66-807: The Volta Laboratory (also known as the Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory , the Bell Carriage House and the Bell Laboratory ) and the Volta Bureau were created in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. , by Alexander Graham Bell . The Volta Laboratory was founded in 1880–1881 with Charles Sumner Tainter and Bell's cousin, Chichester Bell , for the research and development of telecommunication , phonograph and other technologies. Using funds generated by
132-644: A universal language . However, although heavily promoted at the Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf in Milan, Italy in 1880, after a period of a dozen years or so in which it was applied to the education of the deaf, Visible Speech was found to be more cumbersome, and thus a hindrance, to the teaching of speech to the deaf compared to other methods, and eventually faded from use. In 1887, his son, Alexander Graham Bell, sold off
198-409: A Graphophone and my mother was a Phonograph." Believing the faint voice to be that of her father, Bell's daughter Mrs. Gilbert Grosvenor remarked: "That is just the sort of thing father would have said. He was always quoting from the classics." The voice was later identified by Tainter as in fact that of her paternal grandfather, Alexander Melville Bell . The historic recording, not heard since 1937,
264-399: A U.S. National Historic Landmark , was constructed in 1893 under the direction of Alexander Graham Bell to serve as a center of information for deaf and hard of hearing persons. Bell, best known for receiving the first telephone patent in 1876, was also a prominent figure of his generation in the education of the deaf . His grandfather, father, and elder brother were teachers of speech and
330-530: A dozen diphthongs : World English , which was similar to the International Phonetic Alphabet , and also Line Writing, used as a shorthand form for stenographers . Melville's works on Visible Speech became highly notable, and were described by Édouard Séguin as being "...a greater invention than the telephone of his son, Alexander Graham Bell ". Melville saw numerous applications for his invention, including its worldwide use as
396-774: A lecturer on philology at Queen's College, Kingston, Ontario ; and in 1881 he moved to Washington, D.C. at the suggestion of his son Graham, where he devoted himself to the education of the deaf by the use of Visible Speech in which the alphabetical characters of his linguistic invention were representative graphic diagrams for the various positions and motions of the lips, tongue, mouth, etc., as well as other methods of orthoepy . Prior to departing Scotland for Canada Melville Bell had published at least 17 works on proper speech, vocal physiology, stenography and other works. Besides instructing at Queen's College he also lectured in Boston, Montreal, Toronto, London, and other universities including
462-632: A license under the Bell and Tainter patent and made his records under that patent as the result of that license. Among the later improvements, the Graphophone used a cutting stylus to create lateral 'zig-zag' grooves of uniform depth into the wax-coated cardboard cylinders rather than the up-and-down hill and dale grooves of Edison's then-contemporary phonograph machine designs. Bell and Tainter developed wax-coated cardboard cylinders for their record cylinders instead of Edison's cast iron cylinder which
528-475: A lifelong admiration of Bell, was too ill to attend and remained at home in San Diego . A recording had been engraved into the wax-filled groove of the modified Edison machine. When it was played, a voice from the distant past spoke, reciting a quotation from Shakespeare's Hamlet : "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio , than are dreamed of in your philosophy ..." and also, whimsically: "I am
594-683: A number of complete machines, at the Smithsonian Institution . Their first experimental machine was sealed in a box and deposited in the Smithsonian's archives in 1881 in case of a later patent dispute. The others were delivered by Alexander Graham Bell to the National Museum in two lots in 1915 and 1922. Bell was elderly by that time, busy with his hydrofoil and aeronautical experiments in Nova Scotia . In 1947
660-551: A patent at that time, however, they sealed the machine into a metal box and deposited it at the Smithsonian, specifying that it was not to be opened without the consent of two of the three men. By 1937 Tainter was the only one of the Associates still living, and the box preserved at the Smithsonian was opened with his permission. For the occasion, descendants of Alexander Graham Bell gathered in Washington, but Tainter, who held
726-456: A pressure of about 100 lbs. [69 newtons/scm] was indicated by the gage. The phonograph cylinder was then rotated, and the sounds produced by the escaping air could be heard, and the words understood a distance of at least 8 feet from the phonograph." The point of the jet [nozzle] is glass, and [the air jet] could be directed at a single [record] groove. The associates also experimented with other stylus jets of molten metal, wax, and water. Most of
