Electrical Communication - Early Attempts to Transmit Speech Electrically

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Early Attempts to Transmit Speech Electrically Bourseul, in 1854, is considered the first to have attacked the problem of transmitting speech by electrical means. In fact, Bourseul nearly stated the correct principle of the telephone about twenty years before it was actually invented. The mistake he made was to suggest that the "disk alternately makes and breaks the current from a battery." Had Bourseul suggested a variable contact for the make-and-break contact, success might have been his. One of the first inventors to attempt to transmit speech electrically was Reis,⁹ who in 1861 constructed a device which he called a telephone. He apparently followed the suggestions of Bourseul, as he had a transmitter consisting of a stretched membrane operating a make-and-break contact. The action of the receiver was based on the Page effect; that is, if a rod of iron is suddenly magnetized or demagnetized a faint sound is given out. This device did succeed in transmitting sound of one pitch but did not transmit speech.
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Last Update: 2011-04-25