In this day in 1876, Alexander Bell demonstrated the first two way telephone conversation over outdoor wires. (October 9, 1876)

Timeline of the Telephone:

• 1667: Robert Hooke created an acoustic string telephone that convey sound over a taut extended wire by mechanical vibrations.
• 1849: Antonio Meucci demonstrated a communicating device, it is disputed whether or not this is an electromagnetic telephone, but it is said to involve direct transmission of electricity into the users body.
• 1861: Johann Philipp Reis of Germany managed to transfer voice electrically over a distance of 340 feet with his Reis telephone. Reis used his telephone to transmit the phrase “The horse does not eat cucumber salad.” This phrase is hard to understand acoustically in German so he used it to prove that speech can be recognized successfully at the receiving end.
• 1871: Antonio Meucci files a patent caveat – a statement of intention to file a patent application for a Sound Telegraph. It does not describe and electromagnetic telephone.
• 1872: Elisha Gray founds the Western Electric Manufacturing Company.
• July 1873: Thomas Edison notes variable resistance in carbon grains due to pressure, builds a rheostat based on the principle, but abandons it because of its sensitivity to vibration.
• July 1874: Alexander Graham Bell first conceives the theoretical concept for the telephone while vacationing at his parents’ farm near Brantford, Canada. Alexander Melville Bell records notes of his son’s conversation in his personal journal.
• 29 December 1874: Gray demonstrates his musical tones device and transmitted “familiar melodies through telegraph wire” at the Presbyterian Church in Highland Park, Illinois.
• 11 February 1876: Elisha Gray invents a liquid transmitter for use with a telephone, but does not build one.
• 14 February 1876, about 9:30 am: Gray or his lawyer brings Gray’s patent caveat for the telephone to the Washington, D.C. Patent Office.
• 14 February 1876, about 11:30 am: Bell’s lawyer brings to the same patent office Bell’s patent application for the telephone. Bell’s lawyer requests that it be registered immediately in the cash receipts blotter.
• 14 February 1876, about 1:30 pm: Approximately two hours later Elisha Gray’s patent caveat is registered in the cash blotter. Although his caveat was not a full application, Gray could have converted it into a patent application and contest Bell’s priority, but did not do so because of advice from his lawyer and his involvement with acoustic telegraphy. The result was that the patent was awarded to Bell.
• 7 March 1876: Bell’s U.S. Patent, No. 174,465 for the telephone is granted.
• 10 March 1876: Bell first successfully transmits speech, saying “Mr. Watson, come here! I want to see you!” using a liquid transmitter as described in Gray’s caveat, and Bell’s own electromagnetic receiver.
• 16 May 1876: Thomas Edison files first patent application for acoustic telegraphy for which U.S. patent 182,996 was granted October 10, 1876.
• 10 August 1876: Alexander Graham Bell makes the world’s first long distance telephone call, about 6 miles between Brantfordand Paris, Ontario, Canada.

• 9 October, 1876: Bell and Watson demonstrated the first two-way conversation over outdoor wires. Their call was made between Boston and Cambridge.

