THE TELEPHONE EXCHANGE.
-p VERYBODY was interested and curious when, during the Philadelphia Exhibition, the Telephone was talked of as the very latest scientific novelty, and there was considerable disappointment when, after the " Magneto-Telephone " was exhibited here, and a general expectation that the electric telegraph was going to be " nowhere " had been excited, we were curtly told that the strange instrument was only a ementifie toy. Its improvement, however, the microphone, greatly increased its chance of usefulness, and its latest development, the Edison ielephone, is no toy. It has been shown at the offices of the Edison Telephone Company, in Queen Victoria Street, and from what has been seen of itscperation, there is nothing unreasonable or extravagant in our -expecting to witness a speedy fulfilment of the results that were, in the first instance, enthusiastically anticipated, and thenprernaturely despaired of,—or rather, depreciated.
To the present writer, all machines are mysteries, and things scientific dead secrets ; but even John Leech' old lady, who, coming unexpectedly upon a photographer's camera in-position, entreated the operator "not to fire," could not have failed to understand Mr. Johnson's- explanation of the dapper little in- strument, something like an idealised coffee-mill, with a, black disk, not unlike a measuring-tape in its case, held out on a bar close beside it, which is fastened to a wall, and connected by slack wires with two mahogany boxes, suggestive of surgical - instrument cases, containing the galvanic bat- teries. The speaker in Queen Victoria Street directed his voice—whether loud or low, it mattered not—to the orifice in the face of the little machine, having first "' tapped his button" (three very bright buttons in a row- form part of the apparatus), whereby the little bell at the other end —the Company's offices in Lombard Street — was rung ; the " conversationist " on duty there instantly replied, in the purely experimental cases repeating the words of the querist, the sound coming clear and distinctly audible to all present, through the orifice in the small black disk, on a level with the ear of the listener in Queen Victoria Street. " liollo ! hello 1" very quickly and gently uttered, was the favourite form of address between the operators ; and the appeal was instan- taneously responded to by the voice, either at the centre, or at other places with which communication had been formed,—as, for instance, Copthall Buildings, Carey Street, and the Times Office. With a gentleman on dray at the latter place long and animated dialogues were carried on, and one of the gentlemen present having requested the operator in Lombard Street to "switch him on" to his office in Copthall Buildings, was promptly answered from thence by a clerk, to whom he gave certain instructions. A general laugh was caused by the alacrity with which he was obeyed, for having merely paused for a moment, he went on speaking ; but the clerk was gone,—as quick as Ariel, if, indeed, that spirit may be quoted in these days as at all a rapid person. To take forty minutes to girdle the globe is very easy. The distance between the scene of the experiments and the centre of the. operations, from whence the " ewitching-ou " process to all the branches in communication took place—and with rapidity almost as extra- ordinary as the telephone itself—is only a quarter of a mile ; but the Edison Telephone is working over long distances—for instance, between Philadelphia and Now York, while the tele- graph-wires are in full operation—with perfnet success. UP to five miles no appreciable difference in the volume of sound can be observed, at over twenty it begins to tell, but the sound can be increased by a scientific process, which was not explained, for obvious reasons. What all who were present were made aware of is, that the Edison Telephone reproduces the entire compass of the human voice, and the exact quality of each voice which uses it-; that the faintest whisper is con- veyed by it with perfect distinctness ; that mere breathing is transmitted to the ear of the listener as clearly as the loudest notes of a key-bugle ; that the persons wishing to interchange communications can do so in entire secresy, the " switching-on " being done at- a signal ; and that all this is purely mechanical,
system, in. which, for the first time, effected by an entirely new
matter has been put in motion at a distance without the inter- vention of an electro-magnet. "The force," said Mr. John- son, "is not electricity, which is here simply used to control." Then he explained that these are the results of the fol- lowing discovery made by Mr. Edison :—" He found that when a strip of paper which has been steeped in a solu- tion of certain chemicals was subjected to the action of the electric current, its surface became smoother, as if it were lubricated, and as soon as the current was withdrawn regained its normal character. If such strip of paper were placed upon a metal base having connection with one pole of a galvanic battery, and a strip of platinum foil or wire connected with the other pole was taken in the hand and pressed firmly downward on the paper, and at the same time drawn over its surface, the platinum strip would be found to move with comparative free- dom, notwithstanding the downward pressure. But if the electric current were interrupted while the strip was being moved, the lubricating effect would be lost, and the hand
instantly checked by the normal friction of the moist paper. The moment the current was restored the paper would again become, as it were, lubricated, and the strip of platinum would slip over it as if upon ice. Here was power to put matter at a distance in motion by means of electricity, without the inter- vention of an electro-magnet."
The pretty little instrument around which the visitors stood, talking and laughing, suggesting puzzling questions to the interlocutors in Lombard Street, picking up every now and then some entirely new word or phrase,—for telephony is accreting a vocabulary,—has taken great study and labour, and a long course of experiments, to arrive at the degree of perfection which has been attained, whose stages are beyond the comprehension and outside the purpose of the present writer. It seems likely that there is a fairy-tale future for this invention, that the "Horn of Hearing" is to be realised, as the "Shoes of Swiftness" and the "Sword of Light" have found their actual presentment in steam and electricity. "This," said one of the bystanders, "will make the telegraph as obsolete as the Birmingham stage-coach." Although it may not quite do that, there seems every reason to expect that the adoption of the Edison Telephone Exchange system will produce many
of the results which Mr. Arnold White anticipated for it, in a letter written to the Times some months ago, and just before
intelligence reachecl this country that Mr. Edison had completed the instrument which was seen in operation on the 5th inst. Among these results, every individual will select those which meet his own especial convenience as matter of congratulation.
Public-spirited persons will be delighted at the prospect of in- creased security from fire by instantaneous verbal communication with the Fire Brigade, of better regulation of railway traffic, and of the certainty of tidings of bad weather being conveyed by Lloyd's agents everywhere with rapidity hitherto unattainable.
That the loud-speaking Telephone system can be worked at a very small cost, and without requiring skilled labour at the instru- ment--unlike the shilling telegraph, with its written message, and the transmitters in one's confidence—is charming to contemplate; but perhaps that which comes most home to us all, with a cheering ray of hope, is the reflection that if the "Telephone Exchange" is really set going, and becomes a part of every-day life, we shall have only to subscribe to our centre, and get "switched on" at will to our correspondents. For business letters we shall substitute catechetical talks, full of the soul of wit, and instead of having to drive off in cabs, and in an un- wholesome hurry to see people who are most likely to be out, we shall merely "tap our button," and turn on our tap of communication. What a vista in the vale of years does Mr. Arnold White disclose! when, with a touch of business-like, un- conscious poetry, he says To a busy man, the possibility of remaining away from town, without neglecting his affairs, is a valuable consideration. Elderly men wishing to take life more easily, may be consoled by the assurance that the time is at hand when indispensable • mental exertion will be unattended by the necessity for excessive physical effort." Is there an elderly man anywhere who does not wish success to the Edison Telephone, and see himself in imagination a mercantile, or political, or professional King Jamie, with a legitimate "King's Lug" in his library P
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