Alexander Graham Bell Experimental Telephone

Object Details

Bell, Alexander G.

Description (Brief)

An experimental telephone from 1876. Associated with United States patent 174465, “Improvement in Telegraphy,” issued 7 March 1876 to Alexander Graham Bell.

Alexander Graham Bell (1847–1922) demonstrated this and several other experimental telephones at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876. This unit features a single electromagnet and could be used both as transmitter and receiver. Bell approached the problem of transmitting speech differently from other telephone inventors like Elisha Gray and Thomas Edison. They were mostly experienced telegraphers trying to make a better telegraph. Bell's in-depth study of hearing and speech strongly influenced his work as he sought to invent a device to help deaf people.

The object has a wooden base on which is mounted an electromagnet supported by a brass post. The cylinder-shaped electromagnet faces a parchment diaphragm that has a metal plate in the center. The diaphragm and a cone-shaped, tin mouthpiece are supported by two brass brackets. Two brass binding posts are set on one end of the base. A separate battery provides the electricity.

To transmit, a person speaks into the mouthpiece. The sound waves cause the diaphragm to vibrate like a drum. The metal plate on the diaphragm makes an electrical current in the electromagnet fluctuate. That current is transmitted by wires from the transmitted to an electromagnet on the receiver, which interacts with the metal plate on the receiver’s diaphragm. The diaphragm vibrates, recreating the sound waves for the listener.

1876

ID Number

EM.252599

accession number

49064

catalog number

252599

patent number

174465

Object Name

experimental telephone

telephone

Physical Description

wood (base material)

brass (posts material)

tin (mouthpiece material)

brass (brackets material)

Measurements

overall: 6 1/2 in x 5 in x 11 in; 16.51 cm x 12.7 cm x 27.94 cm

Related Publication

Sewer, Andy; Allison, David; Liebhold, Peter; Davis, Nancy; Franz, Kathleen G.. American Enterprise: A History of Business in America

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Work and Industry: Electricity

Communications

Computers & Business Machines

American Enterprise

Artifact Walls exhibit

Exhibition

American Enterprise

Exhibition Location

National Museum of American History

National Museum of American History

Record ID

nmah_689864

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-1e5f-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa