Telephone set, after Bell

After the telephone was patented in 1876, this new communication technology spread like lightning. In order to demonstrate these recent developments in his physical lectures, Elisa van der Ven (1833-1909), conservator of the Physical Laboratory of the Teylers Museum since 1879, acquired nearly all telephone devices then available on the market. Among them was also this telephone set, made by the French firm of E. Maldant in Paris. The user is approached with the sound of a bell. Then the user speaks into the microphone according to Bell’s design, which is mounted in a wooden enclosure. (In one of the devices the membrane is clearly visible). The generated electromagnetic signal is converted back into sound in the horn of the receiving telephone.