Evening Star Newspaper, February 28, 1926, Page 85

ILLUSTRATED FEATURES Part 5—8 Pages Telephone Industry Soon to Observe Its 50th BY GEORGE PORTER. T the anual meeting of the Telephone Pioneers of Amer- ica, which was held recently in Washington, it called that the telephone in- strument—that almost indispensable adjunct to modern . clvilization—is approaching its fiftieth birth V. Within the memory of many now liv- inz the much rvidiculed and highly mocked “scientific toy” of Graham Bell b Brown mouplice convenience (hat & magic web of speech uround world, carryin Al manner of and Ia and bringing people of world ther effectively political yet devised The story the volces uages, the the than any pact of the telephone is the story 1chievement 1inst odd s a story that involves ¢ devotion, d ment It B0 nd develop- three cities— nd Washington assurance of a happ: fter a drama in which heartl tances combine near- 1y to crush the hero. but, once having been conquered by him, those same circumstances turn into ally with which the hero the world. It will not be until the tenth of March that the telephone will actually reach the fiftieth milestone which commemorates the first words spoken ¢ over an electric wire, but it w halt & century ago last June that the first sound was similarly sent. That sound * the twang of a reed and it reached s attentive ear of Alexander Graham iell in his Boston laboratory on the rnoon of June 2, 18 It was so faint that only a student o acoustics such as was M Bell would be likely 10 hear it. Yet it was undeniably a sound; a sound that announced the birth of a revolutionary invention; sound which, in the succeeding ves was destined literally to echo ‘Tound « the world. the nine nission of Bell Libor his queer instrument one day he connec and, sending his Wiatson, to the wvorld's first the conquers months following that first twang ngly to make speak. Finally his apparatus nt. Thomas receivi end of telephone line. ut- known sentence: T want you.’ listening in buildinz at 109 dropped the three flights wherein Bell nnounce to eech Those d well here: who was Court street, Hoston instrument and ran up of stairs to the room was ther his_co-we t Iy had been heard iral telephone i carried their e onciu at their ide dreams. They were hour of exultation. * had il to hi two or America speriments to a ind had proven more than mere entitled 1o their HOUGH tricity as to make elements {bldding, there still remuined « cynical world, which vidicule for any one so foolish s to sugzest that a volce could be heard over a wire. Mr. Bell camg to know how hard it is to introduce new idea to the public. Like McCormick, whose first reaper was called cross hetween an Astley chariot, a_wheelbarrow and a flying machine”: like Howe whose first sewing machine was wrecked by a Boston mob: lke rield, whose proposed tic .cable was called “a mad freak of stubborn ig- norance,” and 1 Westinzhouse who was arded as totally imprac: tical for planning to “stop u irain with wind™; Bell received little but unfriendly eriticism whenever spo hone Pl phe 20 vears of his life un to this time had been la v sper in an unflinching struc lverse circumstanc V-Pgn ave native home, in Seotland because the the white plague tnken away his was houlishly To strengthen removed to on ind there found health occupation by n educa- s invented ot Mohawk they mastered sound in such a way do their those had only linst had e (fearful hand of had invaded two brothers react o himself. youns tario, Canada and the necessary teaching “visible speec h tional system for deaf by his father, to 3 dians v”l‘{‘:-”‘lv e of his facility as a teacher. of ncoustics, Bell was shortly there- after called to introduce his father's System into a newly opened school in . Boston. In that capacity he gained renown and arded a pro- ship in Boston University. All cent so well that he opened a school of his own. - But in addition to “having a heart, Bell had the inventive instinct. For a long time he was a man divided against himself. Instinetively he wanted to experiment with the ide; his native mind was constantly creat tng. Me was fascinated by the pan- oramas of the “impossible’ that were alw before him. On the other hand. he was alwayvs in possession of an abiding sympathy for those of his Yellow men who were so unfortunate as not to have the zift of speech. The desire to help them was inborn. His family for three wenerations had taught the science of speech in the universities of Ixdinburgh and