Telecommunication Essay Research Paper Telecommunication1 IntroductionComputer and

Telecommunication Essay, Research Paper Telecommunication 1. Introduction Computer and telephone networks inflict a gigantic impact on today’s society. From letting you call John in Calgary to letting you make a withdraw at your friendly ATM machine they control the flow of information. But today’s complicated and expensive networks did not start out big and complicated but rather as a wire and two terminals back in 1844. From these simple networks to the communication giants of today we will look at the evolution of the network and the basis on which it functions. 2. The Beginnings 2.1. Dot Dot Dot Dash Dash Dash Dot Dot Dot The network is defined as a system of lines or structures that cross. In telecommunications this is a connection of peripherals together so that

they can exchange information. The first such exchange of information was on May 24, 1844 when Samuel Morse sent the famous message “What hath God wrought” from the US Capitol in Washington D.C. across a 37 mile wire to Baltimore using the telegraph. The telegraph is basically an electromagnet connected to a battery via a switch. When the switch is down the current flows from the battery through the key, down the wire, and into the sounder at the other end of the line. By itself the telegraph could express only two states, on or off. This limitation was eliminated by the fact that it was the duration of the connection that determined the dot and dash from each other being short and long respectively. From these combinations of dots and dashes the Morse code was formed. The

code included all the letters of the English alphabet, all the numbers and several punctuation marks. A variation to the telegraph was a receiving module that Morse had invented. The module consisted of a mechanically operated pencil and a roll of paper. When a message was received the pencil would draw the corresponding dashes and dots on the paper to be deciphered later. Many inventors including Alexander Bell and Thomas Edison sought to revolutionize the telegraph. Edison devised a deciphering machine. This machine when receiving Morse code would print letters corresponding to the Morse code on a roll of paper hence eliminating the need for decoding the code. 2.2. Mr. Watson, Come Here! The first successful telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell. He along with Elisha

Gray fought against time to invent and patent the telephone. They both patented their devices on the same day-February 14, 1876- but Bell arrived a few hours ahead of gray thus getting the patent on the telephone. The patent issued to Bell was number 174,465, and is considered the most valuable patent ever issued. Bell quickly tried to sell his invention to Western Union but they declined and hired Elisha Gray and Thomas Edison to invent a better telephone. A telephone battle began between Western Union and Bell. Soon after Bell filed suit against Western Union and won since he had possessed the basic rights and patents to the telephone. As a settlement Western Union handed over it’s whole telephone network to Bell giving him a monopoly in the telephone market. During his

experiments to create a functional telephone Bell pursued two separate designs for the telephone transmitter. The first used a membrane attached to a metal rod. The metal rod was submerged in a cup of mild acid. As the user spoke into the transmitter the membrane vibrated which in turn moved the rod up and down in the acid. This motion of the rod in the acid caused variations in the electrical resistance between the rod and the cup of acid. One of the greatest drawbacks to this model was that the cup of acid would have to be constantly refilled. The second of Bell’s prototypes was the induction telephone transmitter. It used the principle of magnetic induction to change sound into electricity. The membrane was attached to a metal rod which was surrounded by a coil of wire. The