THE popular exhibitions of the speaking-telephone during the past six
months, together with numerous newspaper articles, have created a
widespread interest in the instrument; and it has been thought that a
small book explanatory of its action would meet a public want.
It has seemed to be necessary to call attention to the various phenomena
and inter-actions of the forces involved; and hence the author has
attempted to make plain and intelligible the phenomena of electricity,
magnetism, and sound. Cuts have been inserted where they could be useful
in making the mechanical conditions more intelligible; and a table of
tone-composition has been devised, which shows at a glance the
constituents of the sounds of various musical instruments.
As the speaking-telephone, in which magneto-electric currents were
utilized for the transmission of speech and other kinds of sounds, was
invented by me, I have described at some length my first instrument, and
have also given explicit directions for making a speaking-telephone
which I know, by trial, to be as efficient as any hitherto made; but
nothing in the book is to be taken as a dedication of the invention to
the public, as steps have already been taken to secure letters-patent
according to the laws of the United States.