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November 7, 1992
PHONES.ASC
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This file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of John Chipps.
Don't get discouraged if your ideas are not accepted.
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Report of the Technical Committee
To Determine Market Opportunities for
The Telephone
1. The telephone is so named by its inventor, A. G. Bell, who sees
for it a vast future as a means of personal communication by
voice. He believes that one day they will be installed in every
residence and place of business.
2. We note that Bell's profession is that of a voice teacher, and
particularly a teacher of the deaf. He appears to have no
direct experience with the telephone or any other form of
communication, electrical or otherwise. Yet he claims to have
discovered an instrument of great practical value in
communication, which has been overlooked by thousands of workers
who have spent years in the field.
3. Bell's proposal to place his instruments in almost every home
and business house (an this is the only way which their
potential may be realized) is fantastic in view of the capital
costs of installing the endless numbers of wires and cables that
would be demanded. The central exchange alone would represent a
huge outlay in real estate and buildings, to say nothing of the
electrical equipment.
4. Bell expects that the public will use his instruments without
the aid of trained operators. Any telegraph engineer will at
once see the fallacy of this plan. The public simply cannot be
trusted to handle technical communication equipment. In any
home where there are children, to mention only one point, there
would inevitably be a high rate of breakage and frivolous use of
the instruments. Furthermore, when making a call the subscriber
must give the number verbally to the operator and have to deal
with persons who may be illiterate, speak with lisps or stammer,
have foreign accents or who may be sleepy or intoxicated when
making a call.
5. While every telegram consists in itself a written record of what
is being communicated, Bell's instrument uses nothing but the
voice, which cannot be captured in concrete form, and therefore
would be no record of what was said or agreed upon. We leave it
to you to judge whether any sensible man would transact his
affairs by such a means of communication.
6. Bell expects that the subscribers to this service will pay to
have the instruments installed in their premises and will
thereby pay for each call made, with a monthly minimum if no
calls are made. We feel that it is unlikely that any
substantial number of people will agree to such an arrangement
in view of the telegraph offices which are now giving efficient
round the clock service in every neighborhood and the smallest
towns--which charge only for actual messages according to
length.
7. In conclusion, the committee feels that it must advise against
any investment whatever in Bell's scheme. We do not doubt that
it will find a few users in special circumstances such as
between the bridge of a ship and the engine rooms, but any
development of the kind and scale which Bell so fondly imagines
is utterly out of the question.
(Note: Origin unknown, but very plausible, as Western Union did
indeed decide not to invest in telephones in the early
1900's. Richard Lane 4/26/85)
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