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diff --git a/old/54506.txt b/old/54506.txt deleted file mode 100644 index fdc8020..0000000 --- a/old/54506.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,2066 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Birth and Babyhood of the Telephone, by -Thomas A. Watson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Birth and Babyhood of the Telephone - -Author: Thomas A. Watson - -Release Date: April 7, 2017 [EBook #54506] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRTH, BABYHOOD OF THE TELEPHONE *** - - - - -Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - _The_ - BIRTH _and_ BABYHOOD - OF THE - TELEPHONE - - - _by_ - Thomas A. Watson - _Assistant to Alexander Graham Bell_ - - - (An address delivered before the Third Annual Convention of the - Telephone Pioneers of America at Chicago, October 17, 1913) - - - _Information Department_ - AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY - - [Illustration: _Thomas A. Watson_ - 1854-1934] - - - - - _Biography of - THOMAS A. WATSON_ - - -Thomas A. Watson was born on January 18, 1854, in Salem, Massachusetts, -and died December 13, 1934, at more than four-score years. At the age of -13 he left school and went to work in a store. Always keenly interested -in learning more and in making the most of all he learned, every new -experience was to him, from his childhood on, an opening door into a -larger, more beautiful and more wonderful world. This was the key to the -continuous variety that gave interest to his life. - -In 1874 he obtained employment in the electrical shop of Charles -Williams, Jr., at 109 Court Street, Boston. Here he met Alexander Graham -Bell, and the telephone chapter in his life began. This he has told in -the little book herewith presented. In 1881, having well earned a rest -from the unceasing struggle with the problems of early telephony, and -being now a man of means, he resigned his position in the American Bell -Telephone Company and spent a year in Europe. On his return he started a -little machine shop for his own pleasure, at his place in East -Braintree, Massachusetts. From this grew the Fore River Ship and Engine -Company, which did its large share of building the U. S. Navy of the -Spanish War. In 1904 he retired from active business. - -When 40 years of age and widely known as a shipbuilder, he went to -college, taking special courses in geology and biology at the -Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At the same time he specialized -in literature. These studies dominated his later years, leading him in -extensive travels all over the world, and at home extending to others -the inspiration of a genial simplicity of life and of a love for -science, literature and all that is fine in life. - - - - - The Birth and Babyhood of the Telephone - - - _By_ Thomas A. Watson - -I am to speak to you of the birth and babyhood of the telephone, and -something of the events which preceded that important occasion. These -are matters that must seem to you ancient history; in fact, they seem so -to me, although the events all happened less than 40 years ago, in the -years 1874 to 1880. - -The occurrences of which I shall speak, lie in my mind as a splendid -drama, in which it was my great privilege to play a part. I shall try to -put myself back into that wonderful play, and tell you its story from -the same attitude of mind I had then--the point of view of a mere boy, -just out of his apprenticeship as an electro-mechanician, intensely -interested in his work, and full of boyish hope and enthusiasm. -Therefore, as it must be largely a personal narrative, I shall ask you -to excuse my many "I's" and "my's" and to be indulgent if I show how -proud and glad I am that I was chosen by the fates to be the associate -of Alexander Graham Bell, to work side by side with him day and night -through all these wonderful happenings that have meant so much to the -world. - - - The Williams' Electrical Workshop - -I realize now what a lucky boy I was, when at 13 years of age I had to -leave school and go to work for my living, although I didn't think so at -that time. I am not advising my young friends to leave school at this -age, for they may not have the opportunity to enter college as I did at -40. There's a "tide in the affairs of men," you know, and that was the -beginning of its flood in my life, for after trying several -vocations--clerking, bookkeeping, carpentering, etc.--and finding them -all unattractive, I at last found just the job that suited me in the -electrical work-shop of Charles Williams, at 109 Court Street, -Boston--one of the best men I have ever known. Better luck couldn't -befall a boy than to be brought so early in life under the influence of -such a high-minded gentleman as Charles Williams. - -I want to say a few words about my work there, not only to give you a -picture of such a shop in the early '70s, but also because in this shop -the telephone had its birth and a good deal of its early development. - - [Illustration: _Thomas A. Watson in 1874_] - -I was first set to work on a hand lathe turning binding posts for $5 a -week. The mechanics of to-day with their automatic screw machines, -hardly know what it is to turn little rough castings with a hand tool. -How the hot chips used to fly into our eyes! One day I had a fine idea. -I bought a pair of 25-cent goggles, thinking the others would hail me as -a benefactor of mankind and adopt my plan. But they laughed at me for -being such a sissy boy and public opinion forced me back to the old -time-honored plan of winking when I saw a chip coming. It was not an -efficient plan, for the chip usually got there first. There was a -liberal education in it for me in manual dexterity. There was no -specializing in these shops at that time. Each workman built everything -there was in the shop to build, and an apprentice also had a great -variety of jobs, which kept him interested all the time, for his tools -were poor and simple and it required lots of thought to get a job done -right. - - - Studies and Experiments - -There were few books on electricity published at that time. Williams had -copies of most of them in his showcase, which we boys used to read -noons, but the book that interested me most was Davis' Manual of -Magnetism, published in 1847, a copy of which I made mine for 25 cents. -If you want to get a good idea of the state of the electrical art at -that time, you should read that book. I found it very stimulating and -that same old copy in all the dignity of its dilapidation has a place of -honor on my book shelves to-day. - -My promotion to higher work was rapid. Before two years had passed, I -had tried my skill on about all the regular work of the -establishment--call bells, annunciators, galvanometers, telegraph keys, -sounders, relays, registers and printing telegraph instruments. - -Individual initiative was the rule in Williams' shop--we all did about -as we pleased. Once I built a small steam engine for myself during -working hours, when business was slack. No one objected. That steam -engine, by the way, was the embryo of the biggest shipbuilding plant in -the United States to-day, which I established some ten years later with -telephone profits, and which now employs more than 4,000 men. - - [Illustration: _Alexander Graham Bell in 1876_] - -Such were the electrical shops of that day. Crude and small as they -were, they were the forerunners of the great electrical works of to-day. -In them were being trained the men who were among the leaders in the -wonderful development of applied electricity which began soon after the -time of which I am to speak. Williams, although he never had at that -time more than 30 or 40 men working for him, had one of the largest and -best fitted shops in the country. I think the Western Electric shop at -Chicago was the only larger one. That was also undoubtedly better -organized and did better work than Williams'. When a piece of machinery -built by the Western Electric came into our shop for repairs, we boys -always used to admire the superlative excellence of the workmanship. - - - Experience with Inventors - -Besides the regular work at Williams', there was a constant stream of -wild-eyed inventors, with big ideas in their heads and little money in -their pockets, coming to the shop to have their ideas tried out in brass -and iron. Most of them had an "angel" whom they had hypnotized into -paying the bills. My enthusiasm, and perhaps my sympathetic nature, made -me a favorite workman with those men of visions, and in 1873-74 my work -had become largely making experimental apparatus for such men. Few of -their ideas ever amounted to anything, but I liked to do the work, as it -kept me roaming in fresh fields and pastures new all the time. Had it -not been, however, for my youthful enthusiasm--always one of my chief -assets--I fear this experience would have made me so skeptical and -cynical as to the value of electrical inventions that my future -prospects might have been injured. - - [Illustration: _Thomas Sanders in 1878, at the Time He Was the Sole - Financial Backer of the Telephone_] - -I remember one limber-tongued patriarch who had induced some men to -subscribe $1,000 to build what he claimed to be an entirely new electric -engine. I had made much of it for him. There was nothing new in the -engine, but he intended to generate his electric current in a series of -iron tanks the size of trunks, to be filled with nitric acid with the -usual zinc plates suspended therein. When the engine was finished and -the acid poured into the tanks for the first time, no one waited to see -the engine run, for inventor, "angel," and workmen all tried to see who -could get out of the shop quickest. I won the race as I had the best -start. - -I suppose there is just such a crowd of crude minds still besieging the -work-shops, men who seem incapable of finding out what has been already -done, and so keep on, year after year, threshing old straw. - - - The "Harmonic Telegraph" - -All the men I worked for at that time were not of that type. There were -a few very different. Among them, dear old Moses G. Farmer, perhaps the -leading practical electrician of that day. He was full of good ideas, -which he was constantly bringing to Williams to have worked out. I did -much of his work and learned from him more about electricity than ever -before or since. He was electrician at that time for the United States -Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island, and in the early winter of -1874 I was making for him some experimental torpedo exploding apparatus. -That apparatus will always be connected in my mind with the telephone, -for one day when I was hard at work on it, a tall, slender, -quick-motioned man with pale face, black side whiskers, and drooping -mustache, big nose and high sloping forehead crowned with bushy, jet -black hair, came rushing out of the office and over to my work bench. It -was Alexander Graham Bell, whom I saw then for the first time. He was -bringing to me a piece of mechanism which I had made for him under -instructions from the office. It had not been made as he had directed -and he had broken down the rudimentary discipline of the shop in coming -directly to me to get it altered. It was a receiver and a transmitter of -his "Harmonic Telegraph," an invention of his with which he was then -endeavoring to win fame and fortune. It was a simple affair by means of -which, utilizing the law of sympathetic vibration, he expected to send -six or eight Morse messages on a single wire at the same time, without -interference. - - [Illustration: _Home of Mrs. Mary Ann (Brown) Sanders, Salem, Mass., - where Professor Bell carried on experiments for three years which - led to the discovery of the principle of the telephone_] - -Although most of you are probably familiar with the device, I must, to -make my story clear, give you a brief description of the instruments, -for though Bell never succeeded in perfecting his telegraph, his -experimenting on it led to a discovery of the highest importance. - - [Illustration: _The Birthplace of the Telephone, 109 Court Street, - Boston.--On the top floor of this building, in 1875, Prof. Bell - carried on his experiments and first succeeded in transmitting - speech by electricity_] - -The essential parts of both transmitter and receiver were an -electro-magnet and a flattened piece of steel clock spring. The spring -was clamped by one end to one pole of the magnet, and had its other end -free to vibrate over the other pole. The transmitter had, besides this, -make-and-break points like an ordinary vibrating bell which, when the -current was on, kept the spring vibrating in a sort of nasal whine, of a -pitch corresponding to the pitch of the spring. When the signalling key -was closed, an electrical copy of that whine passed through the wire and -the distant receiver. There were, say, six transmitters with their -springs tuned to six different pitches and six receivers with their -springs tuned to correspond. Now, theoretically, when a transmitter sent -its electrical whine into the line wire, its own faithful receiver -spring at the distant station would wriggle sympathetically but all the -others on the same line would remain coldly quiescent. Even when all the -transmitters were whining at once through their entire gamut, making a -row as if all the miseries this world of trouble ever produced were -concentrated there, each receiver spring along the line would select its -own from that sea of troubles and ignore all the others. Just see what a -simple, sure-to-work invention this was; for just break up those various -whines into the dots and dashes of Morse messages and one wire would do -the work of six, and the "Duplex" telegraph that had just been invented -would be beaten to a frazzle. Bell's reward would be immediate and rich, -for the "Duplex" had been bought by the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph -Company, giving them a great advantage over their only competitor, the -Western Union Company, and the latter would, of course, buy Bell's -invention and his financial problems would be solved. - - [Illustration: _The Garret, 109 Court St., Boston, where Bell - Verified the Principle of Electrical Speech Transmission_] - -All this was, as I have said, theoretical, and it was mighty lucky for -Graham Bell that it was, for had his harmonic telegraph been a well -behaved apparatus that always did what its parent wanted it to do, the -speaking telephone might never have emerged from a certain marvelous -conception, that had even then been surging back of Bell's high forehead -for two or three years. What that conception was, I soon learned, for he -couldn't help speaking about it, although his friends tried to hush it -up. They didn't like to have him get the reputation of being visionary, -or--something worse. - -To go on with my story; after Mr. Farmer's peace-making machines were -finished, I made half a dozen pairs of the harmonic instruments for -Bell. He was surprised, when he tried them, to find that they didn't -work as well as he expected. The cynical Watson wasn't at all surprised -for he had never seen anything electrical yet that worked at first the -way the inventor thought it would. Bell wasn't discouraged in the least -and a long course of experiments followed which gave me a steady job -that winter and brought me into close contact with a wonderful -personality that did more to mould my life rightly than anything else -that ever came into it. - -I became mightily tired of those "whiners" that winter. I called them by -that name, perhaps, as an inadequate expression of my disgust with their -persistent perversity, the struggle with which soon began to take all -the joy out of my young life, not being endowed with the power of -Macbeth's weird sisters to - - "Look into the seeds of time, - And say which grain will grow and which will not." - -Let me say here, that I have always had a feeling of respect for Elisha -Gray, who, a few years later, made that harmonic telegraph work, and -vibrate well-behaved messages, that would go where they were sent -without fooling with every receiver on the line. - -Most of Bell's early experimenting on the harmonic telegraph was done in -Salem, at the home of Mrs. George Sanders, where he resided for several -years, having charge of the instruction of her deaf nephew. The present -Y. M. C. A. building is on the site of that house. I would occasionally -work with Bell there, but most of his experimenting in which I took part -was done in Boston. - - - Bell's Theory of Transmitting Speech - -Mr. Bell was very apt to do his experimenting at night, for he was busy -during the day at the Boston University, where he was Professor of Vocal -Physiology, especially teaching his father's system of visible speech, -by which a deaf mute might learn to talk--quite significant of what Bell -was soon to do in making mute metal talk. For this reason I would often -remain at the shop during the evening to help him test some improvement -he had had me make on the instruments. - -One evening when we were resting from our struggles with the apparatus, -Bell said to me: "Watson, I want to tell you of another idea I have, -which I think will surprise you." I listened, I suspect, somewhat -languidly, for I must have been working that day about sixteen hours, -with only a short nutritive interval, and Bell had already given me, -during the weeks we had worked together, more new ideas on a great -variety of subjects, including visible speech, elocution and flying -machines, than my brain could assimilate, but when he went on to say -that he had an idea by which he believed it would be possible to talk by -telegraph, my nervous system got such a shock that the tired feeling -vanished. I have never forgotten his exact words; they have run in my -mind ever since like a mathematical formula. "_If_," he said, "_I could -make a current of electricity vary in intensity, precisely as the air -varies in density during the production of a sound, I should be able to -transmit speech telegraphically_." He then sketched for me an instrument -that he thought would do this, and we discussed the possibility of -constructing one. I did not make it; it was altogether too costly, and -the chances of its working too uncertain to impress his financial -backers--Mr. Gardiner G. Hubbard and Mr. Thomas Sanders--who were -insisting that the wisest thing for Bell to do was to perfect the -harmonic telegraph; then he would have money and leisure enough to build -air castles like the telephone. - - - June 2, 1875 - -I must have done other work in the shop besides Bell's during the winter -and spring of 1875, but I cannot remember a single item of it. I do -remember that when I was not working for Bell I was thinking of his -ideas. All through my recollection of that period runs that -nightmare--the harmonic telegraph, the ill working of which got on my -conscience, for I blamed my lack of mechanical skill for the poor -operation of an invention apparently so simple. Try our best, we could -not make that thing work rightly, and Bell came as near to being -discouraged as I ever knew him to be. - -But this spring of 1875 was the dark hour just before the dawn. - -If the exact time could be fixed, the date when the conception of the -undulatory or speech-transmitting current took its perfect form in -Bell's mind would be the greatest day in the history of the telephone, -but certainly June 2, 1875, must always rank next; for on that day the -mocking fiend inhabiting that demonic telegraph apparatus, just as a -now-you-see-it-and-now-you-don't sort of satanic joke, opened the -curtain that hides from man great Nature's secrets and gave us a glimpse -as quick as if it were through the shutter of a snap-shot camera, into -that treasury of things not yet discovered. That imp didn't do this in -any kindly, helpful spirit--any inventor knows he isn't that kind of a -being--he just meant to tantalize and prove that a man is too stupid to -grasp a secret, even if it is revealed to him. But he hadn't properly -estimated Bell, though he had probably sized me up all right. That -glimpse was enough to let Bell see and seize the very thing he had been -dreaming about and drag it out into the world of human affairs. - - [Illustration: _Gardiner G. Hubbard in 1876_] - - - The Telephone Born - -Coming back to earth, I'll try and tell you what happened that day. In -the experiments on the harmonic telegraph, Bell had found that the -reason why the messages got mixed up was inaccuracy in the adjustment of -the pitches of the receiver springs to those of the transmitter. Bell -always had to do this tuning himself, as my sense of pitch and knowledge -of music were quite lacking--a faculty (or lackulty) which you will hear -later became quite useful. Mr. Bell was in the habit of observing the -pitch of a spring by pressing it against his ear while the corresponding -transmitter in a distant room was sending its intermittent current -through the magnet of that receiver. He would then manipulate the tuning -screw until that spring was tuned to accord with the pitch of the whine -coming from the transmitter. All this experimenting was carried on in -the upper story of the Williams building, where we had a wire connecting -two rooms perhaps sixty feet apart looking out on Court Street. - - [Illustration: _Prof. Bell's Vibrating Reed--Used for a Receiver_] - - - Realization - -On the afternoon of June 2, 1875, we were hard at work on the same old -job, testing some modification of the instruments. Things were badly out -of tune that afternoon in that hot garret, not only the instruments, -but, I fancy, my enthusiasm and my temper, though Bell was as energetic -as ever. I had charge of the transmitters as usual, setting them -squealing one after the other, while Bell was retuning the receiver -springs one by one, pressing them against his ear as I have described. -One of the transmitter springs I was attending to stopped vibrating and -I plucked it to start it again. It didn't start and I kept on plucking -it, when suddenly I heard a shout from Bell in the next room, and then -out he came with a rush, demanding, "What did you do then? Don't change -anything. Let me see!" I showed him. It was very simple. The contact -screw was screwed down so far that it made permanent contact with the -spring, so that when I snapped the spring the circuit had remained -unbroken while that strip of magnetized steel by its vibration over the -pole of its magnet was generating that marvelous conception of Bell's--a -current of electricity that varied in intensity precisely as the air was -varying in density within hearing distance of that spring. That -undulatory current had passed through the connecting wire to the distant -receiver which, fortunately, was a mechanism that could transform that -current back into an extremely faint echo of the sound of the vibrating -spring that had generated it, but what was still more fortunate, the -right man had that mechanism at his ear during that fleeting moment, and -instantly recognized the transcendent importance of that faint sound -thus electrically transmitted. The shout I heard and his excited rush -into my room were the result of that recognition. The speaking telephone -was born at that moment. Bell knew perfectly well that the mechanism -that could transmit all the complex vibrations of one sound could do the -same for any sound, even that of speech. That experiment showed him that -the complex apparatus he had thought would be needed to accomplish that -long dreamed result was not at all necessary, for here was an extremely -simple mechanism operating in a perfectly obvious way, that could do it -perfectly. All the experimenting that followed that discovery, up to the -time the telephone was put into practical use, was largely a matter of -working out the details. We spent a few hours verifying the discovery, -repeating it with all the differently tuned springs we had, and before -we parted that night Bell gave me directions for making the first -electric speaking telephone. I was to mount a small drumhead of -gold-beater's skin over one of the receivers, join the center of the -drumhead to the free end of the receiver spring and arrange a mouthpiece -over the drumhead to talk into. His idea was to force the steel spring -to follow the vocal vibrations and generate a current of electricity -that would vary in intensity as the air varies in density during the -utterance of speech sounds. I followed these directions and had the -instrument ready for its trial the very next day. I rushed it, for -Bell's excitement and enthusiasm over the discovery had aroused mine -again, which had been sadly dampened during those last few weeks by the -meagre results of the harmonic experiments. I made every part of that -first telephone myself, but I didn't realize while I was working on it -what a tremendously important piece of work I was doing. - - - The First Telephone Line - -The two rooms in the attic were too near together for the test, as our -voices would be heard through the air, so I ran a wire especially for -the trial from one of the rooms in the attic down two flights to the -third floor where Williams' main shop was, ending it near my work bench -at the back of the building. That was the first telephone line. You can -well imagine that both our hearts were beating above the normal rate -while we were getting ready for the trial of the new instrument that -evening. I got more satisfaction from the experiment than Mr. Bell did, -for shout my best I could not make him hear me, but I could hear his -voice and almost catch the words. I rushed downstairs and told him what -I had heard. It was enough to show him that he was on the right track, -and before he left that night he gave me directions for several -improvements in the telephones I was to have ready for the next trial. - - [Illustration: _Alexander Graham Bell's First Telephone_] - -I hope my pride in the fact that I made the first telephone, put up the -first telephone wire and heard the first words ever uttered through a -telephone, has never been too ostentatious and offensive to my friends, -but I am sure that you will grant that a reasonable amount of that human -weakness is excusable in me. My pride has been tempered to quite a -bearable degree by my realization that the reason why I heard Bell in -that first trial of the telephone and he did not hear me, was the vast -superiority of his strong vibratory tones over any sound my undeveloped -voice was then able to utter. My sense of hearing, however, has always -been unusually acute, and that might have helped to determine this -result. - -The building where these first telephone experiments were made is still -in existence. It is now used as a theater. The lower stories have been -much altered, but that attic is still quite unchanged and a few weeks -ago I stood on the very spot where I snapped those springs and helped -test the first telephone thirty-seven years and seven months before. - - (_Editor's Note: The old building was finally replaced by new - construction in 1931.)_ - - - Mr. Watson Heard the First Sentence Ever Spoken Over the Telephone - -Of course in our struggle to expel the imps from the invention, an -immense amount of experimenting had to be done, but it wasn't many days -before we could talk back and forth and hear each other's voice. It is, -however, hard for me to realize now that it was not until the following -March that I heard a complete and intelligible sentence. It made such an -impression upon me that I wrote that first sentence in a book I have -always preserved. The occasion had not been arranged and rehearsed as I -suspect the sending of the first message over the Morse telegraph had -been years before, for instead of that noble first telegraphic -message--"What hath God wrought?" the first message of the telephone -was: "Mr. Watson, come here, I want you." Perhaps, if Mr. Bell had -realized that he was about to make a bit of history, he would have been -prepared with a more sounding and interesting sentence. - -Soon after the first telephones were made, Bell hired two rooms on the -top floor of an inexpensive boarding house at No. 5 Exeter Place, -Boston, since demolished to make room for mercantile buildings. He slept -in one room; the other he fitted up as a laboratory. I ran a wire for -him between the two rooms and after that time practically all his -experimenting was done there. It was here one evening when I had gone -there to help him test some improvement and to spend the night with him, -that I heard the first complete sentence I have just told you about. -Matters began to move more rapidly, and during the summer of 1876 the -telephone was talking so well that one didn't have to ask the other man -to say it over again more than three or four times before one could -understand quite well, if the sentences were simple. - - - The Centennial Exposition - -This was the year of the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, and Bell -decided to make an exhibit there. I was still working for Williams, and -one of the jobs I did for Bell was to construct a telephone of each form -that had been devised up to that time. These were the first nicely -finished instruments that had been made. There had been no money nor -time to waste on polish or non-essentials. But these Centennial -telephones were done up in the highest style of the art. You could see -your face in them. These aristocratic telephones worked finely, in spite -of their glitter, when Sir William Thompson tried them at Philadelphia -that summer. I was as proud as Bell himself, when I read Sir William's -report, wherein he said after giving an account of the tests: "I need -hardly say I was astonished and delighted, so were the others who -witnessed the experiment and verified with their own ears the electric -transmission of speech. This, perhaps, the greatest marvel hitherto -achieved by electric telegraph, has been obtained by appliances of quite -a homespun and rudimentary character." I have never forgiven Sir William -for that last line. Homespun! - - - Experimentation - -However, I recovered from this blow, and soon after Mr. Gardiner G. -Hubbard, afterwards Mr. Bell's father-in-law, offered me an interest in -Bell's patents if I would give up my work at Williams' and devote my -time to the telephone. I accepted, although I wasn't altogether sure it -was a wise thing to do from a financial standpoint. My contract -stipulated that I was to work under Mr. Bell's directions, on the -harmonic telegraph as well as on the speaking telephone, for the two men -who were paying the bills still thought there was something in the -former invention, although very little attention had been given to its -vagaries after the June 2nd discovery. - - [Illustration: 1876 BELL TELEPHONE - _Telephone Apparatus Patented in 1876 by Prof. Bell, Models Made - from Figure 7 in Bell's Original Patent_] - -I moved my domicile from Salem to another room on the top floor at 5 -Exeter Place, giving us the entire floor, and as Mr. Bell had lost most -of his pupils by wasting so much of his time on telephones, he could -devote nearly all his time to the experimenting. Then followed a period -of hard and continuous work on the invention. I made telephones with -every modification and combination of their essential parts that either -of us could think of. I made and we tested telephones with all sizes of -diaphragms made of all kinds of materials--diaphragms of boiler iron -several feet in diameter, down to a miniature affair made of the bones -and drum of a human ear, and found that the best results came from an -iron diaphragm of about the same size and thickness as is used to-day. -We tested electro magnets and permanent magnets of a multitude of sizes -and shapes, with long cores and short cores, fat cores and thin cores, -solid cores and cores of wire, with coils of many sizes, shapes and -resistances, and mouthpieces of an infinite variety. Out of the hundreds -of experiments there