Edison receiver
Datecirca 1878
Inventory Number8040a
ClassificationTelephone
Subject
Maker
Thomas Alva Edison
1847 - 1931
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Dimensions11.5 × 7.5 × 7.5 cm (4 1/2 × 2 15/16 × 2 15/16 in.)
Material
Accessoriesmagneto bell (8040b)
DescriptionA telephone receiver made of resin, designed by Thomas A. Edison. The device is Edison's earliest attempt to enter the field of telephony, and is designed to improve upon and circumvent existing Bell patents by using the variable resistance of compressed carbon.
The device handle is formed by a straight-sided cylinder connected to a larger cylindrical receiver at one end. The receiver mouthpiece is a straight-sided, short cylinder with a flat face and a large circular opening covered from the inside by a flat plate or diaphragm. A pair of binding posts is mounted at the opposite end of the receiver. From each binding post, a wire, secured by a screw mounted perpendicular to the binding post, is threaded into a hole bored in the center of the handle. The screws have slotted screw heads.
Inscription scratched underneath receiver cover, "XII."
The device handle is formed by a straight-sided cylinder connected to a larger cylindrical receiver at one end. The receiver mouthpiece is a straight-sided, short cylinder with a flat face and a large circular opening covered from the inside by a flat plate or diaphragm. A pair of binding posts is mounted at the opposite end of the receiver. From each binding post, a wire, secured by a screw mounted perpendicular to the binding post, is threaded into a hole bored in the center of the handle. The screws have slotted screw heads.
Inscription scratched underneath receiver cover, "XII."
Signedunsigned
Inscribedscratched underneath receiver cover: XII
Curatorial RemarksEdison's Menlo Park laboratory in New Jersey was in an area now known as Edison.
Old tag: "Edison's Speaking Telephone 8040a Receiver"
FunctionConversion of electrical signals into sound for output by telephone
ProvenanceJefferson Laboratory, Physics Department, Harvard University
Thomas Alva Edison
Date: circa 1878
Accessories: telephone receiver (8040a)
Object number: 8040b
Société Générale des Téléphones
Date: 1880
Object number: 8029
Jefferson Physical Laboratory, Harvard University
Date: circa 1877
Object number: 8007
Jefferson Physical Laboratory, Harvard University
Date: circa 1877
Object number: 8006
L. M. Ericsson
Date: circa 1879
Accessories: Ivory signaling rattle
Object number: 8014c
See also/See also
