowly began to lose her hearing when he was just a

little boy and at that young age, he developed a technique of communicating with

her by pressing his lips to her forehead and speaking in clear, altered tones. His

father, Alexander Bell Snr who was a revered elocutionist, encouraged his young

sons interest in speech and sound and would often have him as an exhibitionist

for his Visible Speech demonstrations; a method, Alexander Snr, had devised for

instructing deaf-mute patients on how to understand words. Alexander Graham

Bell then went into full-time teaching of the deaf and later assumed the position of

Professor of Vocal Physiology and Elocution at the Boston University

School of Oratory. In time however, he gave up his flourishing teaching career in

order to focus solely on his experiments in sound. He did however; take up

tutoring of two young, deaf patients; Georgie Sanders and Mabel Hubbard

(future Mrs Alexander Graham Bell), whose respective parents would later become

his business partners and financiers . In 1874, Bell began to experiment with

the possibility of converting electric currents into sound. After a scheduled visit in

1875 to his mentor and famed scientist, Joseph Henry, who greatly encouraged his

idea; he set to work fervently on his idea. His business partner, Gardiner G.

Hubbard, however was less than enthusiastic about the proposal and wanted Bell

to devote his time to the perfecting of the telegraph which was the invention of the

moment but Bell was convinced otherwise. With the enlistment of a gifted

electrical engineer called Thomas Watson, he began work on the telephone without


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the knowledge of his financiers. On Monday, February 14 1876, his lawyer filed for

a caveat for the creation of the telephone.

The controversy surrounding the telephone invention between Bell and Gray was

that Gray, in actual fact, submitted his caveat a few hours before Bells application

and that Bell having the unfair advantage of viewing Grays application, made

modifications to his own application by adding Grays original idea of water

transmission. Bell would in fact, go on to use Grays water transmissionidea in his first demonstration of the telephone but he later gave up the concept

for a more viable option; the use of electromagnets in further

developments of the device. Gray, who felt robbed of his rightful ownership of the

patent, filed a lawsuit against Bell but would later drop the lawsuit when several

probes into the controversy found that Gray had used Bells previous works as a

baseline for his research.

EVOLUTION OF THE TELEPHONE: As more people began to buy into

the idea of telephones, its development grew. Both Bell and Watson continued to

work tirelessly on improving the capabilities of their buzzing device but

their results were marginal at best. It wasnt until Thomas Edison invented the

carbon block transmitter in 1877 that the technology behind telephones reallybegan to take off. Bell set up a telephone company with his business partners,

Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders, called the Bell Telephone Company in

1877 to maintain control over the devices use but rival companies sprung up

everywhere, notwithstanding the 17-year ownership that Bells patent

provided. Their major competitor, Western Union, who ironically had turned

down Bells offer to sell his patent to them, joined forces with Gray, Edison andanother telephone pioneer, Amos E. Dolbear to build better telephone models.


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Tivadar Puskas designed the first telephone exchange and communicated the idea

to Thomas Edison, who loved the proposal. The telephone exchange consisted of

plug boards handled by telephone operators; when a caller lifted the telephone

from the stand, a signal lamp would go off on the plug board and the operator

would plug a headset into the callers jack, get the details of who they

wanted to speak with and then connect the caller with the person. The connecting

usually took around 14 20 minutes. This continued for several years until 1891

when Almon B. Strowger patented his idea of an automatic dial system

which enabled the caller to dial any number they wanted. In 1900, Professor

Michael I. Pupin invented the use of loading coils in transmission cables whichimproved the clarity of long distance calls. In 1906, Lee De Forest invented the

three element tube which was acquired by Bells company and used as a primary

component in their telephones amplifiers; this enabled calls to be made to even

longer distances without loss of signal. In 1938, spiral cord telephone wires

were introduced into the Bell telephones thus reducing the tiresome

practice of the curling and twisting of conventional flat telephone cords at thetime. In July 1948, scientists from the Bells research and development team

developed the transistor which was added to telephones for a significant boost in

weal signals. As the years rolled by, more and more developments were made to

the quality of service of the telephone. By 1973, the era of hand held devices were

ushered in when Martin Cooper, a manager at Motorola, made the first cellular

phone call to Dr Joel S. Engel, head ofAT&Ts Bell Laboratories.


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HUMOURME!!!

SUPPOSED PITCH BY ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL TO GARDINER

G. HUBBARD

Alexander Graham Bell: I have an idea for a device that I believe would

become the invention of the decade.

Gardiner G. Hubbard:Im listening.

Alexander Graham Bell: It will be called the telephone and with this device,people can talk to anyone in any part of the world by just talking into the device.

Gardiner G. Hubbard:ALL HELL TO THE NAW!!!!

Well, we all know how this story played out so if you are presently in doubt about

a creation that youve made or are making; think of all the great inventors before

you and how they never gave up on their ideas and whenever youre ready toshowcase it to the world, SYC would love to be your platform.

ONLINE SOURCES

1) Wikipedia: Biography of Alexander Graham Bell2) Private line: Tom Farleys Telephone History Series3) Telephony Museum: History of the telephone4) How Stuff Works: The telephone5) Connected Earth: How the telephone works6) Wikipedia: Invention of the telephone7) Wikipedia: History of the telephone8) Wikipedia: Biography of Elisha Gray

famous creation - the telephone

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