336 



SCIENCE OF HOME AND COMMUNITY 



The first public telephone line was installed in 1877 in 

 the state of Massachusetts and by the end of the year there 

 were 778 telephones. It was not until 1880 that the Bell 

 Telephone Company was well established. At first the 

 telephone could be used only over short distances, but im- 

 provements were made so that it could be used over longer 

 and longer distances. The first inter-city line was built 

 between Boston and Lowell. A few years later Boston and 

 New York were connected by telephone, in 1893 New York 

 and Chicago, and still more recently conversation has been 

 carried on between Boston and Denver, a distance of about 



FIG. 137. First Bell telephone. 



"2500 miles, and finally between New York and San Francisco, 

 a distance of about 3 500 miles. During all this time improve- 

 ments have constantly been made on the telephone, and the 

 Bell Company hires several hundred experts who devote 

 their time to experimentation in order to find possible im- 

 provements. 



Periods of the telephone. The history of the telephone 

 may be divided into four periods. The first period from 

 1876 to 1886 was one of experiments. The instruments 

 used were very crude and imperfect. Iron wire, poor trans- 

 mitters, overhead wires, and boy operators were used. 



The second period from 1886 to 1896 was one of develop- 

 ment. During this period great improvements were made 



