Chichester Bell
{{short description|Irish audio engineer and inventor (1848–1924)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox engineer
| image = Chichester A Bell, American sound engineer, late 19th century.jpg
| birth_date = 1848
| birth_place = Dublin, Ireland
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1924|3|11|1848}}
| death_place = Oxford, England
| alma_mater = Trinity College Dublin
| known_for = Invention of the graphophone
| spouse = {{marriage| Antoinette Ives|1889}}
| parents = {{plainlist|
- David Charles Bell
- Ellen Adine Highland
}}
| relatives = Alexander Melville Bell (uncle)
Alexander Graham Bell (cousin)
| awards = John Scott Medal (1900)
| discipline = Audio engineering
| institutions = Volta Laboratory
| significant_advance = Phonograph
}}
Chichester Alexander Bell (1848 – 11 March 1924) was an Irish audio engineer and inventor. He was a cousin of Alexander Graham Bell and was instrumental in developing the graphophone.American History Museum. [http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/AC0124.htm Charles Sumner Tainter Papers] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110630200623/http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/AC0124.htm |date=30 June 2011 }}, Smithsonian American History Museum website, Washington, D.C. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
Life
Bell was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1848 to Professor David Charles Bell (1817–1903) and Ellen Adine Highland.[http://www.recordingpioneers.com/RP_BELL2.html Chichester Alexander Bell] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819174502/http://www.recordingpioneers.com/RP_BELL2.html |date=19 August 2016 }}, Recording Pioneers website. Retrieved 13 August 2011.{{cite web |title= David Charles Bell Family Tree |work= Bell Family Papers |publisher= US Library of Congress |url= http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bellhtml/dcbtree.html |accessdate= 14 October 2010 }} David Charles was an elder brother to Professor Alexander Melville Bell, the renowned British authority on elocution and speech.[http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bellhtml/agbtree.html Alexander Bell Family Tree] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702030811/http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bellhtml/agbtree.html |date=2 July 2014 }}, Bell Family Papers, US Library of Congress. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
Bell received his Baccalaurei in Medicinâ degree in Medicine and Surgery from Trinity College Dublin on 30 June 1869.Churchill, John. [https://web.archive.org/web/20200727211738/https://books.google.com/books?id=Bp0EAAAAQAAJ Medical News], The Medical Times and Gazette: A Journal of Medical Science, Literature, Criticism and News, Oxford University, 3 July 1869, p. 23. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C. to join his cousin Alexander Graham Bell's Volta Laboratory, Chichester was assistant professor of chemistry, University College London.Letter from Alexander Graham Bell to William H. Forbes, 2 February 1881, Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers, US Library of Congress. Retrieved 10 August 2011. In 1881 Chichester Bell began working with Alexander and their associate Charles Tainter on addressing the drawbacks to Thomas Edison's phonograph.
The three men created the Volta Laboratory Association to be the holder of their patents. Their successful development of the graphophone led to the formation of the Volta Graphophone Company of Alexandria, Virginia in February 1886 by the principals, along with Chichester's brother, lawyer and banker, Charles B. Bell (born 1858). While living in Washington, D.C., Chichester Bell was one of the founding members of the Chemical Society Washington Chapter.Chemical Society of Washington. "Washington: Printed for the Society, 1886, List of Members", Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Washington, No. 1, 12 January 1884, to 14 January 1886, page 7.
He then returned to University College, London to continue his scientific research. In 1887, he published "Sympathetic Vibration of Jets" in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.Bell, Chichester A. [https://books.google.com/books?id=6-ZLKHNCbHoC&pg=PA93 Sympathetic Vibration of Jets] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111015024/http://books.google.ca/books?id=6-ZLKHNCbHoC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93 |date=11 November 2012 }}, Pharmaceutical Journal & Transactions: A Weekly Record of Pharmacy and Allied Sciences, Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, J. Churchill, 1887, pp.93-97. Abstract of a paper read before the Royal Society on 13 May 1887. Chichester Bell also helped establish the Edison Bell company. The Edison Bell company was established on 30 November 1892 in London to sell phonographs produced by the Edison United Phonograph Company.[https://web.archive.org/web/20220408030416/http://stowger-net.telefoonmuseum.com/tel_hist_bellnames.html When Is A Bell Not A Bell?]
Bell was awarded the John Scott Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1900. He married Antoinette Ives in 1889, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and died at Radcliffe Infirmary, St Giles, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, on 11 March 1924.
Patents
- {{US patent|336081}} Transmitter for Electric Telephone Lines, filed May 1884, issued February 1886
- {{US patent|336082}} Jet Microphone or Apparatus for Transmitting Sounds by Means of Jets, filed May 1884, issued February 1886
- {{US patent|336083}} Telephone Transmitter, Filed April 1885, issued February 1886
- {{US patent|341212}} Reproducing Sounds from Phonograph Records (without using a stylus or causing wear), filed November 1885, issued May 1886 (with Alexander Bell and Charles Tainter)
- {{US patent|341213}} Transmitting And Recording Sounds By Radiant Energy, filed November 1885, issued May 1886 (with Alexander Bell and Charles Tainter)
- {{US patent|341214}} Recording and Reproducing Speech and Other Sounds (improvements include compliant cutting head, wax surface, and constant linear velocity disk), filed June 1885, issued May 1886 (with Charles Tainter)
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20040810065125/http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/recording/graphophone.html Story of the Graphophone]
{{Authority control}}
{{Alexander Graham Bell}}
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Category:American manufacturing businesspeople
Category:Irish emigrants to the United States
Category:19th-century American inventors
Category:Scientists from Washington, D.C.