Windwalker 0 #1 July 2, 2004 This is kind of a trick question: Is the telephone a Canadian or American invention? If you're from Scotland, you're not allowed to answer this question ------------------------------------------------------- Windwalker Whatever doesn't kill me, just makes me cry. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #2 July 2, 2004 I guess it depends on how you define telephone.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Windwalker 0 #3 July 2, 2004 I haven't really thought about how "I" would define telephone. Coming up with a definition would require to much effort on my part. Just to make life easier for me, let's use this as the definition of telephone: http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Telephone ------------------------------------------------------- Windwalker Whatever doesn't kill me, just makes me cry. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,997 #4 July 2, 2004 And an aside to that - who invented the automatic telephone switchboard, and why? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Windwalker 0 #5 July 2, 2004 Almon Strowger, a Kansas City Undertaker invented the automatic telephone exchange. He invented it because he thought local telephone operators were sending calls to a competitor. That leads me to an even better question. Can you ask me any question that I can't answer with the aid of a google search? ------------------------------------------------------- Windwalker Whatever doesn't kill me, just makes me cry. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #6 July 2, 2004 Quote That leads me to an even better question. Can you ask me any question that I can't answer with the aid of a google search? Yes. Well, not definitively anyway. "Is there a God?"quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,027 #7 July 2, 2004 QuoteAlmon Strowger, a Kansas City Undertaker invented the automatic telephone exchange. He invented it because he thought local telephone operators were sending calls to a competitor. That leads me to an even better question. Can you ask me any question that I can't answer with the aid of a google search? Yes, I have lots of quantum mechanics problems that Google won't help with. But the patenter of spread spectrum communications is a most unlikely person!... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Windwalker 0 #8 July 2, 2004 I have to agree with you on that one. ------------------------------------------------------- Windwalker Whatever doesn't kill me, just makes me cry. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Windwalker 0 #9 July 2, 2004 QuoteQuoteAlmon Strowger, a Kansas City Undertaker invented the automatic telephone exchange. He invented it because he thought local telephone operators were sending calls to a competitor. That leads me to an even better question. Can you ask me any question that I can't answer with the aid of a google search? Yes, I have lots of quantum mechanics problems that Google won't help with. But the patenter of spread spectrum communications is a most unlikely person! Perhaps god (if there is a god) can help you with your Quantum Mechanics problems. He can help you, right after he starts playing dice with the universe. ------------------------------------------------------- Windwalker Whatever doesn't kill me, just makes me cry. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nacmacfeegle 0 #10 July 2, 2004 "If you're from Scotland, you're not allowed to answer this question" Oh, okay, be like that then. -------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr2mk1g 10 #11 July 2, 2004 Generally attributed to Alexander Graham Bell, a Scotsman. Although I'm aware of some dispute about his claims as a rival was developing the idea the same time. In fact I understand the two rivals were in the queue together at the patent office and Alexander was first in line. Is that what you are referring to? (not from Scotland) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skyrad 0 #12 July 2, 2004 And another Scotsman Yogi Bear invented the TV! When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy. Lucius Annaeus Seneca Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kerr 0 #13 July 2, 2004 Wasn't there some Cuban claim on this? Some doctor had wired up his house with an intercom system years before Bell's patent, or something? Anyway everyone knows that the Scots invented everything. Print stereotyping: William Ged (1690-1749) The balloon post: John Anderson (1726-1796) The adhesive postage stamp and the postmark: James Chalmers (1782-1853) The post office The mail-van service Universal Standard Time: Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915) Light signalling between ships: Philip H. Colomb (1831-1899) The telephone: Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) The teleprinter: Frederick G. Creed (1871-1957) The television: John Logie Baird (1888-1946) Radar: Robert Watson-Watt (1892-1973) Tarmac roads: John Loudon McAdam (1756-1836) Driving on the left: Determined by a Scottish-inspired Act of Parliament in 1772 The pedal bicycle: Kirkpatrick Macmillan (1813-1878) The pneumatic tyre: Robert William Thomson (1822-1873) and John Boyd Dunlop (1840-1921) The speedometer: Sir Keith Elphinstone (1864-1944) The motor lorry: John Yule in 1870 Cloud chamber recording of atoms: Charles T. R. Wilson (1869-1959) The steam boat: William Symington (1763-1831) The first all-steel ship The steam hammer: James Nasmyth (1808-1890) Wire rope: Robert Stirling Newall (1812-1889) Logarithms: John Napier (1550-1617) The decimal point: John Napier (1550-1617) The reflecting telescope: James Gregory (1638-1675) The concept of Latent Heat: Joseph Black (1728-1799) The pyroscope, atmometer and aethrioscope scientific instruments: Sir John Leslie (1766-1832) Identifying the nucleus in living cells: Robert Browen (1773-1858) Hypnosis: James Braid (1795-1860) Colloid chemistry: Thomas Graham (1805-1869) The Kelvin scale of temperature: William Thompson, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) Devising the diagramatic system of representing chemical bonds: Alexander Crum Brown (1838-1922) Criminal fingerprinting: Henry Faulds (1843-1930) The noble gases: Sir William Ramsay (1852-1916) The ultrasound scanner: Ian Donald (1910-1987) Ferrocene synthetic substances: Peter Ludwig Pauson in 1955 The MRI body scanner: John Mallard in 1980 The first cloned mammal: The Roslin Institute research centre in 1996 Devising the cure for scurvy: James Lind (1716-1794) Discovering quinine as the cure for malaria: George Cleghorn (1716-1794) The hypodermic syringe: Alexander Wood (1817-1884) Identifying the mosquito as the carrier of malaria: Sir Patrick Manson (1844-1922) Identifying the cause of brucellosis: Sir David Bruce (1855-1931) Discovering the vaccine for typhoid fever: Sir William B. Leishman (1865-1926) Discovering insulin: John J R Macleod (1876-1935) with others Pencillin: Sir Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) Discovering an effective treatment to eradicate TB: Sir John Crofton in the 1950s Developing the first beta-blocker drugs: Sir James W. Black in 1964 The piano with footpedals: John Broadwood (1732-1812) The waterproof macintosh: Charles Macintosh (1766-1843) Marmalade: James Keiller (1775-1839) The kaleidoscope: Sir David Brewster (1781-1868) The modern lawnmower: Alexander Shanks (1801-1845) The Lucifer friction match: Sir Isaaac Holden (1807-1897) Paraffin: James Young (1811-1883) The fountain pen: Robert Thomson (1822-1873) The vacuum flask: Sir James Dewar (1847-1932) Cotton-reel thread: J & J Clark of Paisley Marmalade with peel: James Robertson in 1850 Cornflour: John Polson in 1854 Lime Cordial: Lachlan Rose in 1867 Bovril beef extract: John Lawson Johnston in 1874 erm... The first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica (1768-81) Breech-loading rifle: Patrick Ferguson (1744 - 1780) Fax Machine: early 19th Century Percussion Powder: Alexander Forsyth in 1809 Hollow-pipe drainage: Sir Hugh Dalrymple (Lord Drummore) (1700 - 1753) Refrigerators: James Harrison (1851) erm... The Bank of England Capitalism The overdraft The threshing machine The gravitating compass Street lighting The gas mask Colour photographs The photocopier Video The kaleidoscope Theory of combustion Electric light The thermometer Ante-natal clinics Golf Curling Shinty (stretch here ) Tennis courts The bowling green Blue lasers Writing paper Suspenders Documentary films The traffic cone and erm... The US Navy Editod fur spellin -- Kerr Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nacmacfeegle 0 #14 July 2, 2004 We are good, aren't we? And humble too. Ever seen this?...... Scottish Inventions The average Englishman in the home he calls his castle, slips into his national costume, a shabby raincoat, patented by Charles Mackintosh from Glasgow, SCOTLAND. En route to his office he strides along an English lane surfaced by John Macadam of Ayr, SCOTLAND. Sometimes he drives an English car fitted with tyres invented by John Boyd Dunlop of Dreghorn, SCOTLAND. At the office he receives the mail, bearing adhesive stamps invented by John Chalmers of Dundee, SCOTLAND. During the day he uses the telephone, invented by Alexander Graham Bell, born in Edinburgh, SCOTLAND. At home in the evening, his daughter pedals her bicycle invented by blacksmith Kirkpatrick Macmillan of Dumfries, SCOTLAND. He watches the news on television, invented by John Logie Baird of Helensburgh, SCOTLAND, and hears an item about the U.S. Navy, founded by John Paul Jones of Kirkbean, SCOTLAND. He has by now been reminded too much of SCOTLAND and in desperation he picks up the bible, only to find that the first man mentioned in the good book is a SCOT, King James VI, who authorised its translation. Nowhere can an Englishman escape the ingenuity of the SCOTS. He could take to drink, but the SCOTS make the best in the world. He could take a rifle and end it all, but the breech-loading rifle was invented by Captain Patrick Ferguson of Pitfours, SCOTLAND. If he escaped death, he could find himself on an operating table, being injected with penicillin, discovered by Alexander Fleming of Darvel, SCOTLAND, and given an anaesthetic, discovered by Sir James Young Simpson of Bathgate, SCOTLAND. On coming out of the anaesthetic he would find no comfort in learning that he was as safe as the Bank of England, founded by William Paterson of Dumfries, SCOTLAND. Perhaps his only remaining hope would be to get a transfusion of guid SCOTTISH blood, which would entitle him to ask ''WHA'S LIKE US ? GIE FEW, AND THEY'RE AW DEID!"-------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kerr 0 #15 July 2, 2004 Quote"WHA'S LIKE US ? GIE FEW, AND THEY'RE AW DEID!" Yeah, I had that on a postcard (scottish invention) I can't believe I missed Whisky! I'll have to remedy that with a wee dram later And deep fried mars bars. -- Kerr Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Windwalker 0 #16 July 2, 2004 People in Scotland claim that the telephone is a Scottish invention, because Alexander Graham Bell was born in Scottland. ------------------------------------------------------- Windwalker Whatever doesn't kill me, just makes me cry. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nacmacfeegle 0 #17 July 2, 2004 "People in Scotland claim that the telephone is a Scottish invention, because Alexander Graham Bell was born in Scottland." Yep, we do, and up until today, I might have argued the case. But you have bust that poular myth, and it now appears that an Italian, Meucci, should really take the credit. I can see the link to the telephone being an American invention, Bell was working in Boston at the time, so fair's fair. How does Canada fit in with this claim?-------------------- He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyMan 7 #18 July 2, 2004 It depends on your definition of "Canadian". He never held Canadian citizenship. The invention of the telephone is generally attributed to Alexander Graham Bell, a scottsman who fled the UK fearing death from sickness at 23. He initially settled in Brandford Ontario, but also established his summer house on Cape Bretton Island, Nova Scotia. The Summer house was known for being the location where he did much of his best research, both in telephony and the physics of flight. The first telephone "call" would happen in Boston, Massacheusetts, while he was working there temporarily. Alexander Graham Bell is a great example of a long list of distinguished individuals who rejected the poor life of the old world, and embraced the opportunities of the new. He later moved permanently to the states, and became a US citizen, a process that at the time would have him renounce any claims to his Scottish homeland. He continued to spend summers at the vacation home in Nova Scotia. _Am__ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rickjump1 0 #19 July 2, 2004 Breech-loading rifle: Patrick Ferguson (1744 - 1780)..... This wonderful piece of military hardware did not help him in 1780.Do your part for global warming: ban beans and hold all popcorn farts. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,997 #20 July 2, 2004 >But the patenter of spread spectrum communications is a most unlikely person! Indeed; she has become something of an icon here at Qualcomm. She died a few years back unfortunately. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 4 #21 July 2, 2004 QuoteBut the patenter of spread spectrum communications is a most unlikely person! Are you refering to an original plan to sychonize frequency hopping, for torpedo guidance no less, using player piano rolls by Heddy Lamar? That's kinda of a stretch to spread spectrum, but it is the popular urban ledgend . . . and true as far as it goes.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skyrad 0 #22 July 2, 2004 LOL......Why have a dog and bark yourself?When an author is too meticulous about his style, you may presume that his mind is frivolous and his content flimsy. Lucius Annaeus Seneca Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
markd_nscr986 0 #23 July 2, 2004 Aye....you sheep shaggin "Albans" have done well for yourselves.....do all the bloody work and let the sassenachs take it from you!! Cymru am byth......ac yr Alban hefyd! Marc SCR 6046 SCS 3004 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr2mk1g 10 #24 July 2, 2004 QuoteThis wonderful piece of military hardware did not help him in 1780. Actually I'd love to own a Ferguson Rifle (which I can do so here without a license). I've had the pleasure of handling an original and of firing a replica. It's an ingeniously simple concept. Attached to a large trigger guard (think like on a Winchester) there is an oversized vertical screw, with an aggressive thread. This will travel up and down through the breach of the rifle and has a horizontal chamber in which is exposed when the thread is turned anti-clockwise through 180 degrees. A paper cartridge containing both ball and powder may then be inserted in this chamber and a simple turn of the trigger guard back through 180 degrees will both place the cartridge inside the breach of the rifle and split the end exposing the powder to the priming flash. Primer is then placed in the pan and the weapon is ready for use in a conventional flintlock fashion. The Ferguson rifle was issued to a 100 man strong unit during the Revolutionary War. This unit saw action during the Battle of Brandywine where Ferguson reportedly held his fire on one George Washington because his back was presented to him. Washington also received a bullet hole through his hat during this battle, presumably from a Ferguson Rifle. How close this weapon came to changing American history so drastically. I love these old rifles. I swear one day I will have an original Baker rifle. I have actually fired an original Baker from the Peninsula Wars. It is truly a work of art. I wrote a book on the Baker a few years ago and the prologue detailed the Ferguson given that technically it was the first rifle to be used by the British army, (albeit in only with an experimental unit) and the Baker can claim the honour of being the first to be adopted into any mainstream unit in 1800 it was given to the 95th regiment of foot and latterly also to the 60th.to become the Prince of Wales Fusiliers. The Baker gave 40 years of service before being replaced by the Brunswick rifle. Maybe one day I shall submit it to a publisher... Sorry for the history lesson, but it’s a subject that interested me enough to dedicate an entire chapter of a book to it. (see – you can’t accuse me of being anti-gun at heart any more). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Windwalker 0 #25 July 3, 2004 Quote"People in Scotland claim that the telephone is a Scottish invention, because Alexander Graham Bell was born in Scottland." Yep, we do, and up until today, I might have argued the case. But you have bust that poular myth, and it now appears that an Italian, Meucci, should really take the credit. I can see the link to the telephone being an American invention, Bell was working in Boston at the time, so fair's fair. How does Canada fit in with this claim? Canadians think that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1874, at his parent's residence just outside of Brantford, Ontario. http://www.canadianheritage.org/reproductions/20460.htm ------------------------------------------------------- Windwalker Whatever doesn't kill me, just makes me cry. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