• 9 July 1877: The Bell Telephone Company, a common law joint-stock company, is organized by Alexander Graham Bell’s future father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, a lawyer who becomes its first president.
• 6 October 1877: the Scientific American publishes the invention from Bell – at that time still without a ringer.
• Early months of 1879: The Bell Telephone Company is near bankruptcy and desperate to get a transmitter to equal Edison’s carbon transmitter.
• 19 February 1880: The photophone, also called a radiophone, is invented jointly by Alexander Graham Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter at Bell’s Volta Laboratory.[15][16] The device allowed for the transmission of sound on a beam of light
• 4 September 1884: Opening of telephone service between New York and Boston (235 miles)
• 26 February 1914: Boston-Washington underground cable commenced commercial service
• 25 January 1915: The first transcontinental (coast-to-coast) telephone call (3600 miles), with Thomas Augustus Watson at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco receiving a call from Alexander Graham Bell at 15 Dey Street in New York City, facilitated by a newly invented vacuum tube amplifier
• 21 October 1915: First transmission of speech across the Atlantic Ocean by radiotelephone from Arlington, VA to Paris, France
• 1919: The first rotary dial telephones in the Bell System installed in Norfolk, Virginia. Telephones that lacked dials and touch-tone pads were no longer made by the Bell System after 1978.
•  1919: AT&T conducts more than 4,000 measurements of people’s heads to gauge the best dimensions of standard headsets so that callers’ lips would be near the microphone when holding handsets up to their ears
• 25 April 1935: First telephone call around the world by wire and radio
• 1947: December, W. Rae Young and Douglas H. Ring, Bell Labs engineers, proposed hexagonal cells for provisioning of mobile telephone service.
• 1948: Phil Porter, a Bell Labs engineer, proposed that cell towers be at the corners of the hexagons rather than the centers and have directional antennas pointing in 3 directions.
• 1955: the laying of trans-Atlantic cable TAT-1 began – 36 circuits, later increased to 48 by reducing the bandwidth from 4 kHz to 3 kHz
• 1960’s: Bell Labs developed the electronics for cellular phones
• 1961: Initiation of Touch-Tone service trials
• 1970: ESS-2 electronic switch
• 1970: Amos E. Joel, Jr. of Bell Labs invented the “call handoff” system for “cellular mobile communication system” (patent granted 1972)
• 3 April 1973: Motorola employee Martin Cooper placed the first hand-held cell phone call to Joel Engel, head of research at AT&T’s Bell Labs, while talking on the first Motorola DynaTAC prototype.
• 1978: Bell Labs launched a trial of the first commercial cellular network in Chicago using Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS).
• 1982: FCC approved AT&T proposal for AMPS and allocated frequencies in the 824-894 MHz band
• 1982: Caller ID patented by Carolyn Doughty, Bell Labs
• 1987: ADSL introduced
• 1988: First transatlantic fiber optic cable TAT-8, carrying 40,000 circuits
• 1990: analog AMPS was superseded by Digital AMPS.
• 1993: Telecom Relay Service available for the disabled
• 11 June 2002: Antonio Meucci is recognized for “…his work in the invention of the telephone” (but not “…for inventing the telephone”) by the United States House of Representatives, in United States HRes. 269.
• 21 June 2002: The Parliament of Canada responds by passing a motion unanimously 10 days later recognizing Alexander Graham Bell as the inventor of the telephone.
• 2005: Mink, Louisiana finally receives traditional landline telephone service (one of the last in the United States).

Books in the Engineering Library:

• Gertner, Jon. 2012. The idea factory: Bell Labs and the great age of American innovation. Engineering  Library  TK5102.3.U6  G47 2012
• Petruzzellis, Thomas. 2009. Telephone projects for the evil genius. Engineering  Library  TK9951  .P48 2009
• Shulman, Seth. 2008. The telephone gambit : chasing Alexander Graham Bell’s secret. Engineering  Library  TK6018.B4  S58 2008  
• Freeman, Roger L.  2004. Telecommunication system engineering. Engineering  Library  TK5103  .F68 2004
• Chorafas, Dimitris N.  1984. Telephony : today and tomorrow. Engineering  Library  TK5101  .C496 1984
•   

Hundreds of books have been either removed or challenged in schools and libraries in the United States every year. According to the American Library Association (ALA), there were at least 464 in 2012.  ALA estimates that 70 to 80 percent are never reported.

To celebrate, here are some books of interest in Engineering and Science that have been banned at one time or another:

• Banned in 17th Century Europe:  Any writing or discussion demonstrating the heliocentric nature of the universe.
  Writings by Physicist and Astronomer Galileo Galilei was charged and convicted of heresy by the Inquisition in 1632 for writing, “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems” Main Library QB41 .G1356 1967
• Banned in schools in Tennessee following the Butler Act of 1925:  Books and teaching materials on Darwinian evolution theory.
  The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin  Main Library QH365 .O2 1979
• Banned in Menifee School District, California:  Dictionary banned for too explicit definition.
  Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary   Hardin Library For Health Sci Library PE1628 W4M4 1993
• Banned through the United States: For being too accurate in its scientific initiative.
  The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments, written in 1960 by Robert Brent and illustrated by Harry Lazarus.

