Introduction
Over the past 150 years, the art of communication has definitely gone through major changes. In the olden days, people used traditional means of communication that were very inefficient. The telephone is actually considered to be one of the greatest inventions of the 19th Century and indeed of all time. The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, a resident of Massachusetts. A pioneer in the communications field, Bell was originally from Scotland and moved to Ontario, Canada before settling in the town of Boston, Massachusetts in 1872. His discovery of the telephone was merely an accident. He had actually been trying to make an improvement of the telegraph (Henderson 2005). At that time, the telegraph was only limited to sending and receiving one message at a time. Bell had extensive knowledge on sound mechanics and this enabled him to conjecture that there was a possibility for the transmission of multiple messages at a time. It was during his process to come up with a telegraph device that could accomplish such a feature that he discovered the telephone. Bell and assistant, Thomas A. Watson were practicing their instruments in two separate rooms when he accidently spilled some liquid on himself and said over the instrument “Mr. Watson, come here, I want you”. Watson heard this message and thus the telephone was invented.
At the time of Bell’s invention, there were other forms of communication that were not so adequate like the telegraph and letters. The invention of the telephone definitely helped to ease the way people communicated with each other. Unlike the telegram which could only send or receive one message at a time and unlike letters which took a relatively long time to reach their destination, the telephone had neither of these discrepancies. The working of the telephone was essentially by the conversion of a sound signal into an electrical signal through a “liquid transmitter”. Here, sound was directed via a receiver onto thin membrane that was stretched over a drum. Outside of this membrane, there was a cork and a needle that was attached to a battery. This battery was extended to a metal contact a suphuric acid filled cup. The sound waves stroked the membrane, vibrations were produced and this caused the current strength between the contact and the needle. This consequently led to the creation of an electric signal of varying strength and this signal then traveled to a receiver through a wire and sounds were recreated through a reversed process (Biggs 2012).
The telephone has gone through major changes since it was first invented. The first telephones did not for example have a bell to notify one of a call and this was invented later. The assigning of telephone numbers to specific people also came about so as to ease the work of operators who had to connect people call’s on numbers based on memory. The telephone continued going through various developments and the first push button phone was invented in the year 1941. Walter Hauser Britain then came up with a transmitter to amplify the sounds traveling through wires in the telephone. This allowed calls to be sent over longer distances. After that came the satellite telephone in 1962 which made it easier to make intercontinental calls. The first mobile phone that required no wires was first developed in 1973. This device underwent continuous development and today, almost every person who is technologically aware possesses a mobile device. The mobile phone has given rise to a new brand of devices known as smart phones. This however has sadly led to the demise of the landline telephones (Bellis 2012).
It is predicted that in the foreseeable future, the telephone will essentially become remote controls for the entire lives of people. For example, mobile devices will potentially use radio frequencies, silicon frequencies, motion, speed and thermal detectors (Dokisoft 2012). Potentially, there will also be the development of miniature devices that can be inserted into permanently into people’s bodies, for example in a wrist. Personally, I feel that these potential development and innovations will only be beneficial to all of humanity and the art of communication will be made even easier.
References
Alexander Graham Bell - Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltelephone2.htm
Bellis, M. (2012, April 23). The History of the Telephone. Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://inventors.about.com/od/bstartinventors/a/telephone.htm
Biggs, B. (2012, December 15). How Bell’s telephone worked | How It Works Magazine. Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://www.howitworksdaily.com/history/how-bells-telephone-worked/
Dokisoft (2012, July 25). Future of Mobile Phones ← Dokisoft. Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://www.dokisoft.com/future-of-mobile-phones/
Henderson, C. (2005, April 23). The History of the Telephone. Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://www.personal.psu.edu/jtk187/art2/telephone.htm
The Independent (2007, May 14). The future of mobile phones: A remote control for you life - Magazines - Student - The Independent. Retrieved July 9, 2013, from http://www.independent.co.uk/student/magazines/the-future-of-mobile-phones-a-remote-control-for-you-life-448816.html
Clayton, R. (2011, June 8). The Telephone. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://library.thinkquest.org/04oct/00451/telephone.htm
