“Alexander Graham Bell.” Alexander Graham Bell. N.p., 27 July 2007. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. <http://www.thocp.net/‌biographies/‌bell_alexander.html>.

Brain, Marchall. “How Telephones Work.” How Stuff Works. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2009. <http://communication.howstuffworks.com/‌telephone.htm>.

“Can two cans and a string really be used to talk over a distance?” How Stuff Works. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2009. <http://science.howstuffworks.com/‌question410.htm>.

“History of the Telephone.” Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2009. <http://en.wikipedia.org/‌wiki/‌History_of_the_telephone>.

“Telephone.” Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. <http://school.eb.com/‌eb/‌print?articleId=110260&fullArticle=true&tocId=279893>.

“Timeline of Alexander Graham Bell.” About.com: Inventors. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. <http://inventors.about.com/‌od/‌bstartinventors/‌a/‌Alexander_Bell_2.htm>.

Since I have been researching the technology of the original telephone, the only content to be traveled across this medium is sound.  Since its invention and implication in many homes across the country and now the world, the telephone has been one of the main means of communication across a far distance.  To be more specific with conversation, the telephone has always been great in helping companies please their customers with support for their products and services.  I can not remember how many times I have had to call the internet or computer company to try to figure out what exactly is going on with my products and services, and being able to talk to an expert live on the phone about it at anytime has always been a great help. Again because of the ages of my technology it is difficult to say how my technology in itself has influenced style and design with the content, but with the remedial technologies created as a result of my technology the possibilities are endless.

Technological

The telephone allowed for the communication of people over an electrical current.  As great an invention as this was at its time, in the time we live it now it’s easy to see that there were some obvious setbacks or limitations compared to today’s phone models.  What is unique about the original land line telephone that is extremely rare to see these days is pulse dialing.  What is interesting is that most of these phones will still work by either tapping down the switch hook or spinning the dial, but the majority of land lines today are tone dialed, and usually wireless handsets which was a great innovation to telephone technology and led to the creation of the cellphone.  From the time Alexander Graham Bell spoke the first words through a working telephone, to the technologies we have just about a century later seem to be as different as it gets.  Today the mobile phone market is one of the largest in the country with huge companies like Verizon,  AT&T, Sprint, and more competing constantly in order to win more customers over to use their products and services.  The telephone became wireless, using short range radio technologies to allow users to walk freely throughout the home while talking on the cordless phone that connected to the base.   This is where the phone jack is and the wire to the telephone lines is connected.  The next step was mobile phones where instead of connecting to the base in the home phone now connect to cell phone towers around the area.  With the start of this the phone has been rapidly growing and has reached a whole new level.  The cell phone today incorporates almost every other media technology.  Today not only does the phone make calls but it sends text messages, emails, pictures, music, videos.  With it you can access and edit text documents, spreadsheets, slideshows, and more.  The internet has become fully functional on just about every network from certain phone models.  The largest competing companies for phone models themselves would be Apple, Motorola, Blackberry, and LG.  The iPhone from Apple, and the Droid from Motorola are probably the two biggest competitors at the moment.  Both include fully functional internet navigation, touchscreen displays, and endless possibilities with over one hundred thousand applications or additional software programs that can be installed.  Today all the major companies are headed in the same direction and it is exciting to think about the possibilities that might come about in the next decade or so.

Conclusion

It is extremely difficult to believe that only about a century ago there was still no means of long distance communication other than sending out an old fashion letter in the mail.  Today writing a letter and sending it through the post office is referred to by many as snail mail, in relation to email that has become so widely used and is almost instantaneous.  The original telephone is regarded by many as one of the most important inventions of all time.  After reading my other classmates research papers I can only more strongly agree with this assumption.  The invention of the telephone was the ability to get vocal sound to transfer into electrical data over a wire and then be reproduced as sound again on the other side.  This idea and innovation of data transferring over a wire is what led to most of the main technologies we use today.  Today sound, picture, video, and text can all be transferred over a wire.  The internet started out using phone lines and many home and businesses still use dial up modems. This is the same line used for calls being used to retrieve data over the internet.  Today speeds have increased greatly due to DSL  and cable wires being used but the same principles of data transfer remain which began with Bell’s invention of the telephone.  The mobile phone is probably the most direct and influential successor to the telephone.  With the capabilities of almost every media technology being available on these devices already, it is extremely difficult to try to guess what the future might hold for the technology.   It seems safe to say that one day the only thing that might be needed to be carried at all times is the phone.  There will be no more wallets, car keys, compact audio or video players, or even laptops.  I feel this technology has the potential to grow and incorporate all of our on the go gear.