London He w only following the family tra dition when he did the same thing himself. For years Bell solved the problem in the sensible manner that many men have emploved when confronted with the same dificulties. Ile made teach. ing ible speech™ his vocation, and trying out his ideas his avocation. But the avocation was not to be de ed Tt -proved o thoroughly en- ::‘m‘-u]n: especially fter. Bell had made sufficient progress to receive the commendation of several promi nent scientists, that it firmly and in- evitably occupied his whole time. After living for some time in Bos- ton. he took up his residence in the em. M home of one of his 5 year-old pupils. Georgie Sanders was *the name of the lad whose parents were so grateful to Bell for having re- stored the power to talk to their son that they permitted the young pro- fessor to live with them and to carry on his electrical experiments in the basement of their house. Bell is said to have worked at that time mostly at night, without regard for the neces- sity of sleep, either to himself or to Mr. Sanders, whom he frequently aroused out of a sound sleep to help try out an experiment. If the test + was successful, Bell would go happily to bed. but in the event it failed he would return to his workshop and plan a new method. Bell seemed to be apprehensive lest some one discover his ideas, a fear which seems to have been justified in view of the hundreds of patent law- suits his company had to fight after his telephone became an established commercial enterprise. Not only did the inventor carry on his work mainly at night, but it is even reported that, as a precaution- ary measure, Bell would buy materials in several gi®grent shops so that no ind nd him Bel was re- more | 1| termination, | a powerful |. 1etuad- elec- | The Swundwy WASHINGTON, D. MAGAZINE SECTION = - UNDAY MORNING, Star FEBRUARY 28, 1926. | Tirst telep wsed o A E 1" Bells f1rst a | lele pllones one would be able to surmise his in- tentions. In addition to the Sanders fam- ily, which hel* d Bell whenever it could, there came to the young man'’s aid about the same time the friend- ship and support of Gardiner G. Hub- bard, an influential Boston lawyer. This friendship, which incidentally grew into a family and business part- nership, also came about through Bell's teaching activities. Mr. Hub- bard’s daughter Mabel had been | stricken deaf following an attack of scarlet fever when a baby. She en tered one of Bell's ¢ when she | became 15 years of age. and four pyears later she became his wife. Let it be said that most of this time Bell spent overcoming circumstances He was poor, poorer than he cared to confess; his scientific knowledge was inadequate to solve many of the problems which confronted him both Mr. Safders and Mr. Hu who financed his experiments, opposed to having him “waste | time” over his telephone, often threat- | ening to withdraw their support if he | did not confine himself to a seemingly more practical project. the develop- ment of the “musical telegraph.” Yet all the while Bell was the em- {hodiment of the most dynamic thing in the world man with an idea. Bell's idea, expressed in one of hi: moments of confidence, was: “If T tan | make a deaf-mute talk I can make | iron talk.” i Occosionally circumstances would | come to the aid of this searcher after | a new light, or, more properly, a new voice, as, after discussing his re- searches with Dr. Clarence J. Blake, a famous ton physician, his hearer | remarked: “Why don’t you use a real ear?” | That interrogation proved to be of incalcuable value, and led, after num- erous ghastly experiments with a dead man's ear, to the idea of the mem brane telephone. On another occasion, while in Wash- ington for a consuliation with hisd patent attorney, Bell called upon Prof. Joseph Henry, “the yndale of Amer- | ica.” That interview completely con- verted Bell to his own doctrines. The | words of the venerable professor, who | told Bell that he thought there was “the germ of a great invention™ in his ideas, naturally stirred the young tele- phone engineer very deeply. When Bell asserted that he lacked the neces- sary electrical knowledge to perfect | his apparatus the professor answered, “Get it.” “I cannot tell how much those two words encouraged me,” Bell wrote shortly afterward. They kept ringing in his ears and sent him back to Boston with new hopeés. No longer | His landlord w | po hone switchboard 1w Washington in 1878 Tuomas AWATSON, assnciate of Prof. Bell in the telephone experinuents g By tiervmes 1 € 8up LT 38 1K IASTAY N PRGOS W SRErLH MGG RS EETRHLY, (878 Ar early boy:-opera used iw New York FICTION AND HUMOR Speech First Carried Over a Wire on March 10, 1876, Although Inarticulate Sounds Had Been Transmitted Nine Months Previous—Inventor Received His Patent on His Twenty-Ninth Birthday—Centennial Exhibit at Philadelphia Afforded Exceptional Opportunity to Bring Telephone Before Public—Early Apparatus of Al'examler Graham Bell Won Approval of Noted Scientists in Sensational Demonstration There—People Slow to Recognize Merit of the New Device. ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL. Phroto takew 1w 1876, ihe year the telephone/ was invented/ Lampshade exchande useol inRich mound 1n 1887. The main exchawge it Washinglow The¥ello crrL” of 1877. lem: to ton a from the Sanders cellar in a room at 109 Court street, T Charles William manufacturer of electrical supplies, who subsequently =old his factory in 1881 to Bell's company ‘“for more money than he ever expected to possess.” In that rented room Bell continved his studies and experiment He was endeavoring 1o obey the command et the necessary ele encouraged by example of Morse, the inventor of the telegraph, who, though primar painte: had overcome his electrical problems. - At times the ever-energetic Bell thought he recognized in his ig- norance an advantage. for he did not know too much to attempt the “im- ble. e was, moreover, enabled to make up in his knowledge of acous- ties what he lacked in electri condition which proved fortunate, ing a telephone from the standpoint of sound, and succeeded. while scores of from the standpoint of electricity and failed. * ok ok % I ‘was in the Court street house that was he a man divided against himself. He had a_singleness of purpose which henceforth was to actuate all of his efforts. His workshop had been removed + memorable conversation between Bell and Watson, on March 10, 1876. That event marked the apex of Bell's the | he attacked the problem of construct- | others attempted to do the same thing | speech was first transmitted in the | stances, and from then on circum- stances began to conqguer with Bell They afforded an opportunity, which literally comes but once in a hundred vears, of bringing an invention before the public by the opening of the Cen- tennial Exhibition in Philadelphia two months after the telephone had utter- | ed its f Through the bard,. who words. influence of Mr. Hub one of the Centennial commissione Bell secured pern sion to exhibit his pnone in the de- partment of education. It wax placed in an inconspicuous hallway between a flight of stairs;and a wall Although he had ninth hirthday, been most valu e hatent Bell at the time that he did not Centennial. But on his (wenty- granted “‘the ever issued,” W intend to zo to the once again circum- tances interceded. Bell took his iancee, Mabel Hubbard, to the train bound for, the great Philadelphia ex- hibit one’ warm afternoon in June At the station he started to say zood- bye, but the young girl had as- sumed all along that Bell was goinz with her, and when she learned that such was not his purpose, tried to argue him into it. But Bell was firm, and as the train pulled out he stepped down to the platform. His sweet- heart, however. was so pmotionally upset by the unexpected separation achlevement in conquering circum-‘that she burst into tears. They w short of money | proved too much for Bell. He leaped | back abroad the moving train, sans ticket, baz and baggage, but bound for the Centennial just the same. For two months the telephone had been on exhibit without causing a sensation of any sort. There was so many other attractions. There was the first electric light, the first grain the musical telegraph of sy, and the printing tele- th Vestern Union ‘b an imposing array. of the telephone was looked < a mere up: that was to be admitted circumstance, Bell a pl and brought him (o was yet to play its 117 A sheer coincidence that hour transformed an into the ‘stz Among “wonder: upon Tucky | But cured phone, play trick of in one dr unknown the show. One again Mr. Hubbard opened the | act, this time by securing the some- | what reluctant assent of the board of judges to examine Bell's apparatus on thelr next tour of inspection. Those men put what they regarded as an annoying duty-off until the last mo- ment, with the result that, though they started their tour early in the afternoon, they did not arrive at the telephone exhibit 7 o'clock mat | extra” until 7 in the evening. They were hot and tred and toyed with the -queer de- | dea |-classes ce aifew faghion Suddenly something happened _to “‘wake them up.” An emperor, a real emperor, came down the hall and rushed up to the nerveous and excited inventor with the exclamation, “Prof. Bell, I'm so glad to see you again.’ The imperial personage was Don Pedro de. Alcantare, mperor of Bra- il. and he was accompanied by his wife. the Empress Theresa, and a uni- formed escort of courtiers. e was man much interested in humani- tarian ‘work, having shortly before helped organize the first séhool for -mutes in Brazil at Buenos Aires had once visited some of Bell's in Boston University, where he had been deéply impressed by the inventor's ability as a teacher of “visible speech. His meeting with Bell at the Cen- tennial was so opportune as almost to give the effect of having been prear- ranged: in fact, it could not have oc- curred at a better time if it had been prearranged. The Emperor's presence caused the board of judges to take a new interest in the modest man be- fore them and in his apparatus which they had come to examine. ¥ ok ox % SOME wires had been strung across the hall with a telephone at each end. Don Pedro went to one of the phones and Bell to the other. - He minutes’ in a. listless He spoke a few words into the transmit- ter and the incredulous emperor could hardly believe his ears, but heartily affirmed that “the thing talks.” Bell's friend, Prof. Henry, was the next to test the phones, and after hearing a few words, asserted: “This comes nearer to overthrowing the doc- trine of the conversation of energy than anything 1 ever saw.” it. William Thompson. the formost electrical authority in the world and the engineer of the Atlantic cable, also tested the device and announced: “It_does speak. It is the most won- derful thing I have seen in America. Mr. Bell was achieved a result of transoendent scientific interest. Tt is the greatest marvel hitherto achieved by the electric telegraph.” Thompson's last sentence re- s that the word ‘“telephone” was practically invented with the instru- ment. In describing his invention in Having heard the words of wonder from such men as Henry and Thomp- son. the other members of the board of judges, numbering about fifty in all,” forgot their fatigue, and spent about three hours listening to the phones. The next morning Bell's in- struments were brought forth from their obscure locality to the judges’ stand, where they were, for ihe re nniversary mainder of the Centennial, the chief attraction of the exhibit. They had been given but 18 words’ description in the program. but after having es tablished their worth, received column after column of publicity in the news- papers of the country. Many of the press accounts reflected the skepticism of the reporters. The New York Herald said: “The effect is weird and almost supernatural.” he Province Press took a similar at titude: “It is hard to resist the mo- tion that the powers of darkness are somehow in league with it.”” One Paper ran a story about the telephone under the caption, ‘‘Salem Witch- craft,” and the Boston Times, in an editorjal, reflected the general sar- castic’ attitude of the public: “A fel- | low can now court his girl in China as well as in East Boston; but the most serious aspect of this invention is the awful and irresponsible power | will give to the average mother-in law, who will be able to send her veice around the habitable globe.” 5 e B UT the instrument which Bell had worked so faithfully to devise was attracting _attention and becoming known. Mr. Hubbc-d capitalized all this publicity and put on several! “stunts” of his own, in most of which Bell carried on a “long distance” con versation before an audience after | the manner of a lecturer. The In | ventor and his associates knew that their telephone could stand on it~ own merits, but it took a long thue 1o convince the general public tha their apparatus anything mo than a “scientific toy.” Lawyers s: it might be all right for store-keepers and store-keepers conceded that it might be all right for lawyers. but in spite of the fact that there were so few phones in existence that the dan zer of getling a wrong number or. be ing told the line was busy, was almost negligible, no one was anxious to give | the thing a trial. It was so hard to helieve. that the phones would really work, -and the only one who offered » satlsfactory solution to the mystery a Boston