Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
This article has been downloaded from IOPscience. Please scroll down to see the full text article.
(http://iopscience.iop.org/1475-4878/4/1/301)
View the table of contents for this issue, or go to the journal homepage for more
Download details:
IP Address: 66.66.14.176
The article was downloaded on 15/07/2010 at 02:19
tlint ~ v l i c i ithe first ray of light aflectri tlie seleniuni, it cawes the
reinp to close the I)ell circuit and ring tlie bell.
i i i order to clraw attention, as in the ordinary telephone, 011
lifting the receiver froiii its support the relay and bell is c u t
our, and by Iiolding the telrphone receiver to the enr one hears
the message transmitted from a distance ns if it caiiie over vires
in the usual m-ny ; but only one can hear the itlessage, and the
words emittetl from the iiiicrophone can be heard n t tlie other
encl of this rooiii eveii without anS apparatus.
G
I might easily deceive you, a i d then it would be wireless t e l e
phony of another kind than the one I wish to demonstrate to
you this evening; but in order to get over this difficulty I have
this cell and battery connected Kith two wires leading to a
telephone which is in a room where we cannot hear the words
pronounced i n front of the transmitter, and what is more, I will
take the opportunity a t the same time to show that a speaking
arc lamp is not even necessary for our purposes, in fact, any
kind of light would answer, provided it is sufficiently powerfid
and can be controlled by the human voice.
I n this case I propose using an acetylene flame which is con-
trolled by means of a telephone, as every Tyord spoken into the
inicrophoiie affects the diaphragm of the telephone in the usual
way, and by carrying the gas through the telephone capsule
before it reaches the burner, after the method of Koenig, all the
vibrations of the diaphragm cause the elastic gas to be more or
less compressed and, in turn, cause the burner to emit more or
less light.
This undulating light affects tlie seleniuin, and the words are
clearly reproduced in the telephone. Now, in order t o be able
to hold a conversation, I have also a microphone in the other
room near tlie telephone, which microphone is connected to a
loud speaking telephone in this room, so that the reply map he
heard by everyone present. Perhaps the President will be so
good a s to speak before the transmitter which is here before u s ?
May I ask Mr. Pharaoh t o oblige 11s by listening t o the telephone
and responding from the other room; then we shall have a wire-
less conversation 011 a small scale.
Now you have heard the questions the President aslied, and
you have Mr. Pharaoh’s reply; but i t has not proved to you
that i t is light rays only which affect the selenium. Perhaps
sound or other waves caused the selenium t o be affected? This
may be readily found out by placing between the selenium and
the light various substances; a t first I use a piece of glass-and
Mr. Pharaoh replies ; glass being transparent t o light, it made
very little difference to the selenium.
I now use a piece of iron-and we get no reply, because being
opaque to light the cell was not affected.
I regret there is not sufficient time t o mention the great number
cif other uses selenium could be put to. F o r instance, for the
7
self-lighting of the lamps in light buoys when it turns dark, and
to extinguish them at daylight; or to extinguish the signal lamps
on railways and steamboats. Could we make suitable sensitive
cells of very low resistance, the greatest of electrical problems
with which numerous inventors occupied themselves for a great
number of years would be easier t o solve. I am alluding t o
photo-telescopy, or seeing from one place to another a t a great
distance from it by means of electricity.