Telephone firsts-
On Here are a few
interesting telephone firsts.
On September 1, 1878 the first
female telephone operator was employed. Prior to this time only men and boys were employed
for the job. |
The first telephone that
was probably capable of transmitting intelligible speech was created by Antonio Meucci at
Havana, Cuba in 1849. This machine was never demonstrated publicly. It was however used by
the inventor to communicate with his invalid wife on the third floor of their dwelling
from his workshop in the basement of the home. The first telephone that was publicly
demonstrated was built by Johann Philipp Reis of Triedrichsdorph, Germany. This crude
machine used a violin-case for a resonator, a hollowed out beer barrel bung for a
mouthpiece, and a stretched sausage skin for a diaphragm. It was publicly demonstrated on
October 26, 1861.
The first telephone capable of sustained articulate human speech was patented by Alexander
Graham Bell on March 9, 1876. The first publicly demonstrated example of the capabilities
of his invention were on June 25, 1876. It was presented at the Centennial Exhibition in
Philadelphia. Actually, the invention received very little attention by the public.
The first telephone that was installed for private use was made by Charles Williams Jr. at
his home in Somerville, Mass. HE also had a phone installed at his office in Boston.
Charles Williams was an electrical engineer and began to manufacture the Bell telephone
the same month.
The first full time telephone operator was George Willard Coy. He was employed by the
District Telephone Exchange Co. at New Haven Connecticut on January 28, 1978. At first the
usual call signal was AHOY! AHOY! This was abandoned for Hallo. This probably happened due
to the fact that many folks wanted to address the operator by his name. The first women
telephone operator was Miss Emma Nutt. She began working for Edwin Holmes's Telephone
Dispatch Co. exchange in Boston, Mass. on September 1, 1878. She remained in this job for
33 years. Prior to this day only men and boys were employed as operators. By the
mid-1800's most exchanges employed only women. Boys were found to be too quarrelsome, and
rude for the work.
Sources: The New Shell Book of Firsts -
Patrick Robertson |