laborer, who sald that those today the know” made > ms like ultra-modest s for their device. One circular ted that the telephone was “su or to the telegraph” because: 1. | It required no skilled operator. It made possible faster communic: | tion, 15 to 20 words a’ minute being the maximum that could be sent by | telegraph while 100 to 200 could he | transmitted over the talaphone. > expense for upkeep or repalr. | Gradually the world awoke to the | realization that the telephone was an | immense aid. ‘both to soclal finter { course and business transactions. | Newspgppers were among the earliesi patrons of the infant industry. The Boston Globe printed the first dix patch sent to a newspaper office by telephone, and The Washington Star was the pioneer local paper to employ the Bell invention for news-gathering purposes. It installed a wire in the Capitol and received reports from Con gress nearly an hour ahead of its competitors Our Nation's Chief Executives were | rather conservative about the tele | phone placed in_ his house in 1878 dent to use one. He had an exhibition phone placed in his house in 1878 while he was stM a member of Con gress. There was a single instrument in the White House during the admin- istrations of Cleveland and Harrison. but neither used it to any extent McKinley, however, reveled in the conveniences of the telephone. He heard the cheers of the Chicago con vention over the wire in his Canton. Ohio, home. He also used the tele phone extensively during his presi dential campaign. talking to his man agers in 33 states. | “It is bringing us all closer to gether,” was his favorite phrase in regard to the momentous invention of | Alexander Graham Bell Anim-al ]ntelliéencc. FI\'E HUNDRED white rats are be ing given intelligence tests to de- termine learning ability with respect to age in the Stanford University laboratories of psychology. The study is being financed by a grant from th arnegie Corporation of New York o $12,000 to be extended over = period of three ye: r the frst year higher animals, such as the cat, will be_studied. The problem in the case of animals. according to Prof. Calvin P. Stone who is conducting the experiments, to test the ability to learn at succ sive stages of development. With rats, ages of 20, 30, 50, 100 and 200 days are used. Intermediate ages may be used later in further expantion of the work Both the learning of new habits and the breaking of old ones are to-be tested. Two types of tests are being con- ducted by Prof. Stone at present; the problem box and the maze. The prob- lem box is a square box of wire screening from which 4 door leads to another box containing food. The door can be.opened only by stepping upon a small platform projecting from the side of the box. When the rat depresses this plat- form with his feet an electric current releases the door leading to the food A rat is given this test once daily fo 20 days and the time required for him to depress the platform is noted. Then a period of 50 days is allowed to elaps before the test is repeated to deter- mine his retention of the habit formed About 100 rats of each age Is beinz tested. The maze is one of the oldest devices used to test intelligence and learning ability. It consists of a labyrinthint passage containing many blind alleys but only one direct path to the end | Where food réwards the successful rat A hyngry animal is placed at the starting point and allowed. to find ‘his way to the exit. The number of false moves taken and the time required measure learning ability by this trial and error method. In addition to the 500 white rats now being used in these experiments, a breeding colony of about 100 animals is maintained. A rough estimate of the relative rate of hysical development in the rat and in man wou'd be about 3 to 1. A rat one month old is equal in physical development to a child two and one-half years old. Results now at hand would seem to indicate that the ratio of mental development fs probably more nearly 30 to'1, accord- ing to Prof. Stone. Prof. Stone began his present work June 1 and with one assistant worked seven hours daily during the Summer At present two rescarch assistants are devoting four hours a day to the work. . To Thaw Pipes. GERMAN electrician has offered a suggestion for thawing frozen water pipes. The house lighting cur- rent is reduced to a low voltage b means of a transformer and then it is sent through the frozen section of water pipe. The heat of the current will melt the ice.