Hello, hello? Do you remember when you first learned how to make or answer a telephone call? Phones are so commonplace now and most don't give it much thought. But more than one TPL Kids visitor wondered who invented the telephone and how it works.
Many inventors developed early versions of the telephone, but Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the first patent for it. He made the first phone call on March 10, 1876. (Who did he call? His assistant, who was in the next room!)
Bell taught at schools for Deaf students and researched how sound works. His mother and wife were both Deaf, and he hoped his research could help the Deaf community.
The phone that Bell created had a small microphone in one end of the headset and a small loudspeaker in the other. Speaking into the microphone converts the speaker's voice into an electrical signal. It passes as a current through the telephone wire, and the loudspeaker converts it back into a voice at the receiving end.
Today many people use cell phones. A cell phone has a microphone too, but the speaker's voice travels through the air on radio waves to a cell tower. The tower transmits the signal to the receiving phone. No telephone wires necessary!
Did you know the library has a phone number you can call to listen to stories in different languages? Give Dial-a-Story a ring at 416-395-5400! Have more questions about telephones? Jot down the (Dewey decimal) numbers for these books.
Image source: "Telephone" by Timitrius is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
