The Telephone, Motograph, And Microphone - 1

The Telephone, Motograph, And Microphone - 1

A VERY great invention has its own dramatic history. Episodes full of human interest
attend its development. The periods of weary struggle, the daring adventure along
unknown paths, the clash of rival claimants, are closely similar to those which mark the
revelation and subjugation of a new continent. At the close of the epoch of discovery it is
seen that mankind as a whole has made one more great advance; but in the earlier stages
one watched chiefly the confused vicissitudes of fortune of the individual pioneers. The
great modern art of telephony has had thus in its beginnings, its evolution, and its present
status as a universal medium of intercourse, all the elements of surprise, mystery, swift
creation of wealth, tragic interludes, and colossal battle that can appeal to the imagination
and hold public attention. And in this new electrical industry, in laying its essential
foundations, Edison has again been one of the dominant figures.
As far back as 1837, the American, Page, discovered the curious fact that an iron bar,
when magnetized and demagnetized at short intervals of time, emitted sounds due to the
molecular disturbances in the mass. Philipp Reis, a simple professor in Germany, utilized
this principle in the construction of apparatus for the transmission of sound; but in the
grasp of the idea he was preceded by Charles Bourseul, a young French soldier in
Algeria, who in 1854, under the title of "Electrical Telephony," in a Parisian illustrated
paper, gave a brief and lucid description as follows:
"We know that sounds are made by vibrations, and are made sensible to the ear by the
same vibrations, which are reproduced by the intervening medium. But the intensity of
the vibrations diminishes very rapidly with the distance; so that even with the aid of
speaking-tubes and trumpets it is impossible to exceed somewhat narrow limits. Suppose
a man speaks near a movable disk sufficiently flexible to lose none of the vibrations of
the voice; that this disk alternately makes and breaks the connection with a battery; you
may have at a distance another disk which will simultaneously execute the same
vibrations.... Any one who is not deaf and dumb may use this mode of transmission,
which would require no apparatus except an electric battery, two vibrating disks, and a
wire."
This would serve admirably for a portrayal of the Bell telephone, except that it mentions
distinctly the use of the make-and-break method (i. e., where the circuit is necessarily
opened and closed as in telegraphy, although, of course, at an enormously higher rate),
which has never proved practical.
So far as is known Bourseul was not practical enough to try his own suggestion, and
never made a telephone. About 1860, Reis built several forms of electrical telephonic
apparatus, all imitating in some degree the human ear, with its auditory tube, tympanum,
etc., and examples of the apparatus were exhibited in public not only in Germany, but in
England. There is a variety of testimony to the effect that not only musical sounds, but
stray words and phrases, were actually transmitted with mediocre, casual success. It was
impossible, however, to maintain the devices in adjustment for more than a few seconds,
since the invention depended upon the make-and-break principle, the circuit being made
and broken every time an impulse-creating sound went through it, causing the movement
of the diaphragm on which the sound-waves impinged. Reis himself does not appear to
have been sufficiently interested in the marvellous possibilities of the idea to follow it up-
-remarking to the man who bought his telephonic instruments and tools that he had
shown the world the way. In reality it was not the way, although a monument erected to
his memory at Frankfort styles him the inventor of the telephone. As one of the American
judges said, in deciding an early litigation over the invention of the telephone, a hundred
years of Reis would not have given the world the telephonic art for public use. Many
others after Reis tried to devise practical make-and-break telephones, and all failed;
although their success would have rendered them very valuable as a means of fighting the
Bell patent. But the method was a good starting-point, even if it did not indicate the real
path. If Reis had been willing to experiment with his apparatus so that it did not makeand-
break, he would probably have been the true father of the telephone, besides giving it
the name by which it is known. It was not necessary to slam the gate open and shut. All
that was required was to keep the gate closed, and rattle the latch softly. Incidentally it
may be noted that Edison in experimenting with the Reis transmitter recognized at once
the defect caused by the make-and-break action, and sought to keep the gap closed by the
use, first, of one drop of water, and later of several drops. But the water decomposed, and
the incurable defect was still there.
The Reis telephone was brought to America by Dr. P. H. Van der Weyde, a well-known
physicist in his day, and was exhibited by him before a technical audience at Cooper
Union, New York, in 1868, and described shortly after in the technical press. The
apparatus attracted attention, and a set was secured by Prof. Joseph Henry for the
Smithsonian Institution. There the famous philosopher showed and explained it to
Alexander Graham Bell, when that young and persevering Scotch genius went to get help
and data as to harmonic telegraphy, upon which he was working, and as to transmitting
vocal sounds. Bell took up immediately and energetically the idea that his two
predecessors had dropped--and reached the goal. In 1875 Bell, who as a student and
teacher of vocal physiology had unusual qualifications for determining feasible methods
of speech transmission, constructed his first pair of magneto telephones for such a
purpose. In February of 1876 his first telephone patent was applied for, and in March it
was issued. The first published account of the modern speaking telephone was a paper
read by Bell before the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Bos- ton in May of
that year; while at the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia the public first gained any
familiarity with it. It was greeted at once with scientific acclaim and enthusiasm as a
distinctly new and great invention, although at first it was regarded more as a scientific
toy than as a commercially valuable device.