Understanding how the telephone works calls to understand how multiple pieces of technology work.  Before the telephone could be invented, the transfer of sound over a wire had to be defeated.  In my history essay I talked of this and how both Elisa Grey and Alexander Graham Bell both strived to achieve this.   At first it began with transferring multiple tones over a wire, and then it later escalated to voice and the start of the telephone.  One of the key inventions that is important to the telephone is the telegraph, which focused on sending electronic signals from one station to another which would transmit messages through the use or Morse code.

One of the simplest ways to understand the idea behind the technology of the telephone is to compare it using both the telegraph, and the old fashion trick of connecting two tin cans with a piece of string.  Many people when younger make play “phones” using this method, and it is not very far off from understanding how a basic telephone functions.  When you pull the string tight connected to the cans and speak into the can, the sound waves from your voice vibrate down the string to the other can which amplifies the sound into the listener’s ear.  Taking this concept into mind, if the vibrations of human sound waves can be transferred into electricity through a wire and then amplified through the other end, this would essential be the telephone.  This mix of the string can device and the telegraph is the basic concept of the original telephone.

A great way to understand the telephone is to explain what happens as is being used.  Referring to an older telephone, where the handset hangs on the switch hook, when the phone is lifted up the circuit in the phone is completed and connected to the network.  Today there are dial tones to show that the phone line is free and properly connected.

Dialing a number is different today than it used to be.  Pulse dialing is the original way to make a call, and many antique phones can still function using this technique today.   After lifting a handset off a switch hook, if the switch hook is quickly pushed down four times, the telephone company realizes that the number four has just been dialed.  This is equivalent to turning spin dial phone to the number four, where on the spin back the phone quickly disrupts the circuit four times again dialing the number four.  Today, although pulse dialing should still work in most areas, tone dialing has become the main method of dialing.   Instead of pulses interrupting the line, as the numbers on the keypad are dialed, the phone companies recognize the tones the phone makes a is able to understand which number is being dialed.

After a number is dialed, the signal is sent through telephone wires to the exchange, which can be thought of as a building where all the wires come together and can be connected  to each other.  In order to avoid confusion because of the technological complications in today’s society, it would be easier to explain the next step using the time period shortly after the invention was finalized.  When dialing a number in the past, the signal would be sent to the switchboard operator.  The job of the operator in the past was to connect the  incoming signal wire to the wire of the address being targeted.  Connecting these two wires completes the circuit and allows for the phone current to run from one location to another.

Once the connection is made, the conversation is transferred using the different components of the telephone.  The way the human body produces sound using vocal chords is the same way telephones pick up the sound and transfer it.  Our vocal chords vibrate the air and the diaphragm inside the telephone.  The vibrations of the diaphragm are converted into electrical energy which travel along the wires the same as a telegraph.  At the receiving end of the line the electrical energy is converted back into human speech through the speaker of the telephone, which is another vibrating diaphragm which mimics the human vocal chords.  When a person on the other end of the line responds, the whole process is reversed.  Due to the fact that wires run in both directions on the line, it is possible for both sides to speak and listen instantaneously.

Political/Legal Factors

One of the key factors that call for the question of legal issues for the telephone is when it comes to telemarketers and surveyors.  Although this relates to economic and business factors of the telephone, this market has grown so rapidly and so huge that it has become a major issue.  In my family, and I  am sure many others, we always look at the caller id right away before answering to make sure the incoming call is not from a telemarketer.  This habit has become routine in many homes because of the amount of calls received from companies trying to make a profit.  Since the invention of the telephone privacy has decreased due to the amount of calls into the home.  Many times growing up I can remember my parents being aggravated because of how much the phone would ring during dinner and the majority of the time it was junk calls that were not of any importance.

