Cyclopedia of Telephony and Telegraphy Volume I Part 6

Materials. Of all the materials available for the variable-resistance element in telephone transmitters, carbon is by far the most suitable, and its use is well nigh universal. Sometimes one of the rarer metals, such as platinum or gold, is to be found in commercial transmitters as part of the resistance-varying device, but, even when this is so, it is always used in combination with carbon in some form or other. Most of the transmitters in use, however, depend solely upon carbon as the conductive material of the variable-resistance element.

Arrangement of Electrodes. Following the principles pointed out by Hughes, the transmitters of today always employ as their variable-resistance elements one or more loose contacts between one or more pairs of electrodes, which electrodes, as just stated, are usually of carbon. Always the arrangement is such that the sound waves will vary the intimacy of contact between the electrodes and, therefore, the resistance of the path through the electrodes.

A mult.i.tude of arrangements have been proposed and tried. Sometimes a single pair of electrodes has been employed having a single point of loose contact between them. These may be termed single-contact transmitters. Sometimes the variable-resistance element has included a greater number of electrodes arranged in multiple, or in series, or in series-multiple, and these have been termed multiple-electrode transmitters, signifying a plurality of electrodes. A later development, an outgrowth of the multiple-electrode transmitter, makes use of a pair of princ.i.p.al electrodes, between which is included a ma.s.s of finely divided carbon in the form of granules or small spheres or pellets. These, regardless of the exact form of the carbon particles, are called granular-carbon transmitters.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 38. Blake Transmitter]

Single Electrode. _Blake_. The most notable example of the single-contact transmitter is the once familiar Blake instrument. At one time this formed a part of the standard equipment of almost every telephone in the United States, and it was also largely used abroad.

Probably no transmitter has ever exceeded it in clearness of articulation, but it was decidedly deficient in power in comparison with the modern transmitters. In this instrument, which is shown in Fig. 38, the variable-resistance contact was that between a carbon and a platinum electrode. The diaphragm _1_ was of sheet iron mounted, as usual in later transmitters, in a soft rubber gasket _2_. The whole diaphragm was mounted in a cast-iron ring _3_, supported on the inside of the box containing the entire instrument. The front electrode _4_ was mounted on a light spring _5_, the upper end of which was supported by a movable bar or lever _6_, flexibly supported on a spring _7_ secured to the casting which supported the diaphragm. The tension of this spring _5_ was such as to cause the platinum point to press lightly away from the center of the diaphragm. The rear electrode was of carbon in the form of a small block _9_, secured in a heavy bra.s.s b.u.t.ton _10_. The entire rear electrode structure was supported on a heavier spring _11_ carried on the same lever as the spring _5_. The tension of this latter spring was such as to press against the front electrode and, by its greater strength, press this against the center of the diaphragm. The adjustment of the instrument was secured by means of the screw _12_, carried in a lug extending rearwardly from the diaphragm supporting casting, this screw, by its position, determining the strength with which the rear electrode pressed against the front electrode and that against the diaphragm.

This instrument was ordinarily mounted in a wooden box together with the induction coil, which is shown in the upper portion of the figure.

The Blake transmitter has pa.s.sed almost entirely out of use in this country, being superseded by the various forms of granular instruments, which, while much more powerful, are not perhaps capable of producing quite such clear and distinct articulation.

The great trouble with the single-contact transmitters, such as the Blake, was that it was impossible to pa.s.s enough current through the single point of contact to secure the desired power of transmission without overheating the contact. If too much current is sent through such transmitters, an undue amount of heat is generated at the point of contact and a vibration is set up which causes a peculiar humming or squealing sound which interferes with the transmission of other sounds.

Multiple Electrode. To remedy this difficulty the so-called multiple-electrode transmitter was brought out. This took a very great number of forms, of which the one shown in Fig. 39 is typical. The diaphragm shown at _1_, in this particular form, was made of thin pine wood. On the rear side of this, suspended from a rod _3_ carried in a bracket _4_, were a number of carbon rods or pendants _5_, loosely resting against a rod _2_, carried on a bracket _6_ also mounted on the rear of the diaphragm. The pivotal rod _3_ and the rod _2_, against which the pendants rested, were sometimes, like the pendant rods, made of carbon and sometimes of metal, such as bra.s.s. When the diaphragm vibrated, the intimacy of contact between the pendant rod _5_ and the rod _2_ was altered, and thus the resistance of the path through all of the pendant rods in multiple was changed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 39. Multiple-Electrode Transmitter]

A mult.i.tude of forms of such transmitters came into use in the early eighties, and while they in some measure remedied the difficulty encountered with the Blake transmitter, _i.e._, of not being able to carry a sufficiently large current, they were all subject to the effects of extreme sensitiveness, and would rattle or break when called upon to transmit sounds of more than ordinary loudness.

Furthermore, the presence of such large ma.s.ses of material, which it was necessary to throw into vibration by the sound waves, was distinctly against this form of transmitter. The inertia of the moving parts was so great that clearness of articulation was interfered with.

Granular Carbon. The idea of employing a ma.s.s of granular carbon, supported between two electrodes, one of which vibrated with the sound waves and the other was stationary, was proposed by Henry Hunnings in the early eighties. While this idea forms the basis of all modern telephone transmitters, yet it did not prevent the almost universal adoption of the single-contact form of instrument during the next decade.

Western Electric Solid-Back Transmitter. In the early nineties, however, the granular-carbon transmitter came into its own with the advent and wide adoption of the transmitter designed by Anthony C.

White, known as the _White_, or _solid-back_, transmitter. This has for many years been the standard instrument of the Bell companies operating throughout the United States, and has found large use abroad. A horizontal cross-section of this instrument is shown in Fig.

40, and a rear view of the working parts in Fig. 41. The working parts are all mounted on the front casting _1_. This is supported in a cup _2_, in turn supported on the lug _3_, which is pivoted on the transmitter arm or other support. The front and rear electrodes of this instrument are formed of thin carbon disks shown in solid black.

The rear electrode, the larger one of these disks, is securely attached by solder to the face of a bra.s.s disk having a rearwardly projecting screw-threaded shank, which serves to hold it and the rear electrode in place in the bottom of a heavy bra.s.s cup _4_. The front electrode is mounted on the rear face of a stud. Clamped against the head of this stud, by a screw-threaded clamping ring _7_, is a mica washer, or disk _6_. The center portion of this mica washer is therefore rigid with respect to the front electrode and partakes of its movements. The outer edge of this mica washer is similarly clamped against the front edge of the cup _4_, a screw-threaded ring _9_ serving to hold the edge of the mica rigidly against the front of the cup. The outer edge of this washer is, therefore, rigid with respect to the rear electrode, which is fixed. Whatever relative movement there is between the two electrodes must, therefore, be permitted by the flexing of the mica washer. This mica washer not only serves to maintain the electrodes in their normal relative positions, but also serves to close the chamber which contains the electrodes, and, therefore, to prevent the granular carbon, with which the s.p.a.ce between the electrodes is filled, from falling out.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 40. White Solid-Back Transmitter]

The cup _4_, containing the electrode chamber, is rigidly fastened with respect to the body of the transmitter by a rearwardly projecting shank held in a bridge piece _8_ which is secured at its ends to the front block. The needed rigidity of the rear electrode is thus obtained and this is probably the reason for calling the instrument the _solid-back_. The front electrode, on the other hand, is fastened to the center of the diaphragm by means of a shank on the stud, which pa.s.ses through a hole in the diaphragm and is clamped thereto by two small nuts. Against the rear face of the diaphragm of this transmitter there rest two damping springs. These are not shown in Fig. 40 but are in Fig. 41. They are secured at one end to the rear f.l.a.n.g.e of the front casting _1_, and bear with their other or free ends against the rear face of the diaphragm. The damping springs are prevented from coming into actual contact with the diaphragm by small insulating pads. The purpose of the damping springs is to reduce the sensitiveness of the diaphragm to extraneous sounds. As a result, the White transmitter does not pick up all of the sounds in its vicinity as readily as do the more sensitive transmitters, and thus the transmission is not interfered with by extraneous noises. On the other hand, the provision of these heavy damping springs makes it necessary that this transmitter shall be spoken into directly by the user.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 41. White Solid-Back Transmitter]

The action of this transmitter is as follows: Sound waves are concentrated against the center of the diaphragm by the mouth-piece, which is of the familiar form. These waves impinge against the diaphragm, causing it to vibrate, and this, in turn, produces similar vibrations in the front electrode. The vibrations of the front electrode are permitted by the elasticity of the mica washer _6_. The rear electrode is, however, held stationary within the heavy chambered block _4_ and which in turn is held immovable by its rigid mounting.

As a result, the front electrode approaches and recedes from the rear electrode, thus compressing and decompressing the ma.s.s of granular carbon between them. As a result, the intimacy of contact between the electrode plates and the granules and also between the granules themselves is altered, and the resistance of the path from one electrode to the other through the ma.s.s of granules is varied.