Banned Classic Books:

According to the Office for Intellectual Freedom, at least 46 of the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century have been the target of ban attempts.  See which books these are and learn the reasons for being banned at the following link: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classics/reasons  

References:

• Banned Book Week.  http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/
• Baron, Dennis.  Webster’s Banned for too much sex.  http://illinois.edu/blog/view/25/20915
• Banned Books Awareness: “The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments” http://bannedbooks.world.edu/2013/07/07/banned-books-awareness-the-golden-book-of-chemistry-experiments/ 

The Lichtenberger Engineering Library now has 2 group study rooms!

Pod 1

• Media:Scape System: Large Television allowing for up to 6 laptops to be connected at a time for easy collaboration.
• Whiteboard Wall

Pod 2

• Table with 4 chairs
• Whiteboard Wall

Reservation Policies

2-2-2 RULES

Group spaces in the Lichtenberger Engineering Library may be reserved by sign-up posted by each room. Use of the group spaces is governed by the 2-2-2 rules.

• Two or more students are required to be present for group space use. Priority will be given to groups over individuals. Unattended items left in the room will be removed from the room and reservations will be cancelled.
• Reservations may last up to two hours. Consecutive reservations will not be permitted.
• Reservations can be made up to two days in advance.

No Show Policy

Groups have 15 minutes after the start of their reservation to arrive. If a group has not claimed their study space by that time their reservation will be cancelled.

The Lichtenberger Engineering Library has made a lot of changes over the summer!

Check to see what we’ve all been up to:

1.            New Tools
2.            New Study Rooms
3.            WISE Collection
4.            Library Xpress Classes
5.            New Resources (Engineering Case Studies Online, Standards, Synthesis Lectures, New DVDs)
6.            Refworks Discontinued
7.            Course Reserves
8.            Instruction & Research Support

**************************************************************

1.                New Tools

With support from the Engineering Electronics Shop & Engineering Computer Services, the Library has added 24 new tools to the Tool Library!

The Tool Library now has eyeball webcams, microphones, and 2 LabQuest data devices with 19 accessories are available for check out.   The LabQuest with the available accessories can be used for collecting and analyzing data in experiments and other hands-on projects.   For a complete list of all tools, as well as descriptions and links to user manuals, click on the Tool Library at http://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/toollibrary . Tools are arranged by category and, unless noted otherwise, can circulate for 1 week.

—————————————————-

2.            New Study Rooms

The Library now has 2 group study rooms!  Both rooms feature whiteboard walls and one features a media:scape system.  For more information and reservation policies, check out the following link: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/eng/group-study-rooms/

————————————————–

 3.            WISE Collection

The Library has received a generous donation from Women in Science and Engineering, check out all the new resources that have been added at: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/giving/bookplate/?id=240

————————————————–

4.            Library Xpress Classes

This semester we are adding a few new classes to the Library Xpress Series.  All sessions are open to all and will be on Wednesdays at 2:30 PM.  More information at: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/eng/engineering-library-xpress-classes/

Series Schedule:

September 3rd  “Web of Science”—-Sara Scheib, 30 min
September 10^th  “Endnote Basic” —Steve Ostrem, 30 min
September 17^th  “Scifinder”—-Sara Scheib, 30 min
September 24th  “Company Information”—-Kim Bloedel, 30 min
October 1st  “Pubmed”—-Shane Wallace, 15 min
October 8th, “Patents”—– Kari Kozak, 15 min
October 15th, “Protein Database”—Christopher Childs, 15 min
October 22nd, “Compendex”—-Kari Kozak, 15 min
October 29th, “Standards”—-Kari Kozak, 15 min
November 5, “IEEE Xplore”—Kari Kozak, 15 min
November 12th, “Open Access”—Karen Fischer, 30 min
November 19th “Keeping up with your research”—-Kari Kozak, 15 min

