Telephone: Jump To Navigation Jump To Search

Telephone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search
For other uses, see Telephone (disambiguation).
"Phone" redirects here. For other uses, see Phone (disambiguation).
For the handheld personal computer, see Smartphone.
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve
this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be
challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Telephone" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July
2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
A rotary dial telephone, c. 1940s
AT&T push button telephone made by Western Electric, model 2500 DMG black, 1980
A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct

a conversation when they are too far apart to be heard directly. A telephone
converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into
electronic signals that are transmitted via cables and other communication channels to
another telephone which reproduces the sound to the receiving user. The term is
derived from Greek: τῆλε (tēle, far) and φωνή (phōnē, voice), together meaning distant
voice. A common short form of the term is phone, which came into use almost
immediately after the first patent was issued.[1]
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be granted a United States patent for a
device that produced clearly intelligible replication of the human voice at a second
device.[2] This instrument was further developed by many others, and became rapidly
indispensable in business, government, and in households.
The essential elements of a telephone are a microphone (transmitter) to speak into and
an earphone (receiver) which reproduces the voice in a distant location. [3] In addition,
most telephones contain a ringer to announce an incoming telephone call, and a dial or
keypad to enter a telephone number when initiating a call to another telephone. The
receiver and transmitter are usually built into a handset which is held up to the ear and
mouth during conversation. The dial may be located either on the handset or on a base
unit to which the handset is connected. The transmitter converts the sound
waves to electrical signals which are sent through a telephone network to the receiving
telephone, which converts the signals into audible sound in the receiver or sometimes
a loudspeaker. Telephones are duplex devices, meaning they permit transmission in
both directions simultaneously.
The first telephones were directly connected to each other from one customer's office or
residence to another customer's location. Being impractical beyond just a few
customers, these systems were quickly replaced by manually operated centrally
located switchboards. These exchanges were soon connected together, eventually
forming an automated, worldwide public switched telephone network. For greater
mobility, various radio systems were developed for transmission between mobile
stations on ships and automobiles in the mid-20th century. Hand-held mobile
phones were introduced for personal service starting in 1973. In later decades, their
analog cellular system evolved into digital networks with greater capability and lower
cost.
Convergence has given most modern cell phones capabilities far beyond simple voice
conversation. Most are smartphones, integrating all mobile communication and many
computing needs.
Contents
 1Basic principles
 2Details of operation
 3Early history
o 3.1Timeline of early development
 4Early commercial instruments
 5Digital telephones and voice over IP
 6Mobile telephony
 7Characteristic icons and symbols
 8See also
 9References
 10Further reading
 11External links
Basic principles
Schematic of a landline telephone installation
A traditional landline telephone system, also known as plain old telephone