New Western Electric Transmitter. The White transmitter was the prototype of a large number of others embodying the same features of having the rear electrode mounted in a stationary cup or chamber and the front electrode movable with the diaphragm, a washer of mica or other flexible insulating material serving to close the front of the electrode chamber and at the same time to permit the necessary vibration of the front electrode with the diaphragm.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 42. New Western Electric Transmitter]

One of these transmitters, embodying these same features but with modified details, is shown in Fig. 42, this being the new transmitter manufactured by the Western Electric Company. In this the bridge of the original White transmitter is dispensed with, the electrode chamber being supported by a pressed metal cup _1_, which supports the chamber as a whole. The electrode cup, instead of being made of a solid block as in the White instrument, is composed of two portions, a cylindrical or tubular portion _2_ and a back _3_. The cylindrical portion is externally screw-threaded so as to engage an internal screw thread in a f.l.a.n.g.ed opening in the center of the cup _1_. By this means the electrode chamber is held in place in the cup _1_, and by the same means the mica washer _4_ is clamped between the f.l.a.n.g.e in this opening and the tubular portion _2_ of the electrode chamber. The front electrode is carried, as in the White transmitter, on the mica washer and is rigidly attached to the center of the diaphragm so as to partake of the movement thereof. It will be seen, therefore, that this is essentially a White transmitter, but with a modified mounting for the electrode chamber.

A feature in this transmitter that is not found in the White transmitter is that both the front and the rear electrodes, in fact, the entire working portions of the transmitter, are insulated from the exposed metal parts of the instrument. This is accomplished by insulating the diaphragm and the supporting cup _1_ from the transmitter front. The terminal _5_ on the cup _1_ forms the electrical connection for the rear electrode, while the terminal _6_, which is mounted _on_ but insulated _from_ the cup _1_ and is connected with the front electrode by a thin flexible connecting strip, forms the electrical connection for the front electrode.

Kellogg Transmitter. The transmitter of the Kellogg Switchboard and Supply Company, originally developed by Mr. W.W. Dean and modified by his successors in the Kellogg Company, is shown in Fig. 43. In this, the electrode chamber, instead of being mounted in a stationary and rigid position, as in the case of the White instrument, is mounted on, and, in fact, forms a part of the diaphragm. The electrode which is a.s.sociated with the mica washer instead of moving with the diaphragm, as in the White instrument, is rigidly connected to a bridge so as to be as free as possible from all vibrations.

Referring to Fig. 43, which is a horizontal cross-section of the instrument, _1_ indicates the diaphragm. This is of aluminum and it has in its center a forwardly deflected portion forming a chamber for the electrodes. The front electrode _2_ of carbon is backed by a disk of bra.s.s and rigidly secured in the front of this chamber, as clearly indicated. The rear electrode _3_, also of carbon, is backed by a disk of bra.s.s, and is clamped against the central portion of a mica disk by means of the enlarged head of stud _6_. A nut _7_, engaging the end of a screw-threaded shank from the back of the rear electrode, serves to bind these two parts together securely, clamping the mica washer between them. The outer edge of the mica washer is clamped to the main diaphragm _1_ by an aluminum ring and rivets, as clearly indicated. It is seen, therefore, that the diaphragm itself contains the electrode chamber as an integral part thereof. The entire structure of the diaphragm, the front and back electrodes, and the granular carbon within are permanently a.s.sembled in the factory and cannot be dissociated without destroying some of the parts. The rear electrode is held rigidly in place by the bridge _5_ and the stud _6_, this stud pa.s.sing through a block _9_ mounted on the bridge but insulated from it. The stud _6_ is clamped in the block _9_ by means of the set screw _8_, so as to hold the rear electrode in proper position after this position has been determined.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 43. Kellogg Transmitter]

In this transmitter, as in the transmitter shown in Fig. 42, all of the working parts are insulated from the exposed metal casing. The diaphragm is insulated from the front of the instrument by means of a washer _4_ of impregnated cloth, as indicated. The rear electrode is insulated from the other portions of the instrument by means of the mica washer and by means of the insulation between the block _9_ and the bridge _5_. The terminal for the rear electrode is mounted on the block _9_, while the terminal for the front electrode, shown at _10_, is mounted on, but insulated from, the bridge. This terminal _10_ is connected with the diaphragm and therefore with the front electrode by means of a thin, flexible metallic connection. This transmitter is provided with damping springs similar to those of the White instrument.

