Alexander Graham Bell

“ Here we have one line of advance from candles and oil lamps to gas, and from gas to electricity; and we can recognize many other threads of advance all converging upon electricity. We produce heat and light by electricity. We transmit intelligence by the telegraph and telephone, and we use electricity as a motive power. In fact, we have fairly entered upon an electrical age, and it is obvious that the electrical engineer will be much in demand in the future. Those of you who devote yourselves to electrical subjects will certainly find a place and room to work. ”

“ Although the idea of producing and reproducing sound by the action of light, as described above, was an entirely original and independent conception of my own, I recognize the fact that the knowledge necessary for its conception has been disseminated throughout the civilized world, and that the idea may therefore have occurred to many other minds. ”

“ We took a couple of telephones and an insulated wire about 100 yards in length into a garden, and were enabled to carry on conversation with the greatest ease when we held in our hands what should have been the earth wire, so that the connection with the ground was formed at either end through our bodies, our feet being clothed with cotton socks and leather boots. ”

“ One of the great evils attending our civilization is the extreme congestion of the population into the larger cities, and one of the great problems of the future is how to spread the population more equally over the land.
The congestion is caused by difficulties of transportation; for, of course, it costs much more to send a person to a distant place than to one near at hand. ”

“ We all desire to hear everything Professor Bell can tell us on this subject, and many gentlemen will probably desire afterwards to ask questions or discuss the subject, for I see present a great number of eminent scientific men. ”

“ Without going into details, I shall merely say that the great defects of this plan of multiple telegraphy were found to consist, firstly, in the fact that the receiving operators were required to possess a good musical ear in order to discriminate the signals; and secondly, that the signals could only pass in one direction along the line (so that two wires would be necessary in order to complete communication in both directions) . ”

“ Upon consideration of the subject, however, I saw that the experiments could not be conducted in the ordinary way, for the following reason: The law of audibility of the telephone is precisely analogous to the law of electric induction. No effect is produced during the passage of a continuous and steady current. It is only at the moment of change from a stronger to a weaker state, or vice versa, that any audible effect is produced, and the amount of effect is exactly proportional to the amount of variation in the current. ”

“ The substance to be tested was to be placed in the interior of a transparent vessel, made of some material which (like glass) is transparent to light, but practically opaque to sound.
Under such circumstances the light could get in, but the sound produced by the vibration of the substance could not get out. The audible effects could be studied by placing the ear in communication with the interior of the vessel by means of a hearing-tube. ”

“ We progress from candles to electricity in one lifetime I said it was a glorious thing to be young; but it is also a glorious thing to be old and look back upon the progress of the world during one's own lifetime. ”

“ When the lampblack cell is connected with a telephone and galvanic battery, and exposed to the influence of an intermittent beam of sunlight, a loud musical tone is produced by the telephone. This result seems to be due rather to the physical condition than to the nature of the conducting material employed, as metals in a spongy condition produce similar effects. For instance, when an electrical current is passed through spongy platinum while it is exposed to intermittent sunlight, a distinct musical tone is produced by a telephone in the same circuit. ”

“ For this purpose we have constructed several different forms of apparatus for studying the effects, but, as our researches are not yet complete, I shall confine myself to a simple description of some of the forms of apparatus we have devised.
When a beam of light is brought to a focus by means of a lens, the beam diverging from the focal point becomes weaker as the distance increases in a calculable degree. Hence, if we can determine the distances from the focal point at which two different substances emit sounds of equal intensity, we can calculate their relative sonorous powers. ”

“ By carrying your thoughts still further you will understand that when a large number of reeds of different pitch or of different rates of vibration are simultaneously making and breaking the same circuit the resultant effect upon the main line is practically equivalent to one continuous current.
Fig. 11.
It will also be understood that the maximum number of musical signals that can be simultaneously directed along a single wire without conflict depends very much upon the ratio which the “make” bears to the “break;” ”

“ In arranging the apparatus for the purpose of reproducing sound at a distance, any powerful source of light may be used, but we have experimented chiefly with sunlight. For this purpose a large beam is concentrated by means of a lens upon the diaphragm-mirror, and, after reflection, is again rendered parallel by means of another lens. The beam is received at a distant station upon a parabolic reflector, in the focus of which is placed a sensitive selenium-cell, connected in a local circuit with a battery and telephone. ”

“ In laboratory experiments the transmitting and receiving instruments are necessarily within ear-shot of one another, and we have, therefore, been accustomed to prolong the electric circuit connected with the selenium receiver, so as to place the telephones in another room. By such experiments we have found that articulate speech can be reproduced by the oxyhydrogen light, and even by the light of a kerosene-lamp. The loudest effects obtained from light are produced by rapidly interrupting the beam by the perforated disk. ”

“ Lord Rayleigh has shown mathematically that a to-and-fro vibration, of sufficient amplitude to produce an audible sound, would result from a periodical communication and abstraction of heat, and he says: "We may conclude, I think, that there is at present no reason for discarding the obvious explanation that the sounds in question are due to the bending of the plates under unequal heating" ("Nature," vol. xxiii, p. 274) . Mr. Preece, however, seeks to prove that the sonorous effects can not be explained upon this supposition ”

“ Experiments with Liquids.—The sounds produced by liquids are much more difficult to observe than those produced by solids. The high absorptive power possessed by most liquids would lead one to expect intense vibrations from the action of intermittent light ”

“ When the key K is depressed an intermittent current from the main battery B is directed to the line-wire W, and passes through the electro-magnet E of a receiving instrument R at the distant end of the circuit, and thence to the ground G. The steel reed A is placed in front of the receiving magnet, and when its normal rate of vibration is the same as the reed of the transmitting instrument it is thrown into powerful vibration, emitting a musical tone of a similar pitch to that produced by the reed of the transmitting instrument, but if it is normally of a different pitch it remains silent. ”

