Interesting Telephone Facts

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INTERESTING FACTS

Alexander Graham Bell & Thomas A. Watson

In this improvised laboratory Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.

The painting by W. A. Rogers shows one of the rooms used by Bell at 5 Exeter Place, Boston, Massachusettes, as it appeared in March, 1887. Dr. Bell is shown discussing a telephone instrument with his assistant, Thomas A. Watson (left). The picture of the owl was painted by Mabel Hubbard, Bell's fiancée, in jest at his habit of working late. The first sentence transmitted by telephone was sent from this room. Note the Liquid Transmitter in the background.

"DROP TEST" helps make handsets hard to break

Dropping nearly six feet down a slide, this one bounces unharmed off an iron anvil. Others on the floor illustrate how some samples fail when carried to destruction in this type of test. Modern handsets are molded from plastic powder electronically preheated to increase strength.

For Best Results
Hold Your Telephone Close To Your Lips

The telephones ability to pick up speech at various distances from the mouth is tested in a sound-proof room. A loud-speaker inside the dummy head emits typical human words and sounds.

An Historic Long Distance Call In Europe

This lithograph of the opening of the London-Paris long-distance line in 1891 was furnished to the London Illustrated news on April 11, 1891. The distance from London to Paris is about 300 miles. The Gower-Bell apparatus was used to make this first historic long distance call in Europe.