————————————————–

 5.            New Resources

Engineering Case Studies Online (http://purl.lib.uiowa.edu/EnginCaseStud)

Engineering Case Studies Online is a multi-media database chronicling the field’s most noteworthy failures, such as the Chernobyl Disaster, Ford Pinto Controversy, Apollo 13 and more. Designed to meet classroom and research needs across a range of engineering disciplines—such as aerospace, mechanical, nuclear, and civil—the collection brings together nuanced information about complex case studies into one database. It aims to incorporate diverse perspectives and materials, presented in a balanced way, to enable through analysis. Pulling together 250 hours of video and 50,000 pages of full-text material upon completion, the collected materials include video documentaries and primary footage, audio transcripts and witness testimony; images, maps, accident reports, blueprints, and other key archival content, monographs and articles, as well as timelines and simulations.

More Standards

The library has add many new standards to the standards database, TechStreet (http://purl.lib.uiowa.edu/TechStreet), as well as adding the standards produced by ASCE (http://purl.lib.uiowa.edu/asce). For more information on these standards and all other available visit: http://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/standards

Synthesis Lecture Series in Biomedical Engineering and General Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics Collections

Synthesis Lecture Series in Biomedical Engineering(http://www.morganclaypool.com/toc/bme/3/1 ) is comprised of 75- to 150-page publications on advanced and state-of-the-art topics that span the field of biomedical engineering, from the atom and molecule to large diagnostic equipment. Each lecture covers, for that topic, the fundamental principles in a unified manner, develops underlying concepts needed for sequential material, and progresses to more advanced topics.
General Engineering, Technology, and Mathematics Collections 1,2, and 3 (http://www.morganclaypool.com/page/getm1) are comprised of 90 Synthesis lectures from series in Energy and the Environment, General Engineering, and Electrical Engineering, Engineers, Technology, & Society, Global Engineering, and Mathematics & Statistics

More DVDs

Over the last year, we’ve add a variety of new DVDs to the Library.  Series include: Mythbusters, Junkyard Wars, How it’s Made, Extreme Engineering, etc. http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/eng/engineering-related-dvds/

————————————————–

 6.            RefWorks Discontinued

Starting January 1, 2015 RefWorks and Write-N-Cite will no longer be available for free from the UI Libraries. We recommend current RefWorks users transfer their citations to another citation management program well in advance of December 31, 2014.  EndNote Basic (for undergraduates) and EndNote Desktop (for faculty, staff, graduate and professional students) are available for free through the UI Libraries.

Anyone who wishes to stay with RefWorks will need to purchase an individual subscription before December 31, 2014. You can then back-up and restore your references to your new account. http://guides.lib.uiowa.edu/content.php?pid=574044&sid=4733245

————————————————–

7.            Course Reserves

Course Reserves are going up for the Fall Semester.  If you have not already done so and have items to put on reserve for the Fall Semester, please email the Engineering Library at lib-engineering@uiowa.edu with a list of the materials and course number.  The lists may also be brought to the Library or put into the Engineering Library’s mailbox.

————————————————–

8.            Instruction & Research Support

Kari is available to provide short or class length demonstrations on a wide variety of library resources and services to students, faculty, and/or staff.  This could range from an overview of the library and services to in-depth researching strategies.  Sessions can be to individuals, small groups, lab groups, or classes. Topics that can be covered include: evaluating information, standards, patents, citations as well as Endnote or other citation software.

The Lichtenberger Engineering Library has a new database for streaming videos!

