On 7 March 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received his patent for the telephone. The famous "first call" -- where he said "Mr. Watson. come here, I want to see you," took place three days later. This is also the 99th anniversary of the first transatlantic telephone call (using shortwave radio). My tie shows many Peanuts® characters using portable phones -- and Snoopy has his ear raised to listen. The drawing is from Bell's patent application.
On 1 September 1878: the first telephone operator, Emma Nutt, ushered in the era where women would dominate the job. She worked for the Edwin Holmes Telephone Dispatch Company in Boston. Alexander Bell suggested replacing the boys operating the phone lines with a calm, soothing female voice. On my tie, Charlie Brown and his friends are having a party conversation!
The history of the telephone centers on the 1876 invention by Alexander Graham Bell and his assistant, Thomas Watson. Bell's entry in his journal for 10 March reports that the first conversation consisted of his words "Mr Watson, come here. I want to see you." But it seems likely that the actual date of that event was quite a bit earlier, because Bell filed his patent application for the telephone on 7 March 1876. Exactly fifty years later (1926), the post office in London connected over a shortwave radio signal with Bell Laboratories in New York to hold the first-ever transatlantic telephone call. My tie shows the characters from Peanuts® using 1980s-vintage cellular phones.
On this date in 1963, the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics created a "hotline" communication link between the Pentagon and the Kremlin. It came to be called the "red phone" even though it was a teletype, not a telephone, and it became a legend associated with the President's "Oval Office" even though its Washington location was in the National Military Command Center. My Peanuts® telephones tie celebrates the red phone legend, and also points forward to Thursday's fame (?) as Emma Nutt Day, honoring the first female telephone operator who was hired on 1 September 1878 in Boston. For more information, dial http://time.com/4011936/emma-nutt/.
On 7 March 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone. Exactly fifty years later (1926), the first transatlantic conversation was completed! My Peanuts® characters are using wireless phones with external antennae, common in the mid-1970s-1980s. In other news, today marks the birthday of composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) and one of my own fourth-great-grandmothers, Rachel Hambleton Kester (1765-1858).
On 7 March 1926 (95 years ago today), a telephone conversation was established between the post office in London and Bell Laboratories in New York, linked through a short-wave radio signal. This was the very first two-way transatlantic phone call! And it took place exactly 50 years after Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone. By 1927 the short-wave system was commercially successful, charging about $45 for a three-minute call, and handling about 300,000 calls per year. Undersea telegraph cables had been laid in the late 1850s, but their technology was much too limited in signal strength and speed to be suitable for audio transmission. The first telephone cables were laid in 1956, capable of transmitting 35 calls at the same time. My tie shows Peanuts® characters using1980s-style cell phones, a much later development!
On this date in 1878, Emma Nutt reported for work at the Edwin Holmes Telephone Dispatch Company in Boston. She became the world's first female telephone operator! My tie for Emma Nutt Day shows the Peanuts® characters using early cellular phones (with external wire antennas). The phone I'm holding is vintage from the 1970s, about 100 years after Emma Nutt worked for Alexander Graham Bell.
