Electric Telephony

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 7, 1876

Electric Telephony.

THE experiments in electric telephony, which Prof. A. Graham Bell has been conducting for several years past, have resulted in the development of apparatus by means of which the human voice, as ordinarily used in speaking, can be transmitted with certainty and ease to an indefinite distance—assuredly hundreds of miles. The contrivance is exceedingly simple, and the expense is considerably less than the cost of an ordinary Morse sounder. The application of this discovery promises to completely revolutionize the business of transmitting messages by electricity between distant points.

The latest experiments with the telephone were made yesterday, over the wires of the Eastern Railroad, that day being selected because the trials would not then be interrupted by the ordinary business of the line. Prof. Bell, President Rockwell of the Eastern road and wife, Miss Stearns, Mr. Morrison, and Mr. Hubbard, besides two telegraph operators, were the occupants of the Boston office. The instruments were arranged for about a twenty-mile test, consequently Salem, about sixteen miles away, was the point at which a second telephone was fixed. Mr. Thomas A. Watson, assisted by the Salem operator, was in charge there. All those at the Boston end of the line held free and easy conversation with the Salem office, even a whisper or a loud breath being distinctly heard at either end when given at the other. A remarkable instance of the extreme delicacy and faithfulness of the instrument was shown in the fact that when Mr. Hubbard first addressed the listener at the Salem end of the line, Mr. Watson instantly recognized his voice and called him by name before replying. Instead of grounding the wire at Salem, that office was made a way station, the through line extending to North Conway, one hundred and forty-three miles away. To give a more exacting test the Boston instrument was then attached to the Portland wire, and the circuit made complete from Boston, through that city, to Salem, a distance of about two hundred miles. The voice could be heard with considerable clearness after having passed over this great distance, but owing to the unfit construction of the telephones for the duty required of them (they being arranged for about twenty miles), a distinctness was not attained which would allow a conversation to be carried on. Prof. Bell is continually improving his invention, and he doubts not that he will ultimately be able to chat pleasantly with friends in Europe while sitting comfortably in his Boston home.—Boston Post.