SECTION 10
#1732773216086792-800: A series of 12 lectures at Boston's Lowell Institute . When the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall (later King George V and Queen Mary) called on Brantford for a visit, Melville was asked to greet the dignitaries at the public event. He became a Fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland, the Royal Scottish Society of Arts , and the American Association for the Advancement of Science , as well as obtaining memberships in other societies. Alexander Melville Bell
858-399: A sharp recording stylus. At each step of their inventive process the Associates also sought out the best type of materials available in order to produce the clearest and most audible sound reproduction. The strength of the Bell and Tainter patent was noted in an excerpt from a letter written by Washington patent attorney S. T. Cameron, who was a member of the law firm conducting litigation for
924-703: A shop for the production of scientific instruments in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts . He later wrote of his first meeting with Bell: "... one day I received a visit from a very distinguished looking gentleman with jet black hair and beard, who announced himself as Mr. A. Graham Bell. His charm of manner and conversation attracted me greatly. ... ". Shortly after the creation of the Bell Telephone Company , Bell took his bride, Mabel Hubbard , to Europe for an extended honeymoon. At that time he asked Tainter to move from Cambridge to Washington to start up
990-479: A spiral line around the cylinder as it turned. The cylinder is to be covered with a sheet of paper upon which the record is made. ... This ink ... can be rendered magnetic by means of a permanent magnet. The sounds were to be reproduced by simply substituting a magnet for the fountain pen. ... The result of these ideas for magnetic reproduction resulted in patent U.S. patent 341,287 , granted on May 4, 1886; which dealt solely with "the reproduction, through
1056-489: A spiral, recording 150 grooves to the inch. The preserved Bell and Tainter records are of both the lateral cut and the Edison hill-and-dale (up-and-down) styles. Edison for many years used the "hill-and-dale" method with both cylinder and disc records, and Emile Berliner is credited with the invention of the lateral cut Gramophone record in 1887. The Volta associates had been experimenting with both types as early as 1881, as
1122-521: A vacant house [at 1325] 'L' Street, between 13th and 14th Streets, and fitted it up for our purpose ... The Smithsonian Institution sent us over a mail sack of scientific books from the library of the Institution, to consult, and primed with all we could learn ... we went to work ... We were like the explorers in an entirely unknown land, where one has to select the path that seems to be most likely to get you to your destination, with no knowledge of what
1188-609: Is ahead. In conducting our work we had first to design an experimental apparatus, then hunt about, often in Philadelphia and New York , for the materials with which to construct it, which were usually hard to find, and finally build the models we needed, ourselves. Bell appeared to have spent little time in the Volta Laboratory. Tainter's unpublished manuscript and notes (later donated to the Smithsonian Institution 's National Museum of American History ) depict Bell as
1254-414: Is also called the 'AG Bell'. From about 1879 Bell's earliest physics research in Washington, D.C., was conducted at his first laboratory , a rented house, at 1325 L Street NW, and then from the autumn of 1880 at 1221 Connecticut Avenue NW. The laboratory was later relocated to 2020 F Street NW sometime after January 1886. With most of the laboratory's project work being conducted by his two associates, Bell
1320-403: Is shown by the following quotation from Tainter: The record on the electro-type in the Smithsonian package is of the other form, where the vibrations are impressed parallel to the surface of the recording material, as was done in the old Scott Phonautograph of 1857, thus forming a groove of uniform depth, but of wavy character, in which the sides of the groove act upon the tracing point instead of
1386-466: Is unique in the Georgetown area of Washington, due to its Academic Revival style. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1972. While the Volta Bureau's assigned mission was to conduct research into deafness as well as its related pedagogical strategies , Bell would continue with his other scientific, engineering and inventive works for the remainder of his life, conducted mainly at
SECTION 20
