4 inventions of Alexander Graham Bell you didn’t know about
We have all grown up hearing about the renowned inventor Alexander Graham Bell who introduced the world to telephones in 1875, revolutionising the field of communication. For those unaware, he was greatly interested in sound technology as both his mother and wife were deaf. In fact, he was the one to secure exclusive rights to this technology and even launch the Bell Telephone Company in 1877. But what the world doesn’t know is that apart from being the inventor of telephone, Bell also pioneered several other devices during his career. Let’s take a look at a few of them.
A metal detector
When the 20th US President James A. Garfield was assassinated in September 1881, the Federal Bureau of Investigation commissioned many scientists and inventors to help during his autopsy. Why? Because locating the bullet in his corpse was becoming difficult as it was dodged in an unforeseen area. This is when Alexander Graham Bell invented a device to trace the metal through induction balance system. Eventually, the instrument became the first ever metal detector.
Photophone
Do you know what a photophone is? Well, it is a device that transmits sound on a beam of light. It was especially invented to help people with speech difficulties. It was designed by Alexander Graham Bell and later developed hands-on by his assistant Charles Sumner Tainter in February 1880. In fact, to prove that it actually worked, four months later, Bell visited a special needs school and transmitted a wireless voice telephonic message from the roof of the school building to the window of Bell’s laboratory, 213 metres away. It was done with the help of sunlight. Often, Bell’s photophone is deemed as a precursor to the fibre-optic communication system. Not only that, but it was also considered by Bell as his greatest invention of all time, greater than the telephone.
Graphophone
Do you know what a phonograph is? Yes, it is the ancient record player which captured sound waves onto an engraved archive and played them later on. Now, graphophone was an improvement on the phonograph. It used a floating stylus (an engraving tool) to cut grooves into a wax-coated carboard cylinder. The purpose was of course the same, to record and play back sound, which it definitely did better than its precursor. It was invented by Bell in 1883 in such a way that it could record all kinds of voices, even the ones different from average human voices.
Audiometer
If you have grandparents at home who have troubles hearing, you might have seen a hearing aid first hand. It helps people with auditory issues hear better. But how does one confirm whether or not a person has hearing disorders? Well, that is where audiometer comes into play. It is a device that helps detect and treat hearing problems. Today, it is an important part of ENT (ear, nose, throat) diagnosis and other audiology centres. In 1889, Alexander Graham Bell came up with the idea of first audiometer as inspired by his deaf family. He constructed an embedded hardware unit connected to a pair of headphones that was worn by the patient. Once fixed, a number of sounds were played, and the subject was asked to identify it using a remote control.