It is claimed by advocates of this type of instrument that, in addition to the ordinary action due to the compression and decompression of the granular carbon between the electrodes, there exists another action due to the agitation of the granules as the chamber is caused to vibrate by the sound waves. In other words, in addition to the ordinary action, which may be termed _the piston action between the electrodes_, it is claimed that the general shaking-up effect of the granules when the chamber vibrates produces an added effect. Certain it is, however, that transmitters of this general type are very efficient and have proven their capability of giving satisfactory service through long periods of time.

Another interesting feature of this instrument as it is now manufactured is the use of a transmitter front that is struck up from sheet metal rather than the employment of a casting as has ordinarily been the practice. The formation of the supporting lug for the transmitter from the sheet metal which forms the rear casing or sh.e.l.l of the instrument is also an interesting feature.

Automatic Electric Company Transmitter. The transmitter of the Automatic Electric Company, of Chicago, shown in Fig. 44, is of the same general type as the one just discussed, in that the electrode chamber is mounted on and vibrates with the diaphragm instead of being rigidly supported on the bridge as in the case of the White or solid-back type of instrument. In this instrument the transmitter front _1_ is struck up from sheet metal and contains a rearwardly projecting f.l.a.n.g.e, carrying an internal screw thread. A heavy inner cup _2_, together with the diaphragm _3_, form an enclosure containing the electrode chamber. The diaphragm is, in this case, permanently secured at its edge to the periphery of the inner cup _2_ by a band of metal _4_ so formed as to embrace the edges of both the cup and the diaphragm and permanently lock them together. This inner chamber is held in place in the transmitter front _1_ by means of a lock ring _5_ externally screw-threaded to engage the internal screw-thread on the f.l.a.n.g.e on the front. The electrode chamber proper is made in the form of a cup, rigidly secured to the diaphragm so as to move therewith, as clearly indicated. The rear electrode is mounted on a screw-threaded stud carried in a block which is fitted to a close central opening in the cup _2_.

This transmitter does not make use of a mica washer or diaphragm, but employs a felt washer which surrounds the shank of the rear electrode and serves to close and seal the carbon containing cup. By this means the granular carbon is retained in the chamber and the necessary flexibility or freedom of motion is permitted between the front and the rear electrodes. As in the Kellogg and the later Bell instruments, the entire working parts of this transmitter are insulated from the metal containing case, the inner chamber, formed by the cup _2_ and the diaphragm _3_, being insulated from the transmitter front and its locking ring by means of insulating washers, as shown.

Fig. 44. Automatic Electric Company Transmitter

Monarch Transmitter. The transmitter of the Monarch Telephone Manufacturing Company, shown in Fig. 45, differs from both the stationary-cup and the vibrating-cup types, although it has the characteristics of both. It might be said that it differs from each of these two types of transmitters in that it has the characteristics of both.

This transmitter, it will be seen, has two flexible mica washers between the electrodes and the walls of the electrode cup. The front and the back electrodes are attached to the diaphragm and the bridge, respectively, by a method similar to that employed in the solid-back transmitters, while the carbon chamber itself is free to vibrate with the diaphragm as is characteristic of the Kellogg transmitter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 45. Monarch Transmitter]

An aluminum diaphragm is employed, the circ.u.mferential edge of which is forwardly deflected to form a seat. The edge of the diaphragm rests _against_ and is separated _from_ the bra.s.s front by means of a one-piece gasket of specially treated linen. This forms an insulator which is not affected by heat or moisture. As in the transmitters previously described, the electrodes are firmly soldered to bra.s.s disks which have solid studs extending from their centers. In the case of both the front and the rear electrodes, a mica disk is placed over the supporting stud and held in place by a bra.s.s hub which has a base of the same size as the electrode. The carbon-chamber wall consists of a bra.s.s ring to which are fastened the mica disks of the front and the back electrodes by means of bra.s.s collars clamped over the edge of the mica and around the rim of the bra.s.s ring forming the chamber.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAIN OFFICE BUILDING, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA Containing Automatic Equipment, Forming Part of Larger System Operating in San Francisco and Vicinity.

Bay Cities Home Telephone Company.]

Electrodes. The electrode plates of nearly all modern transmitters are of specially treated carbon. These are first copper-plated and soldered to their bra.s.s supporting disks. After this they are turned and ground so as to be truly circular in form and to present absolutely flat faces toward each other. These faces are then highly polished and the utmost effort is made to keep them absolutely clean.

Great pains are taken to remove from the pores of the carbon, as well as from the surface, all of the acids or other chemicals that may have entered them during the process of electroplating them or of soldering them to the bra.s.s supporting disk. That the two electrodes, when mounted in a transmitter, should be parallel with each other, is an item of great importance as will be pointed out later.