Since the original telephone is the technology I chose for my research project, there is not a wide range of information regarding the political and legal factors and in many cases the subject simply does not fit.  One of main and only ways although, that politics incorporates the use of the telephone is through campaigning.  In my town at home this is used locally on a wide basis.  We receive calls from local organizations and departments from the town with the goal of convincing my family who to vote for in the upcoming elections of the time.  We’ve received calls from both the town, the state, and even about presidential elections trying to sway our thoughts one way or another.  In this way, similar to telemarketing, our privacy is again forfeited.

Economic/Business Factors

When talking about the privacy and legal issues of the telephone, I  mentioned telemarketers multiple times which obviously means that the telephone is a huge part of business and the economy.  It seems that someone is always trying to sell or sign you up for something when answering the telephone.  Telemarketing is one of the biggest ways of doing business in the world.  The two major categories of telemarketing are business to business and business to consumer.  Both these processes involve gathering information for the company, targeting the correct demographics, and of the course the telephone calls to persuade and sell the goods and services.  Telemarketing has become such a wide form of advertisement because of how simple it is to assign jobs.  Calls can be made from both the work environment and from home.  This is why it is so easy to employ anyone.  Because of the vast amount of calls made, the rapid growth of this method of marketing, and the disturbance it has caused to homes and families, it is obvious that some limitations and restrictions were bound to laid down. Today telemarketing is controlled by the both the Federal government and individual state governments which control and regulate the amount of calls to be made, the times they can be made, who cannot be called, permission to record, permission to continue, holiday regulations, and fines for breaking any of these regulations.  One of the main concerns about telemarketing besides the sheer annoyance, is that is frowned upon because of the nature of the sale.  This form of sales is thought of on many occasions as being unethical because home owners are put on the spot and pressured into purchasing.  Because of how important and how much revenue telemarketing brings into the business, it seems almost inevitable that the calls will never end.

Although much different from today, telephone companies have always played a huge role in the economy ever since the device was invented.  Today landlines, the original way of sending and receiving calls, are dying out due to the mass production and popularity of cell phones.  Many of the original companies still exist today but push cellular use more to gain more revenue.  In both cases, both landlines and cellular phones cost a fee to keep the line active.  It has almost become a need for everyone to have a phone today, whether it be cellular or not, and because of this it is easy to believe that these companies are some of the biggest in the world.

Final Research Project

History Essay

The Telephone

In today’s world we can reach into our pocket, grab our cell phone, and dial the person we wish to get in contact with and be conversing with them in seconds.  In the present time, this seems like no big deal at all, but it all had to start somewhere.  In the early 1800′s this was not the case.  In order to talk to someone, it had to be face to face, or through a letter.  In researching the biographies of the inventors of the telephone, it became apparent that Alexander Graham Bell had the most influence and is credited the most with the invention of the telephone.  The first telephone built by Bell along with Thomas Watson was constructed with a funnel, a dish of acid, a small amount of copper wire, all on a wooden stand.  It’s outstanding to witness the transformations of that time and compare it to the telephone technologies experienced in the present.

As with most inventions, Bell did not have the intentions originally of creating a device that would be able to transmit speech with the use of electric current.   Instead, Bell originally was only focused on transmitting multiple tones and signals over a single wire.  In order to get to this point though, the history of transmitting only electricity over a wire, to sound, to the telegraph needs to be understood somewhat.

Stephen Gray was one of the first known scientists to transmit electricity over a wire in 1729 (cite).  After him came two men, Pieter van Musschenbroek and Ewald von Kleist, who developed what appears to be the first attempt at a  battery known as the Leyden jar(cite), which would be used in experiments, lectures and demonstrations widely in the future.    This sort of static electricity would stumble scientists for years doing experiments involving creating and storing the static electricity, but it would never be powerful enough to control anything.  The first actual battery was invented by Alessandro Volta, but it still was not powerful enough to have any use with machines.  Batteries would become chemically based as they still are, but it was not enough to get to the transmission of voice over wire.

What was needed to be understood along with electricity to become closer to the invention of the phone was magnetism.  Christian Oersted (cite) started the idea and around 1820 discovered electromagnetism.  He founded that a magnetic field could be created by electricity, so the question was could the opposite be possible?  One of the main factors that would eventually lead to the invention of the telephone was that of induction.  Michael Faraday a year later is the person who reversed Oersted’s  findings and created, or induced, an electric current using an electric field.  This major find in history meant that mechanical energy can produce electrical energy.  This would eventually lead to hand cranking and winding, windmills, and watermills.  This was the invention of the first generator.