emerged practically the same telephone you take off -the hook and listen with to-day, although it was then transmitter as -well as receiver. - - [Illustration: _Reprint from the Boston Advertiser describing the - Telephone Talk between Boston and Cambridgeport, October 9, 1876_] - - - - - TELEPHONY. - - AUDIBLE SPEECH CONVEYED TWO MILES BY TELEGRAPH. - -PROFESSOR A. GRAHAM BELL'S DISCOVERY--SUCCESSFUL AND INTERESTING -EXPERIMENTS--THE RECORD OF A CONVERSATION CARRIED ON BETWEEN BOSTON AND -CAMBRIDGEPORT. - -The following account of an experiment made on the evening of October 9 -by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson is interesting, as being -the record of the first conversation ever carried on by word of mouth -over a telegraph wire. Telephones placed at either end of a telegraph -line owned by the Walworth Manufacturing Company, extending from their -office in Boston to their factory in Cambridgeport, a distance of about -two miles. The company's battery, consisting of nine Daniels cells, was -removed from the circuit and another of ten carbon elements substituted. -Articulate conversation then took place through the wire. The sounds, at -first faint and indistinct, became suddenly quite loud and intelligible. -Mr. Bell in Boston and Mr. Watson in Cambridge then took notes of what -was said and heard and the comparison of the two records is most -interesting, as showing the accuracy of the electrical transmission:-- - - BOSTON RECORD. - -Mr. Bell--What do you think was the matter with the instruments? - -Mr. Watson--There was nothing the matter with - - CAMBRIDGEPORT RECORD. - -Mr. Bell--What do you think is the matter with the instruments? - -Mr. Watson--There is nothing the matter with them. - - - "Talking" from Boston to Cambridge - -Progress was rapid, and on October 9, 1876, we were ready to take the -baby outdoors for the first time. We got permission from the Walworth -Manufacturing Company to use their private wire running from Boston to -Cambridge, about two miles long. I went to Cambridge that evening with -one of our best telephones, and waited until Bell signalled from the -Boston office on the Morse sounder. Then I cut out the sounder and -connected in the telephone and listened. Not a murmur came through! -Could it be that, although the thing worked all right in the house, it -wouldn't work under practical line conditions? I knew that we were using -the most complex and delicate electric current that had ever been -employed for a practical purpose and that it was extremely "intense," -for Bell had talked through a circuit composed of 20 or 30 human beings -joined hand to hand. Could it be, I thought, that these high tension -vibrations leaking off at each insulator along the line, had vanished -completely before they reached the Charles River? That fear passed -through my mind as I worked over the instrument, adjusting it and -tightening the wires in the binding posts, without improving matters in -the least. Then the thought struck me that perhaps there was another -Morse sounder in some other room. I traced the wires from the place they -entered the building and sure enough I found a relay with a high -resistance coil in the circuit. I cut it out with a piece of wire across -the binding posts and rushed back to my telephone and listened. That was -the trouble. Plainly as one could wish came Bell's "ahoy," "ahoy!"[1] I -ahoyed back, and the first long distance telephone conversation began. -Skeptics had been objecting that the telephone could never compete with -the telegraph as its messages would not be accurate. For this reason -Bell had arranged that we should make a record of all we said and heard -that night, if we succeeded in talking at all. We carried out this plan -and the entire conversation was published in parallel columns in the -next morning's _Advertiser_, as the latest startling scientific -achievement. Infatuated with the joy of talking over an actual telegraph -wire, we kept up our conversation until long after midnight. It was a -very happy boy that traveled back to Boston in the small hours with the -telephone under his arm done up in a newspaper. Bell had taken his -record to the newspaper office and was not at the laboratory when I -arrived there, but when he came in there ensued a jubilation and war -dance that elicited next morning from our landlady, who wasn't at all -scientific in her tastes, the remark that we'd have to vacate if we -didn't make less noise nights. - -Tests on still longer telegraph lines soon followed--the success of each -experiment being in rather exact accordance with the condition of the -poor, rusty-joined wires we had to use. Talk about imps that baffle -inventors! There was one of an especially vicious and malignant type in -every unsoldered joint of the old wires. The genial Tom Doolittle hadn't -even thought of his hard-drawn copper wire then, with which he later -eased the lot of the struggling telephone men. - - - Our Many Visitors - -Meanwhile the fame of the invention had spread rapidly abroad and all -sorts of people made pilgrimages to Bell's laboratory to hear the -telephone talk. A list of the scientists who came to the attic of that -cheap boarding house to see the telephone would read like the roster of -the American Association for the Advancement of Science. My old -electrical mentor, Moses G. Farmer, called one day to see the latest -improvements. He told me then with tears in his eyes when he first read -a description of Bell's telephone he couldn't sleep for a week, he was -so mad with himself for not discovering the thing years before. -"Watson," said he, "that thing has flaunted itself in my very face a -dozen times within the last ten years and every time I was too blind to -see it. But," he continued, "if Bell had known anything about -electricity he would never have invented the telephone." - - [Illustration: _Prof. Bell's Original Centennial Magneto - Transmitter_] - -Two of our regular visitors were young Japanese pupils of Professor -Bell--very polite, deferential, quiet, bright-eyed little men, who saw -everything and made cryptic notes. They took huge delight in proving -that the telephone could talk Japanese. A curious effect of the -telephone I noticed at that time was its power to paralyze the tongues -of men otherwise fluent enough by nature and profession. I remember a -prominent lawyer who, when he heard my voice in the telephone making -some such profound remark to him as "How do you do?" could only reply, -after a long pause, "Rig a jig jig and away we go." - - - A "Wireless Telephone" - -Men of quite another sort came occasionally. Mr. Hubbard received a -letter one day from a man who wrote that he could put us on the track of -a secret that would enable us to talk any distance without a wire. This -interested Mr. Hubbard and he made an appointment for the man to meet -me. At the appointed time, a stout, rather unkempt man made his -appearance. He didn't take the least interest in the telephone; he said -that was already a back number, and if we would hire him for a small sum -per week we would soon learn how to telephone without any apparatus or -any wires. He went on to tell in a most convincing way how two prominent -theatrical men in New York, whom he had never seen, had got his brain so -connected into their circuit that they could talk with him at any time, -day or night, and make all sorts of fiendish suggestions to him. He -didn't know yet how they did it, but he was sure I could find out their -secret, if I would just take the top off his head and examine his brain. -It dawned on me then that I was dealing with an insane man. I got rid of -him as soon as I could by promising to experiment on him when I could -find time. The next I heard of the poor fellow he was in the violent -ward of an insane asylum. Several similar cases of insanity attracted by -the fame of Bell's occult (!) invention called on us or wrote to us -within a year of that time. - - [Illustration: _Prof. Bell's Original Centennial Receiver_] - - - Telephone Installations - -We began to get requests for telephone installations long before we were -ready to supply them. In April, 1877, the first outdoor telephone line -was run between Mr. Williams' office at 109 Court Street and his house -in Somerville. Professor Bell and I were present and participated in the -important ceremony of opening the line and the event was a headliner in -the next morning's papers. - - - Financial Problems - -At about this time Professor Bell's financial problems had begun to -press hard for solution. We were very much disappointed because the -President of the Western Union Telegraph Company had refused, somewhat -contemptuously, Mr. Hubbard's offer to sell him all the Bell patents for -the exorbitant sum of $100,000. It was an especially hard blow to me, -for while the negotiations were pending I had had visions of a sumptuous -office in the Western Union Building in New York, which I was expecting -to occupy as Superintendent of the Telephone Department of the great -telegraph company. However, we recovered even from that facer. Two years -later the Western Union would gladly have bought those patents for -$25,000,000. - - [Illustration: _Original Box Telephone Introduced Commercially in - 1877_] - -But before that happy time there were lots of troubles of all the old -and of several new varieties to be surmounted. Professor Bell's -particular trouble in the spring of 1877 arose from the fact that he had -fallen in love with a most charming young lady. I had never been in love -myself at that time and that was my first opportunity of observing what -a serious matter it can be, especially when the father isn't altogether -enthusiastic. I rather suspected at that time that that shrewd but -kind-hearted gentleman put obstacles in the course of that true love, in -order to stimulate the young man to still greater exertion in perfecting -his inventions. But he might have thought as Prospero did: - - "They are both in either's power; but this swift business - I must uneasy make, lest too light winning - Make the prize light." - -Bell's immediate financial needs were solved, however, by the demand -that began at this time for public lectures by him on the telephone. It -is hard to realize to-day what an intense and widespread interest there -was then in the telephone. I don't believe any new invention could stir -the public to-day as the telephone did then, surfeited as we are now -with the wonderful things that have been invented since. - - - Leasing Instruments a Far-Sighted Policy - -These lectures are important for another reason than that they solved a -temporary money problem. They obviated the necessity of selling -telephones