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C.G. Page Creates Galvanic Music Charles Page was practicing medicine in Salem Massachusetts while he continued to pursue his work in the science of electricity. Through out the 1830’s. His work in this field began to gain recognition and was widely discussed overseas. Mr. William Sturgeon of London remarks in a journal," I know of no other philosopher more capable of close reasoning on Electro-magnetic and magnetic electrical physics than Professor Page." It’s during this period that C.G. Page accidentally discovers the electronic tuning fork (also know as galvanic music). While experimenting with horseshoe magnets and a coil is attached to a battery, he noticed that when the coil placed on one or both poles of the magnet, without making contact with it, a ringing in the magnet is heard. This ringing occurs when one of the coils is connected or disconnected to the battery. Thinking that the reverberation is made when the connection was broken produced the sound, Page tested his theory. He moved the battery to a further distance and repeated his experiment. The results were the same. Page says, "The ringing is heard both when the contact is made and broken; when the contact is made, the sound is very feeble; when broken it may be heard at two or three feet distance. " (Stillman, p.307) Page tried this experiment varying the size of the magnets. He noticed that for each magnet a different pitch was heard. He also noticed that the pitch emitted from the magnet is the octave above its fundamental tone. A public demonstration given by Page kicks off many scientific investigations into the articulating telephone research. Pages public experiment gives a sound when the circuit quickly is magnetized or demagnetized De La Rive, Gassiot, and Marrian and the "Magnetic Tick" In France in 1837, De La Rive, Gassiot and Marrian observed that a magnetic bar emitted sound when exposed to rapid alternating magnetization and demagnetization. By moving toward the poles of a horseshoe magnet to a flat coil transverse by an electrical current, a sound was heard. The science community referred to this sound as the "magnetic tick." J.P Marrian-Phili. Mag xxv. P.382; Inst., 1845, p.20; Arch. De l'Electr., v.p. 195 De La Rive-"Treatise on Electricity," by De La Rive, i. P. 300 Arch. de l' Electr. V. p. 200; Inst. 1846, p. 83; Comptes rendus, xx. P 1287; Comp. Rend. Xxii. P. 432; Pogg. Ann. Lxxv.p.637; Ann. De Chim. Et de Phys. Xxvi. P.158. Gassiot- see--"Treatise on Electricity," by De La Rive, i. P. 300 Telegraphic Experiments Everywhere Telegraphic experiments are reported as early as1753 in "Scots Magazine". The first article on telegraphy explains an experiment where the researcher known to us only as ‘C.M.’ sets up 26 insulted wires running between a sender and receiver powered by an electrostatic machine. We have already spoken of Francisco Salva in Spain, Samuel Soemmering in Germany, Sir Francis Ronald in England, Joseph Henry in New York, and Karl Friedrich, Gauss, and Wilhelm Weber in Germany. In fact by this time there were approximately 50 different inventors working on various forms of the telegraph in Europe. Then in 1836, Just months before he meets Wheatstone, William Fothergill Cooke is witness to a demonstration of the telegraph in Heidelberg given by Professor Muncke. Samuel Morse must have seen some sort of telegraph demonstration during his visit to Europe in 1831-1832. Since he, like Cooke, did not have a scientific background, it is very unlikely that he would come up with a concept for the telegraph out of thin air. It has been said that Morse did first learn about the telegraph on a ship in route back to the United States in 1832, however there is little proof to support this claim. 1837, Year of the Telegraph Patent 1837 is also the year of the telegraph patent, and patents for telegraphs are filed in Germany, England and the United States. England will be the first country to actually link two sites. Samuel Morse, after collaborating with Professor Leonard Gale, Alfred Vail, and Joseph Henry, patents his version of the telegraph in the USA. It is believed by many to this day to have been the scientific work of Joseph Henry, which Morse exploits. In Germany, Karl August Steinheil invents a telegraph system in which characters are printed on a paper ribbon; he is the first to use an induction machine as a current source. Steinheil also rediscovers that the earth can be used as a conductor. This would allow the telegraph to be linked by only one wire, as the return wire is replaced by the earth itself. In England, Charles Wheatstone and William Cook patent the first English telegraph, the "five needle telegraph". It is a device with five pointers, which point to letters of the alphabet. The Electric Telegraph Company moves forward as the first telegraph line links Liverpool and Manchester. This starts the growth of the telegraph network, which will shortly span the globe. William Fothergill Cooke Wheeling and Dealing in England In November of 1836 Faraday meets with Cooke, but as we can see in Cooke's letters back to his mother, the meeting does not go very well at all. Faraday quickly excuses himself after Cooke starts to babble about his concept for a perpetual motion machine. Shortly after this meeting, Peter Roget (an old friend and creator of the first thesaurus) tells William Cooke about Charles Wheatstone. Wheatstone is well known in the scientific community of England for the ingenious series of experiments to determine the velocity of electricity. In 1837, Cooke and Wheatstone met for the first time. Both were interested in creating a telegraph but from very different perspectives. Wheatstone was interested in a purely scientific route in which the results would be published. Cooke was only interested in developing a device, which he could exploit for a commercial venture. Another meeting followed in March where Cooke offered Wheatstone a partnership in which Wheatstone would construct the device and, in return, receive one sixth of the profits. Wheatstone was deeply insulted. Wheatstone insisted that if they were to go forward that he must be considered an equal partner. The final result was that Cooke and Wheatstone would be equal partners with Cooke getting an additional10% of the business as a management fee. Continue |