#17327732160861452-478: The AAPTSD , one of several organizations for the deaf that Bell ultimately donated some $ 450,000 (approximately $ 15,000,000 in current dollars) to starting in the 1880s. The building, a neoclassical Corinthian templum in antis structure of closely matching golden yellow sandstone and Roman brick with architectural terracotta details, was built in 1893 to a design by Peabody and Stearns of Boston. Its design
1518-545: The Hubbard • Bell • Grossman • Pillot Memorial , alongside his wife and other members of the Bell and Grosvenor families. The Bell House at Colonial Beach, Virginia was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. The voice of Bell, reciting a sentence from Hamlet , can be heard at the Smithsonian Institution , as extracted from an 1881 graphophone recording. The following are some of
1584-608: The University of Edinburgh , and from 1865 to 1870 at the University of London . Melville married Eliza Grace Symonds (b. 21 September 1809, Alverstock, Hampshire d. Georgetown, Washington, D.C., US 5 January 1897), the only daughter of a British naval surgeon . In 1868, and again in 1870 and 1871, Melville lectured at the Lowell Institute in Boston , Massachusetts, US after having moved to Canada. In 1870 he became
1650-583: The Volta Laboratory in Melville's backyard carriage house. Due to the limited space available at the carriage house, and with the assistance of Melville who contributed US$ 15,000 (approximately $ 510,000 in today's dollars), Graham had his new Volta Bureau building constructed close by in 1893. Melville Bell died at age 86 in 1905 due to pneumonia after an operation for diabetes, and was interred in Washington, D.C.'s Rock Creek Cemetery adjacent to
1716-696: The Volta Prize of 50,000 francs (approximately US$ 330,000 in current dollars) for the invention of the telephone . Bell used the money to establish a trust fund, the Volta Fund, and founded the Volta Laboratory Association, along with his cousin Chichester A. Bell and Sumner Tainter . The laboratory focused on research for the analysis, recording, and transmission of sound. In 1887, the Volta Laboratory Association transferred
1782-566: The phonograph , during which they created the tradename for one of their products – the Graphophone (a playful transposition of phonograph )." Earlier Bell had met fellow Cambridge resident, Charles Sumner Tainter , a young self-educated instrument maker who had been assigned to the U.S. Transit of Venus Commission geodetic expedition to New Zealand to observe the planet's solar transit in December 1874. Tainter subsequently opened
1848-484: The stylus was properly adjusted, its reproduction of sound was distorted and squeaky, and good for only a few playbacks; nevertheless Edison had discovered the idea of sound recording . However, he did not work to improve its quality, likely because of an agreement to spend the next five years developing the New York City electric light and power system. Meanwhile, Bell, a scientist and experimenter at heart,
1914-510: The transmission of sound by light , which resulted in the selenium-celled Photophone . Both the Hubbards and the Bells decided to move to the nation's capital, in part due to the numerous legal challenges to Bell's master telephone patent of 1876. Washington was additionally becoming a center of scientific and institutional organizations, which also facilitated Bell's research work. By 1881
1980-470: The 1880s the Volta Associates worked on various projects, at times either individually or collectively. Originally, work at the laboratory was to focus on telephone applications, but then shifted to phonographic research at the prompting of Tainter. The laboratory's projects and achievements included (partial list): "... as well as several other important, and commercially decisive improvements to
2046-887: The American Association for the Promotion of the Teaching of Speech to the Deaf (the AAPTSD) which was organized in 1890, electing Bell as President. The Volta Bureau officially merged with the Association in 1908, and has been known as the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf since 1956, and then as the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing since 1999. Informally it
Volta Laboratory and Bureau - Misplaced Pages Continue
2112-483: The American Graphophone Company. The letter dated December 8, 1914, was addressed to George C. Maynard, Curator of Mechanical Technology at the U.S. National Museum (now the National Museum of Natural History): Subsequent to the issuance of the Bell and Tainter patent No. 341214, Edison announced that he would shortly produce his 'new phonograph' which, when it appeared, was in fact nothing but
2178-405: The Bell and Tainter record set forth in their patent 341214, being a record cut or engraved in wax or wax-like material, although Edison always insisted on calling this record an 'indented' record, doubtless because his original tin-foil record was an 'indented' record. Edison was compelled to acknowledge that his 'new phonograph' was an infringement of the Bell and Tainter patent 341214, and took out
2244-464: The Bureau increased to such an extent that in 1893 Bell, with the assistance of his father, constructed a neoclassical yellow brick and sandstone building specifically to house the institution. The new bureau building was constructed across the street from his father's home, where its carriage house had been its original headquarters. On May 8, 1893, Bell's 13-year-old prodigy, Helen Keller , performed
2310-592: The Edison patent for US$ 10,000 and dividends of 20% of the company's profits. But Hubbard's phonograph company was quickly threatened with financial disaster because people would not buy a machine that seldom worked and which was also difficult for the average person to operate. By 1879 Hubbard was able to interest Bell in improving upon the phonograph, and it was agreed that a laboratory should be created in Washington, D.C. Experiments were also to be conducted in telephone and other telecommunication technologies such as
2376-469: The Museum received the key to the locked box of experimental " Graphophones ", as they were called to differentiate them from Edison's 'phonograph'. In that year Mrs. Laura F. Tainter also donated to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History ten bound notebooks, along with Tainter's unpublished autobiography. This material described in detail the strange creations and even stranger experiments at
2442-865: The Photophone's rights to the National Bell Telephone Company in May 1880. The master patent for the Photophone ( U.S. patent 235,199 Apparatus for Signalling and Communicating, called Photophone ), was issued in December 1880, many decades before its principles could be applied to practical applications. Bell and his two associates took Edison's tinfoil phonograph and modified it considerably to make it reproduce sound from wax instead of tinfoil. They began their work in Washington, D. C., in 1879, and continued until they were granted basic patents in 1886 for recording in wax. They preserved some 20 pieces of experimental apparatus, including
2508-409: The Volta Associates had succeeded in improving an Edison tinfoil phonograph significantly. They filled the groove of its heavy iron cylinder with wax, then instead of wrapping a sheet of foil around it and using a blunt stylus to indent the recording into the foil, as Edison did, they used a chisel-like stylus to engrave the recording into the wax. The result was a clearer recording. Rather than apply for
2574-439: The Volta Laboratory, Bell later founded the Volta Bureau in 1887 "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge relating to the deaf ", and merged with the American Association for the Promotion and Teaching of Speech to the Deaf (AAPTSD) in 1908. It was renamed as the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf in 1956 and then the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in 1999. The current building,
2640-599: The action of magnetism, of sounds by means of records in solid substances. " Georgetown, Washington, D.C. Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 546628176 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:53:36 GMT Alexander Melville Bell Alexander Melville Bell (1 March 1819 – 7 August 1905)
2706-402: The bottom, as is the case in the vertical type. This form we named the zig-zag form, and referred to it in that way in our notes. Its important advantage in guiding the reproducing needle I first called attention to in the note on p. 9-Vol 1-Home Notes on March 29-1881, and endeavored to use it in my early work, but encountered so much difficulty in getting a form of reproducer that would work with
Volta Laboratory and Bureau - Misplaced Pages Continue
2772-481: The deaf and as a professor of vocal physiology and the mechanics of speech at Boston University . During this time he also invented an improved phonautograph , the multiple telegraph , the speaking telegraph, or telephone , and numerous other devices. In 1879, Bell and his wife Mabel Hubbard , who had been deaf from early childhood, moved to Washington, D.C. The following year, the French government awarded Bell
2838-480: The disc machines designed at the Volta Lab had their disc mounted on vertical turntables. The explanation is that in the early experiments, the turntable with the disc was mounted on the shop lathe, along with the recording and reproducing heads. Later, when the complete models were built most of them featured vertical turntables. One interesting exception was a horizontal seven inch turntable. Although made in 1886,
2904-490: The intellectual assets owned by the Volta Laboratory Association. Graham used the considerable profits from the sale of his shares to found the Volta Bureau as an instrument "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge relating to the deaf". Graham's scientific and statistical research work on deafness became so large that within the period of a few years his documentation engulfed an entire room of