outright, instead of leasing them so as to retain control--a -policy Mr. Hubbard afterwards adopted which made possible the splendid -universal service Mr. Vail with your help has given the Bell system -to-day. Some of the ladies deeply interested in the immediate outcome -were strenuously advocating at this critical juncture making and selling -the telephones at once in the largest possible quantities--imperfect as -they were. Fortunately, for the future of the business the returns from -the lectures that began at this very time obviated this danger. - - - Telephone Lectures - -Bell's first lecture, as I have said, was given before a well-known -scientific society--the Essex Institute--at Salem, Mass. They were -especially interested in the telephone because Bell was living in Salem -during the early telephone experiments. The first lecture was free to -members of the society, but it packed the hall and created so much -interest that Bell was requested to repeat it for an admission fee. This -he did to an audience that again filled the house. Requests for lectures -poured in upon Bell after that. Such men as Oliver Wendell Holmes and -Henry W. Longfellow signed the request for the Boston lectures. The -Salem lectures were soon followed by a lecture in Providence to an -audience of 2,000, by a course of three lectures at the largest hall in -Boston--all three packed--by three in Chickering Hall, New York, and by -others in most of the large cities of New England. They all took place -in the spring and early summer of 1877, during which time there was -little opportunity for experimenting for either Bell or myself, which I -think now was rather a good thing, for we had become quite stale and -needed a change that would give us a new influx of ideas. My part in the -lectures was important, although entirely invisible as far as the -audience was concerned. I was always at the other end of the wire, -generating and transmitting to the hall where Professor Bell was -speaking, such telephonic phenomena as he needed to illustrate his -lectures. I would have at my end circuit breakers--rheotomes, we called -them--that would utter electric howls of various pitches, a lusty cornet -player, sometimes a small brass band, and an electric organ with Edward -Wilson to play on it, but the star performer was the young man who two -years before didn't have voice enough to let Bell hear his own -telephone, but in whom that two years of strenuous shouting into -mouthpieces of various sizes and shapes had developed a voice with the -carrying capacity of a steam calliope. My special function in these -lectures was to show the audience that the telephone could really talk. -Not only that, I had to do all the singing, too, for which my musical -deficiencies fitted me admirably. - - [Illustration: _Facsimile of Flier Advertising Prof. Bell's Lecture - at Lawrence, Mass., Monday Evening, May 28, 1877_] - - - - - CITY HALL, LAWRENCE, MASS. - Monday Evening, May 28 - THE MIRACLE - TELEPHONE - WONDERFUL DISCOVERY - OF THE AGE - -Prof. A. Graham Bell, assisted by Mr. Frederic A. Gower, will give an -exhibition of his wonderful and miraculous discovery The Telephone, -before the people of Lawrence as above, when Boston and Lawrence will be -connected via the Western Union Telegraph and vocal and instrumental -music and conversation will be transmitted a distance of 27 miles and -received by the audience in the City Hall. - -Prof. Bell will give an explanatory lecture with this marvellous -exhibition. - - Cards of Admission, 35 cents - Reserved Seats, 50 cents - Sale of seats at Stratton's will open at 9 o'clock. - - - My Telephone Entertainers - -Professor Bell would have one telephone by his side on the stage, where -he was speaking, and three or four others of the big box variety we used -at that time would be suspended about the hall, all connected by means -of a hired telegraph wire with the place where I was stationed, from -five to twenty-five miles away. Bell would give the audience, first, the -commonplace parts of the show and then would come the thrillers of the -evening--my shouts and songs. I would shout such sentences as, "How do -you do?" "Good evening," "What do you think of the telephone?" which -they could all hear, although the words issued from the mouthpieces -rather badly marred by the defective talking powers of the telephones of -that date. Then I would sing "Hold the Fort," "Pull for the Shore," -"Yankee Doodle," and as a delicate allusion to the Professor's -nationality, "Auld Lang Syne." My sole sentimental song was "Do Not -Trust Him, Gentle Lady." This repertoire always brought down the house. -After every song I would listen at my telephone for further directions -from the lecturer, and always felt the artist's joy when I heard in it -the long applause that followed each of my efforts. I was always encored -to the limit of my repertoire and sometimes had to sing it through -twice. - -I have always understood that Professor Bell was a fine platform -speaker, but this is entirely hearsay on my part for, although I spoke -at every one of his lectures, I have never yet had the pleasure of -hearing him deliver an address. - - - First Sound-Proof Booth - -In making the preparations for the New York lectures I incidentally -invented the sound-proof booth, but as Mr. Lockwood was not then -associated with us, and for other reasons, I never patented it. It -happened thus: Bell thought he would like to astonish the New Yorkers by -having his lecture illustrations sent all the way from Boston. To -determine whether this was practicable, he made arrangements to test the -telephone a few days before on one of the Atlantic and Pacific wires. -The trial was to take place at midnight. Bell was at the New York end, I -was in the Boston laboratory. Having vividly in mind the strained -relations already existing with our landlady, and realizing the carrying -power of my voice when I really let it go, as I knew I should have to -that night, I cast about for some device to deaden the noise. Time was -short and appliances scarce, so the best I could do was to take the -blankets off our beds and arrange them in a sort of loose tunnel, with -the telephone tied up in one end and the other end open for the operator -to crawl into. Thus equipped I awaited the signal from New York -announcing that Bell was ready. It came soon after midnight. Then I -connected in the telephone, deposited myself in that cavity, and shouted -and listened for two or three hours. It didn't work as well as it might. -It is a wonder some of my remarks didn't burn holes in the blankets. We -talked after a fashion but Bell decided it wasn't safe to risk it with a -New York audience. My sound-proof booth, however, was a complete -success, as far as stopping the sound was concerned, for I found by -cautious inquiry next day that nobody had heard my row. Later inventors -improved my booth, making it more comfortable for a pampered public but -not a bit more sound-proof. - - [Illustration: _Box Telephone with Watson Hammer Signal_] - - [Illustration: _Watson Type of Ringer_] - - - "The Supposititious Mr. Watson" - -One of those New York lectures looms large in my memory on account of a -novel experience I had at my end of the wire. After hearing me sing, the -manager of the lectures decided that while I might satisfy a Boston -audience I would never do for a New York congregation, so he engaged a -fine baritone soloist--a powerful negro, who was to assume the singing -part of my program. Being much better acquainted with the telephone than -that manager was, I had doubts about the advisability of this change in -the cast. I didn't say anything, as I didn't want to be accused of -professional jealousy, and I knew my repertoire would be on the spot in -case things went wrong. I was stationed that night at the telegraph -office at New Brunswick, New Jersey, and I and the rest of the usual -appliances of that end of the lecture went down in the afternoon to get -things ready. I rehearsed my rival and found him a fine singer, but had -difficulty in getting him to crowd his lips into the mouthpiece. He was -handicapped for the telephone business by being musical, and he didn't -like the sound of his voice jammed up in that way. However, he promised -to do what I wanted when it came to the actual work of the evening, and -I went to supper. When I returned to the telegraph office, just before -eight o'clock, I found to my horror that the young lady operator had -invited six or eight of her dear friends to witness the interesting -proceedings. Now, besides my musical deficiencies, I had another -qualification as a telephone man--I was very modest; in fact, in the -presence of ladies, extremely bashful. It didn't trouble me in the least -to talk or sing to a great audience, provided, of course, it was a few -miles away, but when I saw those girls, the complacency with which I had -been contemplating the probable failure of my fine singer was changed to -painful apprehension. If he wasn't successful a very bashful young man -would have a new experience. I should be obliged to sing myself before -those giggling, unscientific girls. This world would be a better place -to live in if we all tried to help our fellow-men succeed, as I tried -that night, when the first song was called for, to make my musical -friend achieve a lyrical triumph on the Metropolitan stage. But he sang -that song for the benefit of those girls, not for Chickering Hall, and -it was with a heavy heart that I listened for Bell's voice when he -finished it. The blow fell. In his most delightful platform tones, Bell -uttered the fatal words I had foreboded, "Mr. Watson, the audience could -not hear that. Won't you please sing?" Bell was always a kind-hearted -man, but he didn't know. However, I nerved myself with the thought that -that New York audience, made skeptical by the failure of that song, -might be thinking cynical things about my beloved leader and his -telephone, so I turned my back on those girls and made that telephone -rattle with the stirring strains of "Hold the Fort," as it never had -before. Then I listened again. Ah, the sweetness of appreciation! That -New York audience was applauding vigorously. When it stopped, the same -voice came with a new note of triumph in it. "Mr. Watson, the audience -heard that perfectly and call for an encore." I sang through my entire -repertoire and began again on "Hold the Fort," before that audience was -satisfied. That experience did me good, I have never had stage fright -since. But the "supposititious Mr. Watson," as they called me then, had -to do the singing at all of Bell's subsequent lectures. Nobody else had -a chance at the job; one experience was