stand for a tuning fork used in telephone experiments
Date: circa 1889
Inventory Number: 1997-1-1001
Classification: Tuning Fork Stand
Subject:
Maker: Rudolph Koenig (1832 - 1901)
Cultural Region:
Place of Origin:
Dimensions:
36 × 15.8 × 6.8 cm (14 3/16 × 6 1/4 × 2 11/16 in.)
Bibliography:
Catalogue des appareils d'acoustique construits par Rudolph Koenig
Description:
Small L-shaped wooden stand with a screw mount. There is a hole for a tuning fork to be mounted within the stand. The tuning fork is missing. The electromagnet's position at the top of the stand (the end opposite the screw mount) is adjustable, and is (according to Koenig's 1889 catalogue, p. 59) of the same design as the ones Alexander Graham Bell used in his telephones. Two binding posts, also toward the top of the instrument, were used to link the electromagnets of two such instruments.
Without the tuning fork, Koenig sold this stand 30 French Francs.
As several other acoustical instruments in the collection, this one has an old location number inscribed on an oval paper glued to the side: 21-7-2. There is another old location number stamped on this instrument: 23-24.
Without the tuning fork, Koenig sold this stand 30 French Francs.
As several other acoustical instruments in the collection, this one has an old location number inscribed on an oval paper glued to the side: 21-7-2. There is another old location number stamped on this instrument: 23-24.
SignedRUDOLPH KOENIG / À PARIS
Inscribedon an oval paper glued to the side: 21-7-2
stamped on the flat side of the top block: 23-24
stamped on the flat side of the top block: 23-24
FunctionAccording to Koenig's 1889 catalogue (p. 59), this is an apparatus to show the difference of phase between the transmitted and the received sound in telephone transmission. To make this experiment one needed two of these apparati. The electromagnets of the two instruments would have been linked together. When one of the tuning forks was made to vibrate, it induced in the other fork, via copper wires, a vibration that was in a different phase with the original one. This phase difference corresponded perfectly to Emil Dubois-Reymond's theory of transmission.
Curatorial RemarksNeeds additional photographing -- the inscriptions are not visible.
Primary SourcesRudolph Koenig, Catalogue des appareils d'acoustique construits par Rudolph Koenig (Paris, 1889), 59, no. 167. and 167a.
