Johann Philip Reis

Invention

A Misunderstanding of Translation

Testimonies

Litigation

Published Articles

A Comparison of Bell & Reis

Bibliography

Testimonies

The following statements are from letters of testimony which were requested by Mr Silvanus P. Thompson in 1882 the author of "Philipp Reis, The Inventor of the Telephone" from Reis's colliges.

Professor G. Quincke- Professor of Physics in the University of Heidelberg- March 10th 1883
"I listened at the latter part of the apparatus, and heard distinctly both singing and talking. I distinctly remember having heard the words of the Greman poem, Ach! du lieber Augustin, Alles ist hin!' "and'c."

Professor C. Bohn- Aschaffenburg September, 1882-
" I have understood much myself, without knowing previously what would be the nature of communication through the Telephone. Words sung, especially well accentuated and peculiarly intoned, were somewhat better (or rather less incompletely) understood than those spoken in the ordinary manner."

Leon Garnier- principal of the Garnier Institute at Friedrichsdorf December 2nd 1882
" I remember especially, that, standing at the end of a wire or conductor, Mr. Reis speaking through his instrument, I distinctly heard the words : 'Guten Morgen, Herr Fishcher' (Good morning Mr. Fischer); ' Ich komme gleich' ( I am comming directly); Passe auf!' (Pay attention!); ' Wie viel Uhr ist es?' (What o'clock is it?); ' Wie heisst du?' (What's your name?) We often spoke for an hour at a time. The distance was about 150 feet."

Ernest Horkheimer Manchester December 2nd 1882
"We never (in my time) got the length of transmitting complete sentences successfully, but certain words, such as ' Wer da?' 'gewiss', 'warm'', 'Kalt', were undoubtedly transmitted without previous arrangement."

Stephen Mitchell Yeates -2 ,Grafton Street, Dublin, March 1st 1883
" The voice of each was instantly recognized in the receiver; in fact, this point attracted special attention at the time"
*Note -This demonstration took place at the November meeting of the Dublin Philosophical Society 1865-

William Frazer, M.D. 20, Harcourt St, Dublin, March 13th, 1883
"Rigby sang 'Patrick's Day' and ' God Save the Queen,' and various questions were asked and answered. The separate words were most distinct, the singing less so; but there was no difficulty in recognizing the individual who spoke by his voice."

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

District of Columbia SS.:

WILLIAM J. GREEN, being duly sworn on his oath , says

78 that he is Electrician of the Smithsonian I institution , Washington, and has been such for the last e last seven years; that on or about the twenty-eighth day of May, eighteen hundred and eighty-one, he is present at a test made with a Reis telephone in the National Museum, Washington; that the instrument used was the instrument known as the Reis telephone, now in the Smithsonian Institution, Institution which was received by the said institution from Rudolph Koenig, of Paris, France, in October, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and is marked with his me. That this instrument consists of a Reis transmitter and a Reis receiver. That in the experiment. referred to the receiver was placed in a small room in the third story in the National Museum the transmitter was placed in this aced in this oponent's office ice, in the second story. 'The two were placed in metallic circuit. The doors of the room were closed, I speech was inaudible from one room to the other without the aid of the telephone. That under these circumstances this oponent, being in the room the third story, distinctly heard through the Reis receiver referred to the following words: " How far is it to New York?" and other words and consecutive sentences which this deponent does not now recall which he distinctly heard and understood at the time. That the said words were spoken into the Reis transmitter in the said office on the second story by H. E. Waite, as this deponent believes, and were entirely inaudible to this deponent without the of a telephone, and that the instrument, consist. of a transmitter and receiver as aforesaid, trough which the said words heard by this depo. t were transmitted and received, was and is the instrument known as the Reis telephone, received a Paris in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-four as aforesaid, and is now in the possession he said Smithsonian Institution and in the cue

Sworn to before me and Subcribed ill my Presence, the day Year aforesaid.

FERDINAND VOGELLS,

95

custody of this deponent. The said H. E. Waite and

others were present at the time of the said experiment.

That this deponent has also heard distinctly

words and sentences through the same instrument

oil other occasions under the same circumstances.

WM. J. GREEN,

Notary Public.

United STATES CONSULATE GENERAL Franfort-on-the-main, Germany,

On the 12th day of November, A. D., 1883, personally appeared before me, the subscriber, Consul General of the United States of America, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Leon Garnier, of Friedricksdorf,

Germany, who being duly sworn upon his oath, says :

That he is the proprietor of the Garnier Institute

At Friedricksdorf, Germany, and that before the year to wit, during the years 1861 and 1862, he heard sentences spoken through a telephone constructed by Philip Reis.

LEON GARNIER.