original template by Ray Lam, Fall 97

updated by Rachel Shorey 5/1/98

The original telephone was no taller than a computer monitor. At this time the telephone had two separate parts. At one end was a transmitter, which worked like an ear. At the other end was a receiver, or a mouth. With the transmitter, people were able to turn sound into a pattern of electric waves that traveled along the wire to the receiver. The receiver turned the pattern of electric waves back into sound. The homemade telephone was made out of metal, for the transmitter and wire to connect it to the receiver, which was also made of some metal. The first telephone may also have contained wood.

The idea for the telephone was originally created by Alexander Graham Bell. But he was assisted by Thomas Watson in the actual creation. Mr. Watson come here! I want to see you! Thomas Watson jumped from his chair. He had heard sounds come through the homemade telephone before, but never words so clear and distinct. Those first words were spoken by Alexander Graham Bell, on March 6, 1876. The telephone had come a long way since that June day in 1875. On that day Watson was sending sound waves from the transmitter. A part of the device stuck, and he plucked at it, trying to release it. In the other room, Bell waited. Suddenly he saw a reed on the receiver move. This was what he had been waiting for. Bell quieted all the machinery and told Watson to pluck at it again. His sensitive ear, trained for years in music, heard a faint unfamiliar voice. It had sound like a human voice! Bell later called this sound undulatory since it made noises that were high and low, while at the same time, loud and soft. Bell was always interested in speech. In the 1870s, scientists and inventors all over the world were working on ways to improve communication. Bell became interested in an idea called the harmonic or multiple telegraph. With this devise, a number of messages could be sent by Morse code on a single wire. Bell began to experiment in the evenings. While during the day, he taught at Boston University and tutored his deaf students. Could Bell have known how important the telephone would become to people all over the world?