enough for Mr. Bell. - -My baritone had his hat on his head and a cynical expression on his -face, when I finished working on those songs. "Is that what you wanted?" -he asked. "Yes." "Well, boss, I couldn't do that." Of course he -couldn't. - - - An Exhibition in Lawrence - -Another occasion is burnt into my memory that wasn't such a triumph over -difficulties. In these lectures we always had another trouble to contend -with, besides the rusty joints in the wires; that was the operators -cutting in, during the lectures, their highest resistance relays, which -enabled them to hear some of the intermittent current effects I sent to -the hall. Inductance, retardation, and all that sort of thing which you -have so largely conquered since were invented long before the telephone -was, and were awaiting her on earth all ready to slam it when Bell came -along. Bell lectured at Lawrence, Massachusetts, one evening in May, and -I prepared to furnish him with the usual program from the laboratory in -Boston. - - [Illustration: _Watson's "Buzzer"_] - -But the wire the company assigned us was the worst yet. It worked fairly -well when we tried it in the afternoon, but in the evening every station -on the line had evidently cut in its relay, and do my best I couldn't -get a sound through to the hall. - -The local newspaper generally sent a reporter to my end of the wire to -write up the occurrences there. This is the report of such an envoy as -it appeared in the Lawrence paper the morning after Bell's lecture -there: - -"Mr. Fisher returned this morning. He says that Watson, the organist and -himself occupied the laboratory, sitting in their shirt sleeves with -their collars off. Watson shouted his lungs into the telephone -mouthpiece, 'Hoy! Hoy! Hoy!' and receiving no response, inquired of -Fisher if he pardoned for a little 'hamburg edging' on his language. Mr. -Fisher endeavored to transmit to his Lawrence townsman the tune of -'Federal Street' played upon the cornet, but the air was not -distinguishable here. About 10 P.M., Watson discovered the 'Northern -Lights' and found his wires alive with lightning, which was not included -in the original scheme of the telephone. He says the loose electricity -abroad in the world was too much for him." - - - Waiting for Watson - -The next morning a poem appeared in the Lawrence paper. The writer must -have sat up all night to write it. It was entitled "Waiting for Watson," -and as I am very proud of the only poem I ever had written about me, I -am going to ask your permission to read it. Please notice the great -variety of human feeling the poet put into it. It even suggests -missiles, though it flings none. - -Lawrence, Mass., _Daily American_, Tuesday, May 29, 1877. - - - WAITING FOR WATSON - - To the great hall we strayed, - Fairly our fee we paid, - Seven hundred there delayed, - But, where was Watson? - - Was he out on his beer? - Walked he off on his ear? - Something was wrong, 'tis clear. - What was it, Watson? - - Seven hundred souls were there, - Waiting with stony stare, - In that expectant air-- - Waiting for Watson. - - Oh, how our ears we strained, - How our hopes waxed and waned, - Patience to dregs we drained, - Yes, we did, Watson! - - Softly the bandmen played, - Rumbled the Night Brigade, - For this our stamps we paid, - Only this, Watson! - - But, Hope's by fruitage fed, - Promise and Act should wed, - Faith without works is dead, - Is it not, Watson? - - Give but one lusty groan, - For bread we'll take a stone, - Ring your old telephone! - Ring, brother Watson. - - Doubtless 'tis very fine, - When, all along the line, - Things work most superfine-- - Doubtless 'tis Watson. - - Let's hear the thrills and thrums, - That your skilled digit drums, - Striking our tympanums-- - Music from Watson. - - We know that, every day, - Schemes laid to work and pay, - Fail and "gang aft a-gley"-- - Often, friend Watson. - - And we'll not curse, or fling, - But, next time, do the thing - And we'll all rise and sing, - "Bully for Watson!" - - Or, by the unseen powers, - Hope in our bosom sours, - No telephone in ours-- - "Please, Mr. Watson." - - [Illustration: _The First Telephone Advertisement, Used the Year - Following the Issuance of the Original Patent, Offered to Furnish - Telephones "for the Transmission of Articulate Speech Through - Instruments Not More Than Twenty Miles Apart."_] - - - - - The Telephone. - -The proprietors of the Telephone, the invention of Alexander Graham -Bell, for which patents have been issued by the United States and Great -Britain, are now prepared to furnish Telephones for the transmission of -articulate speech through instruments not more than twenty miles apart. -Conversation can be easily carried on after slight practice and with the -occasional repetition of a word or sentence. On first listening to the -Telephone, though the sound is perfectly audible, the articulation seems -to be indistinct; but after a few trials the ear becomes accustomed to -the peculiar sound and finds little difficulty in understanding the -words. - -The Telephone should be set in a quiet place, where there is no noise -which would interrupt ordinary conversation. - -The advantages of the Telephone over the Telegraph for local business -are - -1st. That no skilled operator is required, but direct communication may -be had by speech without the intervention of a third person. - -2d. That the communication is much more rapid, the average number of -words transmitted a minute by Morse Sounder being from fifteen to -twenty, by Telephone from one to two hundred. - -3d. That no expense is required either for its operation, maintenance, -or repair. It needs no battery, and has no complicated machinery. It is -unsurpassed for economy and simplicity. - -The Terms for leasing two Telephones for social purposes connecting a -dwelling-house with any other building will be $20 a year, for business -purposes $40 a year, payable semiannually in advance, with the cost of -expressage from Boston, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, or San -Francisco. The instruments will be kept in good working order by the -lessors, free of expense, except from injuries resulting from great -carelessness. - -Several Telephones can be placed on the same line at an additional -rental of $10 for each instrument; but the use of more than two on the -some line where privacy is required is not advised. Any person within -ordinary hearing distance can hear the voice calling through the -Telephone. If a louder call is required one can be furnished for $5. - -Telegraph lines will be constructed by the proprietors if desired. The -price will vary from $100 to $150 a mile; any good mechanic can -construct a line; No. 9 wire costs 8-1/2 cents a pound, 320 pounds to -the mile; 34 insulators at 25 cents each; the price of poles and setting -varies in every locality; stringing wire $5 per mile; sundries $10 per -mile. - -Parties leasing the Telephones incur no expense beyond the annual rental -and the repair of the line wire. On the following pages are extracts -from the Press and other sources relating to the Telephone. - - GARDINER G. HUBBARD. - -Cambridge, Mass., May, 1877. - -For further information and orders address - - THOS. A. WATSON, 109 Court St., Boston. - - - My Last Public Appearance - -But my vacation was about over. Besides raising the wind, the lectures -had stirred up a great demand for telephone lines. The public was ready -for the telephone long before we were ready for the public, and this -pleasant artistic interlude had to stop; I was needed in the shop to -build some telephones to satisfy the insistent demand. Fred Gower, a -young newspaper man of Providence, had become interested with Mr. Bell -in the lecture work. He had an unique scheme for a dual lecture with my -illustrations sent from a central point to halls in two cities at the -same time. I think my last appearance in public was one of these -dualities. Bell lectured at New Haven and Gower gave the talk at -Hartford, while I was in between at Middletown, Conn., with my -apparatus, including my songs. It didn't work very well. The two -lecturers didn't speak synchronously. Gower told me afterwards that I -was giving him, "How do you do," when he wanted "Hold the Fort," and -Bell said I made it awkward for him by singing "Do Not Trust Him, Gentle -Lady," when he needed the trombone solo. - - - The "Gower-Bell" Telephone - -In the following August, Professor Bell married and went to England, -taking with him a complete set of up-to-date telephones, with which he -intended to start the trouble in that country. Fred Gower became so -fascinated with lecturing on the telephone that he gave up an exclusive -right Mr. Hubbard had granted him for renting telephones all over New -England, for the exclusive privilege of using the telephone for lecture -purposes all over the United States. But it wasn't remunerative after -Bell and I gave it up. The discriminating public preferred Mr. Bell as -speaker--and I always felt that the singing never reached the early -heights. - - [Illustration: _Magneto Wall Set (Williams' Coffin)_] - -Gower went to England later. There he made some small modification of -Bell's telephone, called it the "Gower-Bell" telephone, and made a -fortune out of his hyphenated atrocity. Later he married Lillian -Nordica, although she soon separated from him. He became interested in -ballooning. The last scene in his life before the curtain dropped showed -a balloon over the waters of the English Channel. A fishing boat hails -him, "Where are you bound?" Gower's voice replies, "To London." Then the -balloon and its pilot drifted into the mist forever. - - - Developing a Calling Apparatus; the Watson "Buzzer" - - [Illustration: _Francis Blake_] - -As I said, I went back to work, and my next two years was a continuous -performance. It began to dawn on us that people engaged in getting their -living in the ordinary walks of life couldn't be expected to keep the -telephone at their ear all the time waiting for a call, especially as it -weighed about ten pounds then and was as big as a small packing case, so -it devolved on me to get up some sort of a call signal. Williams on his -line used to call by thumping the diaphragm through the mouthpiece with -the butt of a lead pencil. If there was someone close to the telephone -at the other end, and it was very still, it did pretty well, but it -seriously damaged the vitals of the machine and therefore I decided it -wasn't really practical for the general public; besides, we might have -to supply a pencil with every telephone and that would be expensive. -Then I rigged a little hammer inside the box with a button on the -outside. When the button was thumped the