@Mark Ollig
The telephone revolutionized global communication and reshaped the world.
Controversy still exists over who actually invented the telephone first, which I addressed in my column published Sept. 29, 2023.
Alexander Graham Bell’s work with the hearing impaired greatly influenced his research on sound transmission, ultimately leading to his telephone patent.
Bell began his tenure at Boston University in 1873 as a professor of vocal physiology in the school of oratory.
There, he concentrated his research on the electrical transmission of sound, building upon the principles of telegraphy with a vibrating metal disc diaphragm to convert sound waves into electrical signals.
These electrical signals could be transmitted to another telephone, where they would be converted back into audible sound, forming the foundation of his telephone design.
Bell needed someone to bring his design to life, and that was Thomas A. Watson.
Watson, a skilled mechanical and electrical worker, would turn Bell’s ideas into a functioning telephone.
John Frederic Daniell invented the Daniell cell in 1836, a battery that uses solid copper and zinc metal parts immersed in special liquids (copper sulfate and zinc sulfate solutions) separated by a thin unglazed ceramic wall with tiny holes.
The Daniell cell provided a stable voltage source, 1.1 volts DC, and was used with telegraphs.
While working on the telephone, Bell and Watson used various electrochemical battery cells, including the Daniell cell, as power sources for their sound experiments.
Bell required a stable voltage for his electromagnetic transmitters and receivers, and using Daniell cells delivered the reliable output voltages he needed.
By connecting iron and steel telegraph wires to the cell’s electrodes, Bell and Watson effectively powered the transmission of intelligible speech over wire.
Years later, copper wire replaced iron and steel due to its superior conductivity, allowing for a more sufficient transmission of electrical audio signals for telecommunication systems.
Alexander Graham Bell achieved the first intelligible voice transmission over his telephone system March 10, 1876.
In his laboratory at 5 Exeter Place in Boston, MA, with the telephone’s transmitter and receiver connected by a battery-powered wired circuit, Bell wrote the following in his notebook, stored in the Library of Congress:
“Mr. Watson was stationed in one room with the receiving instrument. He pressed one ear closely against S [sound receiver] and closed his other ear with his hand. The transmitting instrument was placed in another room, and the doors of both rooms were closed.
I then shouted into M [mouthpiece] the following sentence: ‘Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.’
To my delight, he came and declared that he had heard and understood what I said. I asked him to repeat the words. He answered, ‘You said ‘Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.’
We then changed places, and I listened at S while Mr. Watson read a few passages from a book into the mouthpiece M.
It was undoubtedly the case that articulate sounds proceeded from S. The effect was loud, but indistinct and muffled.”
Bell likely meant the words were understandable, but the sound was muffled — unclear.
His drawing and notes for this can be seen on the Library of Congress website: bit.ly/43lA6xY.
Filed Feb. 14, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was issued March 7, 1876, US Patent 174,465 titled “Improvement to Telegraphy.”
Bell made a diagram drawing Aug. 21, 1876, writing on the bottom of it, “As far as I can remember, these are the first drawings made of any telephone — or instrument for the transmission of vocal utterances by telegraph.”
You can see it on the Library of Congress website: bit.ly/3DfBjMI.
The St. Louis Daily Globe-Democrat newspaper reported Oct. 24, 1876, on an experiment conducted by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson on the evening of Oct. 9, 1876, in a lengthy piece titled “Telephony.”
Bell, situated at 69 Kilby St. in Boston, and Watson located in Cambridgeport, MA, tested his telephones using the two-mile stretch of telegraph line owned by the Walworth Manufacturing Co.
They installed telephones at both ends of the telegraph wire and replaced nine Daniell cells with ten Leclanché cell batteries, which provided a stronger and more stable current for improved voice transmission.
In their notes published in the newspaper article, Bell and Watson would occasionally change out the batteries to maintain voice transmission quality.
“Articulate conversation then took place through the wire. The sounds, at first faint and indistinct, became suddenly quite loud and intelligible,” the newspaper article said.
Bell and Watson conversed for about three hours on the telephone, and much of their conversation is published in the article.
Alexander Graham Bell was born March 3, 1847, and died Aug. 2, 1922, at age 75.
Thomas Augustus Watson, born Jan. 18, 1854, died Dec. 13, 1934, at the age of 80.
A century after Bell’s patent, March 7, 1976, my father, John Ollig, manager of the Winsted Telephone Co., commented on Bell’s invention in a local newspaper interview.
“I am thankful he invented the telephone,” my father said. “If he hadn’t, I would have probably ended up in the Pony Express business, and that would have presented a problem for me because I can’t ride a horse.”
Alexander Bell made a diagram drawing on Aug. 21, 1876,
writing on the bottom of it:
"As far as I can remember these are the first drawings made
of any telephone — or instrument for the transmission of vocal
utterances by telegraph."
Source- Library of Congress