This database is called Engineering Case Studies Online (http://purl.lib.uiowa.edu/EnginCaseStud)

Engineering Case Studies Online is a multi-media database chronicling the field’s most noteworthy failures, such as the Chernobyl Disaster, Ford Pinto Controversy, Apollo 13 and more. Designed to meet classroom and research needs across a range of engineering disciplines—such as aerospace, mechanical, nuclear, and civil—the collection brings together nuanced information about complex case studies into one database. It aims to incorporate diverse perspectives and materials, presented in a balanced way, to enable through analysis. Pulling together 250 hours of video and 50,000 pages of full-text material upon completion, the collected materials include video documentaries and primary footage, audio transcripts and witness testimony; images, maps, accident reports, blueprints, and other key archival content, monographs and articles, as well as timelines and simulations.

Alexander Graham Bell is known as an inventor, scientist, and engineering.  He is well-known for his invention of the telephone and was involved in many other inventions.

His invention of the telephone came from his desire to help the deaf hear and had done research into speech articulation following his father’s work.  The patent was issued on March 7, 1876.  The telephone itself is clouded with controversy of who invented it first and lead to a series of lawsuits.  This includes lawsuits with such people as an Italian inventor, Antonio Meucci.  The most famous conflict is with Elisha Gray , who visited the patent office the same day as Bell had submitted his patent application with a claim on a similar design.  Bell eventually came up on top in these cases and, with in a year of patenting, set up the Bell Telephone Company.

After the telephone, Bell went on to completely different experiments and inventions.  Many of these were related to the areas of medical science.  He worked extensively on creating a mechanical breathing apparatus, the predecessor of the iron lung. He had hope to save the lives of drowning victims and premature babies. Bell also conducted research into heavier-than-air flight and founded the Aerial Experiment Association.

Bell sought to advance scientific knowledge and was one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society.  He was the president from 1898 to 1903.

Learn More: 

• Videos:
  • Davis, Rick. 2005. Alexander graham bell: Voice of invention. New York, NY : A&E Television Networks
  • McInerney, Michael, Entertainment Network Arts and, Edelman Productions., and History Channel (Television network). 2006. Man, moment, machine. alexander graham bell & the astonishing telephone. New York, N.Y.: A&E Television Networks
• Books
  • Bell, Alexander Graham,. 1881. Proof from alexander graham bell’s own mouth: That he never contemplated a speaking telephone in his 1876 patent and that he never transmitted speech with any instrument mentioned in said patent, but on the contrary made a complete failure in every effort to do so. United States : s.n.  Law Electronic Resource.
  • Dickerson, E. N., James Jackson Storrow , Chauncey Smith , A. E. Dolbear, Telephone Company Molecular, Telephone Company Clay Commercial, Telephone Company American Bell, Telephone Company People’s, Overland Telephone Company of,New Jersey, and United States. 2007. The telephone appeals. Buffalo, NY: William S. Hein & Co. Law Electronic Resource.
  • Eber, Dorothy. 1982. Genius at work : Images of alexander graham bell. New York : Viking Press TK6143.B4 E23 Main Library.
  • Evenson, A. E. 2000. The telephone patent conspiracy of 1876 : The elisha gray-alexander bell controversy and its many players . Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland  TK6018.B4 E94 2000 Main Library.
  • Gray, Charlotte,. 2006. Reluctant genius : Alexander graham bell and the passion for invention / charlotte gray. Vol. 1st U.S. ed. New York : Arcade Pub. : Distributed by Hachette Book Group USA  TK6143.B4 G73 2006 Engineering Library.
  • Grosvenor, Edwin S., and Morgan Wesson . 1997. Alexander graham bell : The life and times of the man who invented the telephone. New York : Harry Abrams  FOLIO TK6143.B4 G76 1997 Main Oversize.
  • Schils, René. 2012. How james watt invented the copier: Forgotten inventions of our great scientists. New York, NY : Springer Science+Business Media, LLC Electronic Resource
  • Shulman, Seth. 2008. The telephone gambit : Chasing alexander graham bell’s secret / seth shulman. Vol. 1st ed. New York : W. W. Norton & Co.  TK6018.B4 S58 2008 Engineering Library.