2970-431: The laboratory which led to the greatly improved phonographs in 1886 that were to help found the recording and dictation machine industries. Thomas A. Edison had invented the phonograph in 1877. But the fame bestowed on Edison for this invention (sometimes called his most original) was not due to its quality. Recording with his tinfoil phonograph was too difficult to be practical, as the tinfoil tore easily, and even when
3036-411: The machine was a duplicate of one made earlier but taken to Europe by Chichester Bell . Tainter was granted Patent No. 385886 for it on July 10, 1888. The playing arm is rigid except for a pivoted vertical motion of 90 degrees to allow removal of the record or a return to the starting position. While recording or playing, the record not only rotated but moved laterally under the stylus which thus described
3102-600: The machines were donated to the collections of the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History , and were believed to be the oldest reproducible bona fide sound recordings preserved anywhere in the world. While some were scratched and cracked, others were still in good condition when they were received. The Photophone, also known as a radiophone , was invented jointly by Bell and his then-assistant Sumner Tainter on February 19, 1880, at Bell's 1325 'L' Street laboratory in Washington, D.C. Bell believed
3168-408: The method of cutting a record on wax was the one later exploited commercially, everything else seems to have been tried at least once. The following was noted on Wednesday, March 20, 1881: A fountain pen is attached to a diaphragm so as to be vibrated in a plane parallel to the axis of a cylinder—The ink used in this pen to contain iron in a finely divided state, and the pen caused to trace
3234-527: The new laboratory. Bell's cousin, Chichester Bell , who had been teaching college chemistry in London, also agreed to come to Washington as the third associate. The establishment of the laboratory was comparatively simple; according to Tainter's autobiography: I therefore wound up my business affairs in Cambridge, packed up all of my tools and machines, and ... went to Washington, and after much search, rented
3300-534: The newer and larger laboratory he built on his Nova Scotia estate, Beinn Breagh . Although Bell self-described his occupation as a "teacher of the deaf" throughout his life, his foremost activities revolved around those of general scientific discovery and invention. By 1887 the Volta Laboratory Association's assets had been distributed among its partners and its collective works had ceased. In 1895 Bell's father, noted philologist and elocutionist Alexander Melville Bell, who had authored over 45 publications on elocution,
3366-460: The person who suggested the basic lines of research , furnished the financial resources, and then allowed his associates to receive the credit for many of the inventions that resulted. The experimental machines built at the Volta Laboratory include both disc and cylinder types , with some of the disc type turntables rotating vertically about a horizontal axis, as well as a hand-powered, non-magnetic tape recorder . The records and tapes used with
SECTION 50
#17327732160863432-410: The photophone was his most important invention . The device allowed for the transmission of sound on a beam of light . On April 1, 1880, and also described by plaque as occurring on June 3, Bell's assistant transmitted the world's first wireless telephone message to him on their newly invented form of telecommunication , the far advanced precursor to fiber-optic communications . The wireless call
3498-403: The recordings which were then replaced by more convenient wind-up clockwork drive mechanisms and which finally migrated to electric motors, instead of the manual crank that was used on Edison's phonograph. The numerous improvements allowed for a sound quality that was significantly better than Edison's machine. The other experimental Graphophones indicate an amazing range of experimentation. While
3564-495: The sod-breaking ceremony for the construction of the new Volta Bureau building. The 'Volta Bureau' was so named in 1887 at the suggestion of John Hitz, its first superintendent, and Bell's prior researcher . Hitz remained its first superintendent until his death in 1908. Bell's former trust, the Volta Fund, was also renamed the Volta Bureau Fund when the Bureau was established, except for US$ 25,000 that Bell diverted to
3630-441: The soft wax records without tearing the groove, we used the hill and valley type of record more often than the other. The basic distinction between Edison's first phonograph patent and the Bell and Tainter patent of 1886 was the method of recording. Edison's method was to indent the sound waves on a piece of tin-foil while Bell and Tainter's invention called for cutting or "engraving" the sound waves into an ozokerite wax record with