In a few cases, as previously stated, gold or platinum has been subst.i.tuted for the carbon electrodes in transmitters. These are capable of giving good results when used in connection with the proper form of granular carbon, but, on the whole, the tendency has been to abandon all forms of electrode material except carbon, and its use is now well nigh universal.

_Preparation of Carbon_. The granular carbon is prepared from carefully selected anthracite coal, which is specially treated by roasting or "re-carbonizing" and is then crushed to approximately the proper fineness. The crushed carbon is then screened with extreme care to eliminate all dust and to retain only granules of uniform size.

Packing. In the earlier forms of granular-carbon transmitters a great deal of trouble was experienced due to the so-called packing of the instrument. This, as the term indicates, was a trouble due to the tendency of the carbon granules to settle into a compact ma.s.s and thus not respond to the variable pressure. This was sometimes due to the presence of moisture in the electrode chamber; sometimes to the employment of granules of varying sizes, so that they would finally arrange themselves under the vibration of the diaphragm into a fairly compact ma.s.s; or sometimes, and more frequently, to the granules in some way wedging the two electrodes apart and holding them at a greater distance from each other than their normal distance. The trouble due to moisture has been entirely eliminated by so sealing the granule chambers as to prevent the entrance of moisture. The trouble due to the lack of uniformity in size of the granules has been entirely eliminated by making them all of one size and by making them of sufficient hardness so that they would not break up into granules of smaller size. The trouble due to the settling of the granules and wedging the electrodes apart has been practically eliminated in well-designed instruments, by great mechanical nicety in manufacture.

Almost any transmitter may be packed by drawing the diaphragm forward so as to widely separate the electrodes. This allows the granules to settle to a lower level than they normally occupy and when the diaphragm is released and attempts to resume its normal position it is prevented from doing so by the ma.s.s of granules between. Transmitters of the early types could be packed by placing the lips against the mouthpiece and drawing in the breath. The slots now provided at the base of standard mouthpieces effectually prevent this.

In general it may be said that the packing difficulty has been almost entirely eliminated, not by the employment of remedial devices, such as those often proposed for stirring up the carbon, but by preventing the trouble by the design and manufacture of the instruments in such forms that they will not be subject to the evil.

Carrying Capacity. Obviously, the power of a transmitter is dependent on the amount of current that it may carry, as well as on the amount of variation that it may make in the resistance of the path through it. Granular carbon transmitters are capable of carrying much heavier current than the old Blake or other single or multiple electrode types. If forced to carry too much current, however, the same frying or sizzling sound is noticeable as in the earlier types.

This is due to the heating of the electrodes and to small arcs that occur between the electrodes and the granules.

One way to increase the current-carrying capacity of a transmitter is to increase the area of its electrodes, but a limit is soon reached in this direction owing to the increased inertia of the moving electrode, which necessarily comes with its larger size.

The carrying capacity of transmitters may also be increased by providing special means for carrying away the heat generated in the variable-resistance medium. Several schemes have been proposed for this. One is to employ unusually heavy metal for the electrode chamber, and this practice is best exemplified in the White solid-back instrument. It has also been proposed by others to water-jacket the electrode chamber, and also to keep it cool by placing it in close proximity to the relatively cool joints of a thermopile. Neither of these two latter schemes seems to be warranted in ordinary commercial practice.

Sensitiveness. In all the transmitters so far discussed damping springs of one form or another have been employed to reduce the sensitiveness of the instrument. For ordinary commercial use too great a degree of sensitiveness is a fault, as has already been pointed out.

There are, however, certain adaptations of the telephone transmitter which make a maximum degree of sensitiveness desirable. One of these adaptations is found in the telephone equipments for a.s.sisting partially deaf people to hear. In these the transmitter is carried on some portion of the body of the deaf person, the receiver is strapped or otherwise held at his ear, and a battery for furnis.h.i.+ng the current is carried in his pocket. It is not feasible, for this sort of use, that the sound which this transmitter is to reproduce shall always occur immediately in front of the transmitter. It more often occurs at a distance of several feet. For this reason the transmitter is made as sensitive as possible, and yet is so constructed that it will not be caused to produce too loud or unduly harsh sounds in response to a loud sound taking place immediately in front of it. Another adaptation of such highly sensitive transmitters is found in the special intercommunicating telephone systems for use between the various departments or desks in business offices. In these it is desirable that the transmitter shall be able to respond adequately to sounds occurring anywhere in a small-sized room, for instance.