hammer would hit the side of -the diaphragm where it could not be damaged, the usual electrical -transformation took place, and a much more modest but still unmistakable -thump would issue from the telephone at the other end. - -That was the first calling apparatus ever devised for use with the -telephone, not counting Williams' lead pencil, and several with that -attachment were put into practical use. But the exacting public wanted -something better, and I devised the Watson "Buzzer"--the only practical -use we ever made of the harmonic telegraph relics. Many of these were -sent out. It was a vast improvement on the Watson "Thumper," but still -it didn't take the popular fancy. It made a sound quite like the -horseradish grater automobile signal we are so familiar with nowadays, -and aroused just the same feeling of resentment which that does. It -brought me only a fleeting fame for I soon superseded it by a -magneto-electric call bell that solved the problem, and was destined to -make a long-suffering public turn cranks for the next fifteen years or -so, as it never had before, or ever will hereafter. - - [Illustration: _The Blake Transmitter_] - -Perhaps I didn't have any trouble with the plaguy thing! The generator -part of it was only an adaptation of a magneto shocking machine I found -in Davis' Manual of Magnetism and worked well enough, but I was guilty -of the jingling part of it. At any rate, I felt guilty when letters -began to come from our agents reciting their woes with the thing, which -they said had a trick of sticking and failing on the most important -occasions to tinkle in response to the frantic crankings of the man who -wanted you. But I soon got it so it behaved itself and it has been good -ever since, for Chief Engineer Carty told me the other day that nothing -better has ever been invented, that they have been manufactured by the -millions all over the world, and that identical jingler to-day does -practically all the world's telephone calling. - - - "Williams' Coffins" - -For some reason, my usual good luck I presume, the magneto call bells -didn't get my name attached to them. I never regretted this, for the -agents, who bought them from Williams, impressed by the long and narrow -box in which the mechanism was placed, promptly christened them -"Williams' Coffins." I always thought that a narrow escape for me! - -The first few hundreds of these call bells were a continuous shock to me -for other reasons than their failure to respond. I used on them a -switch, that had to be thrown one way by hand, when the telephone was -being used, and then thrown back by hand to put the bell in circuit -again. But the average man or woman wouldn't do this more than half the -time, and I was obliged to try a series of devices, which culminated in -that remarkable achievement of the human brain--the automatic -switch--that only demanded of the public that it should hang up the -telephone after it got through talking. This the public learned to do -quite well after a few years of practice. - - [Illustration: _The First Commercial Telephone Switchboard, Used in - New Haven, Conn., in 1878 with Eight Lines and Twenty-one - Subscribers_] - - - The Blake Transmitter - -You wouldn't believe me if I should tell you a tithe of the difficulties -we got into by flexible cords breaking inside the covering, when we -first began to use hand telephones! - -Then they began to clamor for switchboards for the first centrals, and -individual call bells began to keep me awake nights. The latter were -very important then, for such luxuries as one station lines were scarce. -Six to twenty stations on a wire was the rule, and we were trying hard -to get a signal that would call one station without disturbing the whole -town. All of these and many other things had to be done at once, and, as -if this was not enough, it suddenly became necessary for me to devise a -battery transmitter. The Western Union people had discovered that the -telephone was not such a toy as they had thought, and as our $100,000 -offer was no longer open for acceptance, they decided to get a share of -the business for themselves, and Edison evolved for them his -carbon-button transmitter. This was the hardest blow yet. - - [Illustration: _Theodore N. Vail in 1878_] - -We were still using the magneto transmitter, although Bell's patent -clearly covered the battery transmitter. Our transmitter was doing much -to develop the American voice and lungs, making them powerful but not -melodious. This was, by the way, the telephone epoch when they used to -say that all the farmers waiting in a country grocery would rush out and -hold their horses when they saw any one preparing to use the telephone. -Edison's transmitter talked louder than the magnetos we were using and -our agents began to clamor for them, and I had to work nights to get up -something just as good. Fortunately for my constitution, Frank Blake -came along with his transmitter. We bought it and I got a little sleep -for a few days. Then our little David of a corporation sued that big -Goliath, the Western Union Company, for infringing the Bell patents, and -I had to devote my leisure to testifying in that suit, and making -reproductions of the earliest apparatus to prove to the court that they -would really talk and were not a bluff, as our opponents were asserting. - -Then I put in the rest of my leisure making trips among our agents this -side of the Mississippi to bring them up to date and see what the enemy -were up to. I kept a diary of those trips. It reads rather funnily -to-day, but I won't go into that. It would detract from the seriousness -of this discourse. - - - Wire Troubles - -Nor must I forget an occasional diversion in the way of a sleet storm -which, combining with our wires then beginning to fill the air with -house top lines and pole lines along the sidewalks, would make things -extremely interesting for all concerned. I don't remember ever going out -to erect new poles and run wires after such a catastrophe. I think I -must have done so, but such a trifling matter naturally would have made -but little impression upon me. - -Is it any wonder that my memory of those two years seems like a -combination of the Balkan war, the rush hours on the subway and a panic -on the stock market? - - [Illustration: _Location of the First Telephone Switchboard in - Boston--Holmes Burglar Alarm Building_] - - - Memories - -I was always glad I was not treasurer of the company, although I filled -about all the other offices during those two years. Tom Sanders was our -treasurer, and a mighty good one he made. Had it not been for his pluck -and optimism, we might all of us have failed to attain the prosperity -that came to us later. The preparation of this paper has aroused in me -many delightful memories, but with them have been mixed sad thoughts, -too, for friends who have gone. Jovial Tom Sanders! How everybody loved -him! No matter how discouraging the outlook was the skies cleared -whenever he came into the shop. I can hear his ringing laugh now! - -It was a red-letter day for me when he hired the first bookkeeper the -telephone business ever had--the keen, energetic, systematic Robert W. -Devonshire. You must not forget "Dev." I never shall, for after he came -I didn't have to keep the list of telephone leases in my head any more. - -Then Thomas D. Lockwood was hired to take part of my engineering load, -but he developed such an extraordinary faculty for comprehending the -intricacies of patents and patent law, that our lawyers captured him -very soon, and kept him at work until he practically captured their job. -And how proud I was when the company could afford the extravagance of a -clerk for me. He is still working for the company--Mr. George W. Pierce. - -I suppose I did have some fun during this time, but the only diversion -that lingers in my mind is arranging telephones in a diver's helmet for -the first time, and finding that the diver could not hear when he was -under water, going down myself to see what the matter was. I still feel -the pathos of the moment, when, arrayed for the descent, just before I -disappeared beneath the limpid waters of Boston harbor, my usually -undemonstrative assistant put his arm around my inflated neck and kissed -me on the glass plate. - - - The Coming of Theodore N. Vail - -But matters soon began to straighten out--the clouds gradually cleared -away. The Western Union tornado ceased to rage, and David found to his -delight that he had hit Goliath squarely in the forehead with a rock -labelled Patent No. 174465. Then for the first time stock in the Bell -Company began to be worth something on the stock market. - - [Illustration: _Wooden Hand Telephone Used Commercially in 1877. It - Resembles the Present Desk Telephone Receiver_] - -Something else happened about that time fully as important. The Company -awoke to the fact that the Watson generator was overloaded, and that it -ought to get a new dynamo. Watson could still hold up the engineering -end perhaps, but we must have a business manager. President Hubbard said -he knew just the man for us--a thousand horsepower steam engine wasting -his abilities in the United States Railway Mail Service, and he sent me -down to Washington to investigate and report. - -I must have been impressed, for I telegraphed to Mr. Hubbard to hire the -man if he could raise money enough to pay his salary. He did so. This -was one of the best things I ever helped to do. When the new manager -came to work a short time later, he said to me: "Watson, I want my desk -alongside of yours for a few months until I learn the ropes." But the -balance of the conceit that previous two years had not knocked out of me -vanished, when in about a fortnight, I found he knew all I had learned, -and that at the end of a month I was toddling along in the rear trying -to catch up, which I never did. He has still quite an important position -in the business. His name is Theodore N. Vail. May his light never dim -for many and many a year! - - (_Editor's Note: Mr. Vail died Apr. 16, 1920._) - - - The Bell System - -The needs of the new business attracted other men with good ideas who -entered our service, such men as Emile Berliner and George L. Anders and -many others. Every agency became a center of inventive activity, each -with its special group of ingenious, thinking men--every one of whom -contributed something, and sometimes a great deal to the improvement of -apparatus or methods. I remember particularly Ed. Gilliland, of -Indianapolis, an ingenious man and excellent mechanic, who improved the -generator of my magneto call bell, shortening the box and making it less -funereal. - -He did much also for central office switchboards. - -This