3696-421: The sound recording and phonograph invention patents they had been granted to the American Graphophone Company (later to evolve into Columbia Records ). Alexander Bell bent on improving the lives of the deaf, took a portion of his share of the profits to found the Volta Bureau as an instrument " for the increase and diffusion of knowledge relating to the deaf ". The Volta Bureau worked in close cooperation with
3762-487: The use of visible speech for the deaf and similar related subjects, assigned all his publication copyrights to the Volta Bureau for its financial benefit. The Volta Bureau later evolved into the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (also known as the AG Bell), and its works have actively continued to the present day under its own charter. The Volta Laboratory Association, or Volta Associates,
3828-467: The younger Bell worked with them. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland , Bell moved to Canada with his family in 1870 following the deaths of his brothers, and a year later moved to Boston to teach at a special day school for deaf children. Both Bell's mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing his life's work. He became a renowned educator by opening a private normal class to train teachers of speech to
3894-614: Was a teacher and researcher of physiological phonetics and was the author of numerous works on orthoepy and elocution . Additionally he was also the creator of Visible Speech which was used to help the deaf learn to talk, and was the father of Alexander Graham Bell . Alexander Melville Bell was born in Edinburgh , Scotland , and studied under and became the principal assistant of his father, Alexander Bell (b. 3 March 1790, Fife, Scotland d. 23 April 1865, St. Pancras , north London ), an authority on phonetics and speech disorders. From 1843 to 1865 he lectured on speech elocution at
3960-473: Was able to engage in extensive research into the causes of deafness as well as ways of improving the lives of the deaf, leading him to create the Volta Bureau in 1887. In 1889, Bell and his family moved from their Brodhead-Bell mansion to a new home close to his father, Alexander Melville Bell . Between 1889 and 1893, the Volta Bureau was located in the carriage house to the rear of the home of Bell's father, at 1527 35th Street NW in Washington, D.C. The work of
4026-512: Was covered with a removable film of tinfoil (the actual recording media) that was prone to damage during installation or removal. Tainter received a separate patent for a tube assembly machine to automatically produce the coiled cardboard tubes which served as the foundation for the wax cylinder records. Besides being far easier to handle, the wax recording media also allowed for lengthier recordings and created superior playback quality. The Graphophone designs initially deployed foot treadles to rotate
SECTION 60
#17327732160864092-543: Was created by formal legal agreement on October 8, 1881 (backdated to May 1 of the same year), constituting the Volta Laboratory Association to be the owner of its patents. It was dissolved in 1886 when its sound recording intellectual property assets were transferred into the Volta Graphophone Company. The association was composed of Alexander Graham Bell , Charles Sumner Tainter , and Bell's cousin, renowned British chemist Dr. Chichester Bell . During
4158-612: Was looking for new worlds to conquer after his invention of the telephone . According to Sumner Tainter, it was due to Gardiner Green Hubbard that Bell took an interest in the emerging field of phonograph technology. Bell had married Hubbard's daughter Mabel in 1879 while Hubbard was president of the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company. Hubbard was also one of five stockholders in the Edison Speaking Phonograph , which had purchased
4224-478: Was married twice, first to Eliza Grace Symonds in 1844 with whom he had three children, and then to Harriet G. Shibley. In 1864 Melville published his first works on Visible Speech , to help the deaf both learn and improve upon their aural speech (since the profoundly deaf could themselves not hear their own aural pronunciations). To promote the language, Bell created two written short forms using his system of 29 modifiers and tones, 52 consonants , 36 vowels and
4290-418: Was played again in 2013 and made available online. The method of sound reproduction used on the machine was even more interesting than the quotation. Rather than a conventional stylus and diaphragm , a jet of high pressure air was used. Tainter had previously recorded, on July 7, 1881: "This evening about 7 P.M. ... the apparatus being ready the valve upon the top of the air cylinder was opened slightly until
4356-472: Was sent from the Franklin School to the window of Bell's laboratory, some 213 meters away. Of the eighteen patents granted in Bell's name alone, and the twelve he shared with his collaborators, four were for the photophone, which Bell referred to as his "greatest achievement", writing that the Photophone was "the greatest invention [I have] ever made, greater than the telephone". Bell transferred
#85914