Up to this point in history, the transferring of electricity had been completed, but there had been no practical use.  In 1830 that changed when Joseph Henry used an electric current for the first time to show communication was possible.  In his classroom he created an experiment where he completely an electric circuit, and when the circuit was completely it made a steel bar swing and strike a bell.  While Henry did not pursue his findings more, Samuel Morse created the first working telegraph.

Samuel Morse is most famously known for coding system he developed in order to use the machine to transmit messages.  Morse code uses the telegraph creating electric pulses and sending them from one station to another.  At the receiving station the code is broken down into Morse’s system of dots and dashes.  Tapping the telegraph creates a dot, while holding down creates a series of dashes.  Morse code and telegraphy became increasing popular as it caused for the decline in the old methods of transporting messages such as the Pony Express.

What this all is important for and leads up to is that now inventors and scientists were beginning to focus on the transmission of speech over an electric current, but has not quite happened yet.  Charles Bourseul was one of the first to write about transmitting human speech over a wire, but never practiced his idea.  It would be Johann Phillip Reis (cite) in 1861 who would create the first telephone seeming device, that did not work.  Reis’s device seeming transmitted faint vocal sounds, but nothing comprehendible in any sort.  The problem with Reis’s device is that the vocal sounds that produced caused the diaphragm of his machine to open and close the circuit, similar to the telegraph.  In order to hear speech the circuit needs to stay open the whole time, with a transmitter changing the electric current.  In reading of these inventions and innovations continuously, it’s apparent that these “mistakes” are what allow the invention process to flourish as the invention of the true telephone and beginning to come to play.

The importance of everything previous is that again it all leads up to the first telephone, but what needs to be understood is that the invention of the telephone came about as a result of trying to further the telegraph.  In 1870 there was still no telephones, and scientists worked to enhance the telegraph because similar to most goals in our culture, it was profit driven and telegraphs were already on the market.  In my biographical essay about key player on the invention of the telephone I  talked a lot about Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray, and this is where they begin to come into play.

As I previously stated, working on a telephone had no immediate profit, so both Gray and Bell along with other inventors continued to work on electrical transmissions for the telegraph.  The new idea and urge to pursue was the ability to send multiple messages over a single line at one time.  If this was possible then it would allow for the increased amount of messages without having to run endless amounts of wire for each line.  Elisha Gray played an important part to the invention of the telephone, submitting his own patent only a few hours after Alexander Bell, but for Gray communicating speech over a wire was not to be a lifelong work.

It was Alexander Bell who is famed most for the invention of the telephone.  Bell had a great background in audible technologies and a very deep childhood education involving speech and communication.  His father helped to develop sign language and other visible speech methods for the deaf, so communication played a big role in his life early on.

In 1874 Bell developed what is known as variable resistance, which he would find to be the key principle to the telephone. On February 14, 1876, two years later, Bell finally had his patent filed for the telephone. Less than a month later he finally was able to transmit speech, saying to his partner, “Mr. Watson. Come here. I  want to see you.” (cite)  Although the telephone finally worked, it would take a decent amount of time to perfect and make the device much better.  The National Bell company was started which eventually became the American Bell company.  This was the first large telephone company but we all know that soon more would start to grow.  Bell’s head operating officer would eventually start buying stock from Western Electric, and in 1885 would start the first long distance phone company called AT&T.   The telephone market competition would begin and continue for a long time to come.

Project Essay – Biographical

Media & Technology

Alexander Graham Bell is mostly associated with the invention of the telephone.  It was a race and a patent war between him and Elisha Gray, both attempting to advance the technology faster than the other.  Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on March 3, 1847.  Bell had always had a fascination with technology, and when he was only eleven he invented  a machine with the ability to clean wheat.  Besides the telephone Bell always was working on other inventions including his own version of air conditioning, aviation technology, and when he was seventy five he invented the fasted hydrofoil of his time (http://www.thocp.net/biographies/bell_alexander.html).    Bell also took interest in a small scientific society in 1898 called the National Geographic Society, which has been transformed into one of the biggest magazines and companies of our time.  Alexander Melville Bell, Bell’s father, invented visible speech or what we know today as sign language.