service (POTS), commonly carries both control and audio signals on the same twisted
pair (C in diagram) of insulated wires, the telephone line. The control and signaling
equipment consists of three components, the ringer, the hookswitch, and a dial. The
ringer, or beeper, light or other device (A7), alerts the user to incoming calls. The
hookswitch signals to the central office that the user has picked up the handset to either
answer a call or initiate a call. A dial, if present, is used by the subscriber to transmit a
telephone number to the central office when initiating a call. Until the 1960s dials used
almost exclusively the rotary technology, which was replaced by dual-tone multi-
frequency signaling (DTMF) with pushbutton telephones (A4).
A major expense of wire-line telephone service is the outside wire plant. Telephones
transmit both the incoming and outgoing speech signals on a single pair of wires. A
twisted pair line rejects electromagnetic interference (EMI) and crosstalk better than a
single wire or an untwisted pair. The strong outgoing speech signal from the
microphone (transmitter) does not overpower the weaker incoming speaker (receiver)
signal with sidetone because a hybrid coil (A3) and other components compensate the
imbalance. The junction box (B) arrests lightning (B2) and adjusts the line's
resistance (B1) to maximize the signal power for the line length. Telephones have
similar adjustments for inside line lengths (A8). The line voltages are negative
compared to earth, to reduce galvanic corrosion. Negative voltage attracts positive
metal ions toward the wires.
Details of operation
Further information: Telephone call
The landline telephone contains a switchhook (A4) and an alerting device, usually a
ringer (A7), that remains connected to the phone line whenever the phone is "on hook"
(i.e. the switch (A4) is open), and other components which are connected when the
phone is "off hook". The off-hook components include a transmitter (microphone, A2), a
receiver (speaker, A1), and other circuits for dialing, filtering (A3), and amplification.
To place a telephone call, the calling party picks up the telephone's handset, thereby
operating a lever which closes the hook switch (A4). This powers the telephone by
connecting the transmission hybrid transformer, as well as the transmitter (microphone)
and receiver (speaker) to the line. In this off-hook state, the telephone circuitry has a
low resistance of typically than 300 ohms, which causes the flow of direct current (DC)
in the line (C) from the telephone exchange. The exchange detects this current,
attaches a digit receiver circuit to the line, and sends dial tone to indicate its readiness.
On a modern push-button telephone, the caller then presses the number keys to send
the telephone number of the destination, the called party. The keys control a tone
generator circuit (not shown) that sends DTMF tones to the exchange. A rotary-dial
telephone uses pulse dialing, sending electrical pulses, that the exchange counts to
decode each digit of the telephone number. If the called party's line is available, the
terminating exchange applies an intermittent alternating current (AC) ringing signal of 40
to 90 volts to alert the called party of the incoming call. If the called party's line is in use,
however, the exchange returns a busy signal to the calling party. If the called party's line
is in use but subscribes to call waiting service, the exchange sends an intermittent
audible tone to the called party to indicate another call.
The electromechanical ringer of a telephone (A7) is connected to the line through
a capacitor (A6), which blocks direct current and passes the alternating current of the
ringing power. The telephone draws no current when it is on hook, while a DC voltage is
continually applied to the line. Exchange circuitry (D2) can send an alternating current
down the line to activate the ringer and announce an incoming call. In manual service
exchange areas, before dial service was installed, telephones had hand-
cranked magneto generators to generate a ringing voltage back to the exchange or any
other telephone on the same line. When a landline telephone is inactive (on hook), the
circuitry at the telephone exchange detects the absence of direct current to indicate that
the line is not in use.[4] When a party initiates a call to this line, the exchange sends the
ringing signal. When the called party picks up the handset, they actuate a double-circuit
switchhook (not shown) which may simultaneously disconnects the alerting device and
connects the audio circuitry to the line. This, in turn, draws direct current through the
line, confirming that the called phone is now active. The exchange circuitry turns off the
ring signal, and both telephones are now active and connected through the exchange.
The parties may now converse as long as both phones remain off hook. When a party
hangs up, placing the handset back on the cradle or hook, direct current ceases in that
line, signaling the exchange to disconnect the call.
Calls to parties beyond the local exchange are carried over trunk lines which establish
connections between exchanges. In modern telephone networks, fiber-optic
cable and digital technology are often employed in such connections. Satellite
technology may be used for communication over very long distances.
In most landline telephones, the transmitter and receiver (microphone and speaker) are
located in the handset, although in a speakerphone these components may be located
in the base or in a separate enclosure. Powered by the line, the microphone (A2)
produces a modulated electric current which varies its frequency and amplitude in
response to the sound waves arriving at its diaphragm. The resulting current is
transmitted along the telephone line to the local exchange then on to the other phone
(via the local exchange or via a larger network), where it passes through the coil of the
receiver (A3). The varying current in the coil produces a corresponding movement of the
receiver's diaphragm, reproducing the original sound waves present at the transmitter.
Along with the microphone and speaker, additional circuitry is incorporated to prevent
the incoming speaker signal and the outgoing microphone signal from interfering with
each other. This is accomplished through a hybrid coil (A3). The incoming audio signal
passes through a resistor (A8) and the primary winding of the coil (A3) which passes it
to the speaker (A1). Since the current path A8 – A3 has a far lower impedance than the
microphone (A2), virtually all of the incoming signal passes through it and bypasses the
microphone.
At the same time the DC voltage across the line causes a DC current which is split
between the resistor-coil (A8-A3) branch and the microphone-coil (A2-A3) branch. The
DC current through the resistor-coil branch has no effect on the incoming audio signal.
But the DC current passing through the microphone is turned into AC (in response to
voice sounds) which then passes through only the upper branch of the coil's (A3)
primary winding, which has far fewer turns than the lower primary winding. This causes
a small portion of the microphone output to be fed back to the speaker, while the rest of
the AC goes out through the phone line.
A lineman's handset is a telephone designed for testing the telephone network, and may
be attached directly to aerial lines and other infrastructure components.

Telephone: Jump To Navigation Jump To Search

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Telephone: Jump To Navigation Jump To Search

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Telephone: Jump To Navigation Jump To Search

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Telephone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A rotary dial telephone, c. 1940s

A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct

A traditional landline telephone system, also known as plain old telephone

You might also like