Kids visit the museum to play with antique telephones, take costumed guided tours and even play in an inventor’s workshop where they can experiment and build their own telephones - just like Reis. His house has been turned into a museum, and his home town celebrates “the day of the telephone.” I want to see you.” - was clearly understood.īell’s invention changed the world, and while American kids may take telephones - and their cellphones - for granted, kids in Germany remember Reis. His first message to his assistant in another room - “Mr. In 1876, two years after Reis died, 29-year-old Bell succeeded with his phone using the same process but without knitting needles and violins. The scientists thought it was a toy and laughed at it. Reis called his invention the telefon, in German, a new word and new machine known today by practically everyone on Earth.īut Reis never got recognition for his invention. Witnesses to one of Reis’s early experiments thought his message was “The sun is made of sugar.” In fact, he had said, “The sun is made of copper.” Sometimes, it was just hard to understand what was being said.Ī shot of Reis, with his wife, Margarethe, their two children, Carl and Elise. But today’s popular cellphone frustration - “Can you hear me now?” - also was a problem for Reis’s invention. The needle was placed in a violin, where it vibrated.Īnyone standing near the violin could hear what somebody had said into the “ear” in the other room. In that other room, the wires were connected to a knitting needle with more copper wires twisted around it and then wrapped in silk. Your voice caused the metal to vibrate, and it was carried over copper wires to another room. Stuck in the middle was a piece of metal connected to batteries. First, you spoke into a wooden ear he carved. It was 150 years ago last month that Reis showed off his invention. Historians say Reis built the first “modern” telephone, but you probably wouldn’t recognize it. We greatly appreciate our listeners and readers and thank you for joining us on this journey so far.When Alexander Graham Bell was just 13 years old, a 27-year-old high school physics teacher named Johann Philipp Reis showed a bunch of scientists in Frankfurt, Germany, a battery-powered thing that carried the human voice over copper wires to another room. Check them out and consider being a sponsor. If you’d like to help out, there are several different pledge levels. Please visit our page on Patreon and watch a short video of us recording the show and talking about our expansion plans. We are creators on Patreon, a patronage platform where you can support your favorite content creators. We’re also looking to improve and expand the show in other ways - publishing, social media, live events and other forms of media. We are producing a new Bowery Boys podcast every other week. The Bowery Boys: New York City History podcast is brought to you …. Some vintage educational films about ‘new’ telephone technology:Īfter listening to New York Calling: A History of the Telephone, go back to these prior Bowery Boys podcast with similar themes For a 2-for-1 admission, use the discount code is ANALOGCITYBB when you buy your tickets online here. The Museum of the City of New York has graciously provided an offer code for Bowery Boys listeners and readers to visit their newest exhibition Analog City. The classic New York City phone booth is not quite gone. But it’s local too the tales of sassy operators, big shiny Art Deco towers and the ever-changing New York phone number.įEATURING The story of Antonio Meucci, the Italian immigrant who invented a version of the telephone …. This is a national story of course, one of patents and mergers, of Bell Telephone’s monopoly over the business for over 100 years. The needle was connected by wire to the battery, and the battery was connected by wire to a receiver. The covered end of the drumlike device was attached to the needle. The transmitter comprised three partsa drumlike device (a cylinder with a covered end), a needle, and a battery. Ever since Alexander Graham Bell brought his first model telephone to Manhattan 145 years ago, the telephone has helped us make plans, share urgent news, and has even allowed people to move away from each other – but still feel close. The first telephone had two parts: a transmitter and a receiver.
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