Talk:David E. Hughes
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I am looking for verifiable sources on the timing and nature of innovations in microphones by David Hughes and Emile Berliner. Bell had invented the electromagnetic transmitter/receiver, and patented electrical speech transmission via "undulatory waves" which convered any subsequent technology, but the patent claims should have been disallowed as too broad. relative to what he had invented, and his phone made a great receiver but too weak of a transmitter. The Hughes original microphone was apparently crude, a nail laid across 2 other nails connected to a battery and a Bell type phone receiver. About the same time Berliner filed a caveat for "loose contact" between a metal diaphragm and a metal screwhead in his crude telephone transmitter, a slight refinement on the early Reis "make or break" contact phone which could convey pitch but not articulate speech. Berliner's transmitter was useless without carbon buttons or granules. Edison from his years of experience with the variable resistance of carbon under pressure, introduced a carbon button in place of the metal screwhead, apparently independent of Berliner and Hughes, which produced the first practical telephone transmitter. Then at some point Hughes changed from nails to carbon rods in loose contact. His "microphone" would pick up very weak sounds like a fly walking on it, but was very erratic and useless for normal telephony. Edison won the long patent litigation around 1892. The interesting thing is the timeline, and any evidence of whether one inventor borrowed from another. Along with this was the legion of tinkerers who had fooled with any aspect of telephony and popped up during the litigation with bogus claims of having invented the telephone. It looks like Bell, Berliner, and Edison have strong claims for, respectively, the undulatory speech currents and electromagnetic receiver, the "loose contact" principle, and the carbon button. Hughes clearly worked along the same path as Berliner and Edison, but in what exact timeline, and did his work influence theirs, was he working purely independently, did he document his work?Edison 20:02, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
8th May 1878 is the date for his first demonstration of his microphone, to the Royal Society, per the websie I added to the references. The first "public demonstration" was later. Now there is a date to compare to those for Berliner and Edison. I added this date to the timeline in the Telephone article. Per the timeline there, Bell patented his electromagnetic phone in Jan 1877, Berliner filed a caveat for the loose contact transmitter in April 1877, and April 1877 Edison applied for a patent for the carbon transmitter complete with induction coil to step up impedance and isolate the battery from the line circuit. So Hughes does not appear to get primacy. He had access to knowledge of the work of Bell, and probably to that of Berliner and Edison.Edison 20:22, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