References: 

• Bell, Alexander Graham, Photograph, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online, accessed March 3, 2014,  http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/76302/Alexander-Graham-Bell
• Encyclopædia Britannica Online, s. v. “Alexander Graham Bell,” accessed March 03, 2014, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/59564/Alexander-Graham-Bell.
• Davis, Rick. 2005. Alexander graham bell: Voice of invention. New York, NY : A&E Television Networks
• Schils, René. 2012. How james watt invented the copier: Forgotten inventions of our great scientists. New York, NY : Springer Science+Business Media, LLC Electronic Resource
• Shulman, Seth. 2008. The telephone gambit : Chasing alexander graham bell’s secret / seth shulman. Vol. 1st ed. New York : W. W. Norton & Co.  TK6018.B4 S58 2008 Engineering Library.
• telephone: Bell inaugurating the telephone link between New York City and Chicago on Oct. 18, 1892, Photograph, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online, accessed March 3, 2014,http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/media/120540/Alexander-Graham-Bell-who-patented-the-telephone-in-1876-inaugurating

MECCA Week was a tradition at the University of Iowa College of Engineering for many years.  This celebration took place around St. Patrick’s Day, due to St. Patrick being the patron saint of engineers.   One popular event was the search for the Blarney Stone. It is named for the Blarney Stone in Ireland which, when kissed by leaning backward from a parapet in Blarney Castle, is said to give the “gift of eloquence.”

During MECCA week, the students of the engineering college would compete in order to find the Blarney Stone, a 13”x11”x6” piece of granite that is supposed to come from Ireland, a tradition which began in 1910. The stone would be hidden by the graduating class, and they would then give the underclassmen clues in the form of engineering problems to solve. Eventually, this tradition was turned into a competition between the law students and the engineering students to see who could find the Stone first. If the law students found it before the engineers, the engineers would be “in disgrace” for the entire year. MECCA week was the peak of the rivalry between the engineering students and the law students, with creative pranks abounding.

The search for the Blarney Stone was not easy, however. In 1912, the instructions for locating the stone were lost, and the Stone was not found until 27 years later when they finally resurfaced. Ironically, the Blarney Stone was found hidden in the basement of the Engineering Building. The stone was not found in 1947, either, necessitating the purchase of a new Blarney Stone by the class who had failed. Further complicating the search was the enormous area in which it could be hidden—anywhere within a 25 mile radius of Iowa City.

Can you solve these problems to find the stone? How about the one written in German?

Here are some articles written in the Daily Iowa about the search for the Blarney Stone:

From The Daily Iowan. 17 Mar. 1959.

Further Reading:

• MECCA Celebration 1915. The Transit. Volume 19.  http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/eng/transit/transitV19/display.asp?p=63
• Putnam, K.S.  1911. St. Patrick’s Day Celebration. The Transit. Volume 16 (1911). http://sdrc.lib.uiowa.edu/eng/transit/transitV16/display.asp?p=90
• Daily Iowan Article from March 16, 1948.  http://dailyiowan.lib.uiowa.edu/DI/1948/di1948-03-16.pdf
• Daily Iowan From March 14, 1962 http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~mecca/DIart62.pdf
• MECCA History (College of Engineering) http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~mecca/history.htm
• MECCA 2001 http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~mecca/MECCA2001.pdf
• MECCA Memories and Comments: http://www.engineering.uiowa.edu/~mecca/MECCAmem1.pdf

References

• Kress, Kay. “Search for Blarney Stone Begins.” The Daily Iowan. 17 Mar. 1959. http://dailyiowan.lib.uiowa.edu/DI/ 1959/di1959-03-17.pdf
• “Kiss the Blarney Stone.” Blarney Castle. (n.d.). http://www.blarneycastle.ie/pages/kiss-the-blarney-stone
• https://blog.lib.uiowa.edu/eng/celebrating-engineers/