“ It occurred to me that if a membrane as thin as tissue paper could control the vibration of bones that were, compared to it, of immense size and weight, why should not a larger and thicker membrane be able to vibrate a piece of iron in front of an electro-magnet, in which case the complication of steel rods shown in my first form of telephone, fig. ”

“ Most of his art he acquired from his father, one of the most expert of teachers in this field. The elder Bell is still active in his work, constantly devising new methods and experiments. He lives in Washington with his son and is frequently heard in lectures in New York and Boston.
In 1873 Alexander Bell began to study the transmission of musical tones by telegraph. It was in the line of his work with deaf and dumb people to make sound vibrations visible to the eye. ”

“ The family moved to Canada in 1872, and Alexander Bell came to Boston, where he soon became widely known as an authority in the teaching of the deaf and dumb. The reproduction of the human voice by mechanical means interested him deeply, and his study of the construction of the human ear, with its drum vibrating in response to sound vibrations, gave him the idea of a vibrating piece of iron in front of an electric magnet. ”

“ The rest of the world hung in suspense.
While he was breaking his fast, the sound of a telephone bell jetted from a corner, and his chief attendant called his attention to the voice of Ostrog making polite enquiries. Graham interrupted his refreshment to reply. Very shortly Lincoln arrived, and Graham at once expressed a strong desire to talk to people and to be shown more of the new life that was opening before him. Lincoln informed him that in three hours’ time a representative gathering of officials and their wives would be held in the state apartments of the wind-vane Chief. ”

“ Graham enjoyed the discomfiture of the 71st; but he was more than ever convinced that the colour of the 10th accounted for its being robbed of a chance for fame in this campaign: and he went back to his duty in a mutinous mood. He could not know that General Bell had held this veteran negro regiment in reserve because of its proved steadiness and valour ”

“ Late one evening, in the autumn of 17—, Willie Bell, the blacksmith, was standing at the door, wondering what had become of his apprentice, John Graham, who had left Clay-yett that morning, to go to the neighbouring town of Langholm, where his father was lying dangerously ill. ”

“ Alexander Graham, the schoolmaster, was the son of a grieve, or farm-overseer, in the north of Scotland. By straining every nerve his parents had succeeded in giving him a university education, the narrowness of whose scope was possibly favorable to the development of what genius, rare and shy, might lurk among the students. He had labored well, and had gathered a good deal from books and lectures, but far more from the mines they guided him to discover in his own nature. ”

“ At first the glitter of the gathering had raised all the democrat in Graham; he had felt hostile and satirical. But it is not in human nature to resist an atmosphere of courteous regard. Soon the music, the light, the play of colours, the shining arms and shoulders about him, the touch of hands, the transient interest of smiling faces, the frothing sound of skilfully modulated voices, the atmosphere of compliment, interest and respect, had woven together into a fabric of indisputable pleasure. Graham for a time forgot his spacious resolutions. ”

“ His manner was breezy, his accent lacked the easy staccato of latter-day English. He made it admirably clear to Graham that he was a bluff "aerial dog"—he used that phrase—that there was no nonsense about him, that he was a thoroughly manly fellow and old-fashioned at that, that he didn't profess to know much, and that what he did not know was not worth knowing. He made a manly bow, ostentatiously free from obsequiousness and passed.
"I am glad to see that type endures," said Graham
"Phonographs and kinematographs," said Lincoln, a little spitefully. "He has studied from the life." ”

“ He was enterprising, and successful in business. With Alexander Brevard, and Joseph Graham, his sons-in-law, he established Vesuvius Furnace and Tirza Forge iron works in Lincoln county. He married Violet, daughter of Samuel Wilson, Sr., and raised a large family. His daughter, Isabella, married Joseph Graham; Rebecca married Alexander Brevard; Violet married William Bain Alexander, son of John McKnitt Alexander; Elizabeth married William Lee Davidson, son of General Davidson, who fell at Cowan's Ford; Mary married Dr. William McLean; Sallie married Alexander Caldwell, son of Rev. ”

“ In the preface also he says:—‘I have no dread of any Body’s finding Fault with me for telling the Truth, because Charles has no Sway here; Duke William, once the Idol of the loyal British, is gone to the House of Silence, and, I believe, if I should take the Liberty to tell the Truth of him, no Body could blame me.’ The contention here is not that Graham was not sufficiently worldly to stoop to trimming, but rather that the undoubted alterations made on the third edition were not of the character many have imagined them to be. ”

“ The Master is with us. He is safe."
Graham had a surging vision of a great hall crowded with people. He saw no individuals, he was conscious of a froth of pink faces, of waving arms and garments, he felt the occult influence of a vast crowd pouring over him, buoying him up. There were balconies, galleries, great archways giving remoter perspectives, and everywhere people, a vast arena of people, densely packed and cheering. Across the nearer space lay the collapsed cable like a huge snake. It had been cut by the men of the flying machine at its upper end, and had crumpled down into the hall. ”

“ I shall now have the usufruct of a kingdom—his kingdom by courtesy, mine by right. Hark, Graham! How is this vision to be realised? The seer pointed to James's death—who is to kill the tyrant?"
"I with this hand shall strike the blow," replied Graham. "My plans are already laid, and I wanted only your cooperation and assistance; for why, you know, should I be so improvident as to kill one king, until another is ready to take his place?"
"I cannot speak lightly of this affair," said the duke, in check of Graham's levity. "What are your plans? The fewer co-operators in a conspiracy the better." ”