Tel"e*phone (?), n. [Gr. &?; far off + &?;
sound.] (Physics) An instrument for reproducing sounds,
especially articulate speech, at a distance.
&fist; The ordinary telephone consists essentially of a device by which
currents of electricity, produced by sounds through the agency of certain
mechanical devices and exactly corresponding in duration and intensity to
the vibrations of the air which attend them, are transmitted to a distant
station, and there, acting on suitable mechanism, reproduce similar sounds
by repeating the vibrations. The necessary variations in the electrical
currents are usually produced by means of a microphone attached to a thin
diaphragm upon which the voice acts, and are intensified by means of an
induction coil. In the magnetic telephone, or magneto-
telephone, the diaphragm is of soft iron placed close to the pole of a
magnet upon which is wound a coil of fine wire, and its vibrations produce
corresponding vibrable currents in the wire by induction. The
mechanical, or string, telephone is a device in which
the voice or sound causes vibrations in a thin diaphragm, which are
directly transmitted along a wire or string connecting it to a similar
diaphragm at the remote station, thus reproducing the sound. It does not
employ electricity.
Tel"e*phone, v. t. To convey or announce
by telephone.
Tel"e*phone (?), n. [Gr. &?; far off + &?;
sound.] (Physics) An instrument for reproducing sounds,
especially articulate speech, at a distance.
&fist; The ordinary telephone consists essentially of a device by which
currents of electricity, produced by sounds through the agency of certain
mechanical devices and exactly corresponding in duration and intensity to
the vibrations of the air which attend them, are transmitted to a distant
station, and there, acting on suitable mechanism, reproduce similar sounds
by repeating the vibrations. The necessary variations in the electrical
currents are usually produced by means of a microphone attached to a thin
diaphragm upon which the voice acts, and are intensified by means of an
induction coil. In the magnetic telephone, or magneto-
telephone, the diaphragm is of soft iron placed close to the pole of a
magnet upon which is wound a coil of fine wire, and its vibrations produce
corresponding vibrable currents in the wire by induction. The
mechanical, or string, telephone is a device in which
the voice or sound causes vibrations in a thin diaphragm, which are
directly transmitted along a wire or string connecting it to a similar
diaphragm at the remote station, thus reproducing the sound. It does not
employ electricity.
Tel"e*phone, v. t. To convey or announce
by telephone.