was the beginning of the great wave of telephonic activity, not -only in electrical and mechanical invention, but also in business and -operative organization, which has been increasing in its force ever -since, to which men in this audience have made and are making splendid -contributions. To-day that wave has become a mighty flood on which the -great Bell system floats majestically as it moves ever onward to new -achievements. - - - Turning to Other Activities - -My connection with the telephone business ceased in 1881. The strenuous -years I had passed through had fixed in me a habit of not sleeping -nights as much as I should, and a doctor man told me I would better go -abroad for a year or two for a change. There was not the least need of -this, but as it coincided exactly with my desires, and as the telephone -business had become, I thought, merely a matter of routine, with nothing -more to do except pay dividends and fight infringers, I resigned my -position as General Inspector of the Company, and went over the ocean -for the first time. - -When I returned to this country a year or so later, I found the -telephone business had not suffered in the least from my absence, but -there were so many better men doing the work that I had been doing, that -I didn't care to go into it again. - -I was looking for more trouble in life and so I went into shipbuilding, -where I found all I needed. - -Before Mr. Bell went to England on his bridal trip, we agreed that as -soon as the telephone became a matter of routine business he and I would -begin experimenting on flying machines, on which subject he was full of -ideas at that early time. I never carried out this agreement. Bell did -some notable work on airships later, but I turned my attention to -battleships. - - - My Greatest Pride - -Such is my very inadequate story of the earliest days of the telephone -so far as they made part of my life. To-day when I go into a central -office or talk over a long distance wire or read the annual report of -the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, filled with figures up in -the millions and even billions, when I think of the growth of the -business, and the marvelous improvements that have been made since the -day I left it, thinking there was nothing more to do but routine, I must -say that all that early work I have told you about seems to shrink into -a very small measure, and, proud as I always shall be, that I had the -opportunity of doing some of that earliest work myself, my greatest -pride is that I am one of the great army of telephone men, every one of -whom has played his part in making the Bell Telephone service what it is -to-day. - -I thank you. - - - Early Chronology of the Telephone - - 1847, March 3--Birth of Alexander Graham Bell at Edinburgh, - Scotland. - 1854, January 18--Birth of Thomas A. Watson at Salem, Mass. - 1870, August 1--Bell moves to America with his parents, arriving in - Canada on this date, and settling at Brantford, Ontario. - 1872, October 1--Permanent residence in the United States taken up - by Bell at 35 West Newton Street, Boston. - 1875, February 27--Written agreement between Bell, Sanders, and - Hubbard forming "Bell Patent Association" to promote - inventor's work in telegraph field. - June 2--Bell completes the invention of the Telephone, - electrically transmitting overtones for the first time and - verifying his principle of the electrical transmission of - speech at 109 Court Street, Boston. - June 3--First telephone instrument constructed by Watson - according to Bell's specifications. - September--Bell at Brantford begins writing specifications - for a telephone patent. - 1876, February 14--Application for telephone patent filed with U. - S. Patent Office, Washington, D. C. - March 7--U. S. Patent 174,465 issued to Bell, covering - fundamental principles of the Electric Speaking Telephone. - March 10--First complete sentence transmitted by telephone by - Bell to Watson, "Mr. Watson, come here; I want you." Between - two rooms at 5 Exeter Place, Boston. - June 25--Bell exhibits his Telephone to the Judges of the - Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, on which he is awarded - the Exhibition's medal. - August 10--Experimental one-way talk--8 miles, Brantford to - Paris, Ontario. - September 1--Contract with Thomas A. Watson for one-half his - time--the beginning of telephone research laboratories. - October 9--First experimental two-way telephone conversation - between different towns--2 miles, between Boston and - Cambridgeport, Mass. - November 26--Conversation over railroad telegraph wires--16 - miles, Boston to Salem. - 1877, February 12--Bell's first public lecture and demonstration of - his new invention given before the Essex Institute in Salem, - where he had lived and had done some of his experimenting. - April 4--First outdoor line for regular telephone use - installed--Boston to Somerville. - May 17--Telephone lines first interconnected by means of an - experimental switchboard at 342 Washington Street, Boston. - July 9--"Bell Telephone Co., Gardiner G. Hubbard, Trustee," - the first telephone organization, formed. - August 1--First stock issue--5,000 shares--dividing interest - in the business between seven original stockholders: A. G. - Bell, Mrs. Bell, G. G. Hubbard, Mrs. Hubbard, C. E. Hubbard, - Thomas Sanders and Thomas A. Watson. - August 10--First Bell telephone employee hired in - Boston--Robert W. Devonshire. - 1878, January 28--Opening of first commercial telephone exchange at - New Haven, Conn., serving 8 lines and 21 telephones. - May 22--Theodore N. Vail accepts General Managership of Bell - Telephone Company. - 1879, March 13--Certificate of Incorporation filed in Boston for - National Bell Telephone Company for purpose of unifying - telephone development throughout the country. - November 10--Agreement signed by Western Union Telegraph Co. - admitting validity of Bell's basic telephone patents. - 1880, December 31--47,900 Bell telephones in the United States. - 1881, January 1--First telephone dividend, inaugurating a - continuous regular series of payments to stockholders. - January 10--Formal opening of telephone service by overhead - wire between Boston and Providence--45 miles. A metallic - circuit was first successfully tried out on this route by J. - J. Carty. - 1882, April 16--Experimental laying of underground telephone - cable--5 miles, Attleboro to West Mansfield, Mass. - 1884, March 27--Telephone service opened experimentally between - Boston and New York by overhead wires of hard-drawn - copper--235 miles. - 1885, March 3--Certificate of Incorporation filed in Albany, N. Y., - for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company for the - purpose of effecting intercommunication "with one or more - points in each and every other city, town or place in said - State, and in each and every other of the United States, and - in Canada and Mexico--and also by cable and other appropriate - means with the rest of the known world." - - - Telephone Milestones - - 1892 Service opened between New York and Chicago, 900 miles. - 1902 First long-distance underground cable in use, 10 miles--New - York to Newark. - 1915 First conversation from coast to coast, 3,650 miles--Boston - to San Francisco. - 1921 Opening of deep sea cable, 115 miles--Key West, Fla., to - Havana, Cuba. - 1927 Transatlantic telephone service opened between New York and - London, 3,500 miles. - First public demonstration of television by wire and radio. - 1929 Ship-to-shore telephone service established. - 1931 Teletypewriter exchange service inaugurated. - 1935 First telephone call around the world. - 1937 Connections possible to 93% of world's telephones. - 1938 Direct radio telephone circuit established between San - Francisco and Australia. - - [Illustration: _The map shows areas served generally by the - principal telephone subsidiaries of the American Telephone and - Telegraph Company; also areas served by The Southern New England - Telephone Company and The Cincinnati and Suburban Bell Telephone - Company, which companies are not controlled but have license - contract arrangements with the American Company. Other telephone - companies also operate in nearly all of these areas and have - connecting arrangements with Bell System companies._] - - - BELL SYSTEM STATISTICS - - Dec. 31, 1920 Dec. 31, 1925 Dec. 31, 1930 Dec. 31, 1935 Dec. 31, 1938 - - Number of Telephones[2] 8,133,759 11,909,571 15,187,296 13,573,025 15,761,095 - Number of Central 5,767 6,147 6,639 6,896 6,975 - Offices - Miles of Pole Lines 362,481 394,529 428,212 407,454 399,368 - Miles of Wire: - In Underground Cable 14,207,000 27,769,000 45,116,000 47,639,000 50,783,000 - In Aerial Cable 6,945,000 12,835,000 23,777,000 26,425,000 28,072,000 - Open Wire 3,711,000 4,339,000 5,231,000 4,562,000 4,590,000 - Total 24,863,000 44,943,000 74,124,000 78,626,000 83,445,000 - Per Cent Total Wire 85.1 90.3 92.9 94.2 94.5 - Mileage in Cable - Average Daily Telephone - Conversations:[3] - Exchange 31,818,000 48,051,000 61,150,000 58,066,000 67,400,000 - Toll and Long 1,307,000 2,090,000 2,884,000 2,224,000 2,497,000 - Distance - Total 33,125,000 50,141,000 64,034,000 60,290,000 69,897,000 - Total Plant $1,373,802,000 $2,566,809,000 $4,028,836,000 $4,187,790,000 $4,489,078,000 - Number of Employees[4] 228,943 292,902 318,119 241,169 257,443 - Number of A.T.&T. Co. 139,448 362,179 567,694 657,465 646,882 - Stockholders - - - Footnotes - - -[1]"Ahoy!" was the first telephone shout, and was used during the - experiments, but "hello!" superseded it when the telephone got into - practical use. - -[2]Excludes private line telephones numbering 79,612 on December 31, - 1938. Including telephones of about 6,500 connecting companies and - more than 25,000 connecting rural lines, the total number of - telephones in the United States which can be interconnected is - approximately 19,885,000. - -[3]For year ending December 31. - -[4]The employees of the Western Electric Company, Inc., and the Bell - Telephone Laboratories, Inc., numbering 34,910 on December 31, 1938, - are not included. - - - PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. - 1-1-40 - - [Illustration: 109 Court Street, Boston, Where Bell Discovered the - Principle of the Speaking Telephone] - - - - - Transcriber's Notes - - ---Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook - is public-domain in the country of publication. - ---Silently corrected a few palpable typos. - ---In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by - _underscores_. - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Birth and Babyhood of the Telephone, by -Thomas A. 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