ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL FIRST
TO TELEPHONE BY LIGHT WAVES
Reproduction of Old Print Showing Apparatus Used In Projecting
Sound by Beam of Light.
By J. O. PERRINE
Today, the Old and New Worlds
talk to one another by means of
the transatlantic telephone. Car
ried by electric waves first pre
dicted by Maxwell, an Englishman,
and experimentally verified by
Herz, a German, speech travels the
broad • expanse of the Atlantic
Ocean in one-sixtieth of a second.
These electric waves, commonly
known as radio waves, were known
and understood by relatively few
scientists in 1876 when the tele
phone was invented. Of course,
light waves were known. Using
those light waves, Alexander Gra
ham Bell was the first to devise a
wireless telephone.
EgM Describes Test
In ISSO, he published an article
entitled "On the Projection of
Gound by Light." After describing
his invention he said:
"We can thus, without a con
ducting wire, as in electric
telephony, speak from station
to station wherever we can pro
ject a beam of light. We have
not had opportunity of testing
the limit to which this tele
phonic influence can be extend
ed, but we have spoken to and
from points 700 feet apart, and
there seems to be no reason to
doubt that the result will be
obtained at whatever distance
a beam of light can be flashed
from one observer to another.
"Dr. Tainter (his assistant)
operated the transmitting in
strument, which was placed on
the top of Franklin School
house in Washington, and the
sensitive receiver was arranged
in one of the windows of my
laboratory, 1325 L street, at a
distance of 700 feet. Upon plac
ing my telephone to the ear, I
heard distinctly from the illu
minated receiver the words,
*Mr. Bell, if you hear what I
say come to the window and
wave your hat.'"
In March, 1881, Bell went to Eng
land, and at a grand reception held
in his honor at Brantford he spoke
of his successful experiments of
the year before. The following is
an excerpt from a reporter's ac
count of the occasion:
"Bell described his recent dis
covery of the photophone as at
present rather a contribution to
science than to the world's util
ities, but he looked forward
to important practical applica
tions. Among them he speci
fied communication between
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passing ships at sea, light
houses on the shore, and in
case of war, communication
with distant places couldgbe re
ceived without the necessity of
an intervening wire. He then
described the apparatus and
experiments, and added that he
had spoken from a distance of
800 or 900 yards, and had sent
the musical sound a mile and a
quarter, but he saw no reason j
to anticipate any difficulty but
that of the convexity of the
earth in transmitting articulate
speech by light to any dis
tance."
Light Waves and Radio Waves Are!
Alike
We know that light waves differ'
from radio waves in being very,;
very much shorter, but they are
actually the same kind of waves.;
Our eyes have receiving systems to
detect light waves but do not de- 1
tect the longer waves generally |
known as radio waves. The instru
mentalities employed today to talk 1
by means of electric waves across
the Atlantic were not only un-;
known in 1880 but undreamed of.;
The longer waves, fortunately, are i
not hindered, as are light waves,'
by the convexity of the earth in i
transmitting speech even all the
way around the world.
Communication by telephone be
tween passing ships at sea, light
houses and the shore and between I
continents separated by oceans is:
now an established fact. Bell was j
the first to devise a wireless tele-;
phone and successfully talk)
through it. To be sure, the trans-,
mitting apparatus was not that •
which is now used nor was the re- !
ceiving apparatus that which is l
now used, but it is interesting to
realize that electro-magnetic waves,
were the carrier in both cases.
Guided and Unguided Waves
Electro-magnetic waves, those
guided by wires and those which
spread out in space, were first'
made to carry man's messages by/
Alexander Graham Bell. On every
hand these waves are employed ini
the communication services of the
world. Wire telephony, with its
thousands of central offices, its'
switchboards and millions of miles
of wire, envelops the country and
carries for the American people
alone over 75,000,000 conversations
every day. Wireless telephony is
broadcasting entertainment and
carrying important information to
millions of listeners. The transat-i
lantic radio telephone unites two'
worlds.
THE FOREST CITY COURIER, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1928
PL EFIRD'S w
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