124 THE HOUSE AND ITS EQUIPMENT. 



HOUSE TELEPHONE INSTALLATIONS. 



A Necessity for the Large Country House Intercommunicating Systems The Central Switchboard 

 Type Costs of Systems for Large and Small Houses. 



THE transmission of the human voice to a distance is a problem which, like so many others, has 

 been finally solved by the use of electricity. It is true that prior to the invention of the electric 

 telephone voice transmission over short distances had been practised by means of the speaking- 

 tube. It is, however, hardly necessary in these ultra-hygienic days to point out what a very 

 insanitary piece of apparatus the speaking-tube must be. Our forefathers, who were not so 

 versed in germ theories as we are, might possibly use it without feeling that they were catching some 

 thing all the time. However that may be, the sight of a speaking-tube suggests to the modern mind 

 the story of the Imperial Yeoman who would have been successful in administering a pill to his horse through 

 a tube had not the horse &quot; blown first.&quot; The oracles of the ancients were probably worked by some 

 means of voice transmission through a tube. \Ye can picture the awe and reverence of the ancient Greek 

 as the muffled voice of the oracle spoke in admonition or prophecy. The picture has nothing in common 

 with that of the modern gentleman, frenzied with irritation because he cannot hear his friend quite 

 distinctly over three hundred or four hundred miles of telephone wire. The two cases are, however, 

 alike in &quot;this, that, the working of the oracle was not a greater mystery to the ancient than the working 

 of the telephone to the average man of to-day. The miracle is, indeed, greater in the latter case ; though, 

 as the object of the priests of science is not to mystify but to serve, its miraculous nature passes unnoticed. 

 The telephone was invented and patented independently by Professor Graham Bell and Professor Grey 

 in 1876. It was not the perfect instrument that we have now, but the root from which the later improve 

 ments have sprung. Indeed, the telephone receiver has not been altered at all in principle, but the 

 transmitter, i.e., the part into which one speaks, has undergone two great improvements in the addition 

 of the microphone and the induction coil. It is not necessary for the purpose of this article to go deeply 

 into the principles involved in the modern telephone. Suffice it to say that the sound vibrations issuing 

 from the speaker s mouth are enabled, by the mechanism of the telephone transmitter, to control an 

 electric current from a battery in such a manner that the current flows down the telephone wires in a scries 

 of impulses, which bear a direct relation to the sound vibrations producing them. These electric impulses 

 are reconverted into sound vibrations when passing through the telephone receiver. 



The telephone is now one of the usual modern conveniences found in the country house. Its use, 

 however, is frequently restricted to giving orders to servants, whereas, although this in itself is a great 

 convenience, there is no reason why the system should not be laid out in such a manner as to make the 

 communication of guests with each other a possibility. The convenience of being able to do this is not 

 always realised. In a large establishment it is impossible to know exactly where everybody is at any 

 given time ; but with an &quot; intercommunication &quot; system of telephones in the house, room after room can be 

 quickly and easily &quot; rung up,&quot; and the requiied individual found at once. Moreover, when this happens, 

 conversation can immediately take place. This saves a double journey to the servants, who can receive 

 their orders at once instead of answering a bell to receive them. It puts each guest in direct communication 

 with the whole staff and also enables the members of the household to make arrangements with each other 

 with the minimum of trouble. If asked to prophesy as to its future, we should say that in a few years 

 no good country house will be built without an installation of &quot; intercommunication &quot; telephones. The 

 &quot; intercommunication &quot; system, as its name implies, is one by which every telephone can be used for 

 speaking to every other telephone on the system. This is done without the intervention of a telephone 

 operator. Each instrument is supplied with a switch having a number of contacts corresponding to the 

 number of telephones on the system. The operation of calling up any particular instrument is merely 

 to move the switch to the corresponding contact, which is, of course, appropriately numbered or labelled, 

 and press the bell push. When receiving a call from another instrument the switch has to be moved 

 to the contact labelled &quot; reply &quot; before conversation can ensue. 



There is now an improvement on the multiple contact switch, which consists of a little board attached 

 to each instrument on which are arranged a number of push buttons. These buttons are numbered or 

 labelled in the same way as were the contacts of the multiple way switch, and there is one button provided 

 for every telephone on the system. In this arrangement it is only necessary to press the correct button. 

 This connects the speaker up to the instrument he requires and rings up at the same time. The act 