Bell and Elisha Gray both were working on developing the technologies needed in order to transmit speech, and it was Alexander Bell that would be granted the first patent.  Bell started out by studying the transmission of a few sound waves over a single wire, and it all began from there.  He was determined to transmit speech over a wire.  Bell hired Thomas Watson, and together they were able to transmit vocal sound.  On February 14, 1876, Bell had his telephone patent application filed at the United States Patent Office, and on March 7th of the same year the patent was officially issued (http://inventors.about.com/od/bstartinventors/a/Alexander_Bell_2.htm) .  Patent No. 174,456 is known to many inventors as being one of the most famous patents.  Three days later one of the most famous words in telephone history are spoken as Bell says to Watson over the phone, “Mr. Watson. Come here.  I  want to see you.”  This is the first time human speech is ever heard over the telephone.  After all this eventually the Bell Telephone Company is established and joins the New England Telephone Company in 1879 to become the National Bell Telephone Company.

Elisha Gray was Alexander Bell’s biggest competitor, and is also very important in the invention of the telephone.  Gray and Bell seemed to be hand in hand when first developing the transmission of sound over a single wire.  Gray was born in Barnesville, Ohio on August 2, 1835.  Due to the death of his father he was forced to withdraw from school early, but later returned to complete preparatory school and two years at Oberlin College.  He supported himself as a carpenter during this whole time.  In college Gray became obsessed with electricity and this led him to his involvement with the telephone.  Although Bell received the patent for the telephone, Gray invented the telautograph in 1888, which was an electrical device for reproducing writing at a distance.  Gray and Bell were so close in progress, that on February 14, 1876, the same day that Bell had his patent filed, Gray filled a caveat with the U.S. Patent Office.  A caveat is an announcement of an invention expected to soon become a patent.   This happened to be only two hours after Bell’s visit.  After years of debate it was chosen that Bell would be legally named the inventor of the telephone, but to many it was a close debate.  Gray created the Western Electric Manufacturing Company, but retired two years later in order to continue his studies and research, and to teach at Oberlin College.  He passed away on January 21, 1901 in Newtonville Massachusetts.

Besides Bell and Gray, the origins of what would lead up to the telephone happened before them.  In the early 19th century many inventors began attempting to transmit sound using electricity.  Charles Bourseul of France, was the first inventor to suggest that sound could be transmitted in this fashion (http://school.eb.com/eb/print?articleId=110260&fullArticle=true&tocId=279893).  Johann Philipp Reis from Germany also developed instruments for the transmission of sound, but not as complex as speech.

Known as one of the most famous inventors of all time, it is inevitable that Thomas Alva Edison would have some role in the further development of this technology.  The problem with Alexander Bell’s invention was that the power of the electric signal was too weak and it limited the quality and distance of the message.  Using a disc of compressed carbon that was set between metal plates, he increased the sensitivity of sound at the transmitter which boosted the signal.

Works Cited

“Alexander Graham Bell.” Alexander Graham Bell. N.p., 27 July 2007. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. <http://www.thocp.net/‌biographies/‌bell_alexander.html>.

“Telephone.” Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. <http://school.eb.com/‌eb/‌print?articleId=110260&fullArticle=true&tocId=279893>.

“Timeline of Alexander Graham Bell.” About.com: Inventors. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2009. <http://inventors.about.com/‌od/‌bstartinventors/‌a/‌Alexander_Bell_2.htm>.

The year is 1850, and I have no idea what to do on this lovely day because I am used to the technology I had in the 21st century.  Normally, like most people my age in the real time, I would be wasting my day sitting on the computer and watching television or playing video games.  Well today in 1850 this is not the case.   Perhaps I might go for a walk, or a ride on the saddle.  Being of age I could hit up the local tavern with a few of my acquaintances.  The only problem is I must take the trip to go invite my friends because I  can not use the telephone because there is none yet.  It is going to be a long walk since many of my friends are more than a mile away.  I feel living in 1850 will make me a more active and healthy person than in the 21st century.  Media technology has seemed to take over the lives of everyone I know in the 2000′s and I feeling living in 1850 for a while will be a relaxing stress free vacation.