Chichester Alexander Bell (1848–1924) was an American chemist and inventor. He was a
first cousin
Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...
of
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and T ...
, and instrumental in developing improved versions of the
phonograph
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
.
[American History Museum]
Charles Sumner Tainter Papers
, Smithsonian American History Museum website, Washington, D.C. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
Life
Bell was born in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
, Ireland in 1848 to Professor
David Charles Bell (1817–1903) and Ellen Adine Highland.
[Chichester Alexander Bell](_blank)
, Recording Pioneers website. Retrieved 13 August 2011. David Charles was an elder brother to Professor
Alexander Melville Bell
Alexander Melville Bell (1 March 18197 August 1905) was a teacher and researcher of physiological phonetics and was the author of numerous works on orthoepy and elocution.
Additionally he was also the creator of Visible Speech which was us ...
, the renowned British authority on elocution and speech.
Bell received his ''Baccalaurei in Medicinâ'' degree in Medicine and Surgery from
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
,
University of Dublin
The University of Dublin ( ga, Ollscoil Átha Cliath), corporately designated the Chancellor, Doctors and Masters of the University of Dublin, is a university located in Dublin, Ireland. It is the degree-awarding body for Trinity College Dub ...
, Ireland, on 30 June 1869. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C. to join his cousin
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and T ...
's
Volta Laboratory
The Volta Laboratory (also known as the Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory, the Bell Carriage House and the Bell Laboratory) and the Volta Bureau were created in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. by Alexander Graham Bell.(19/20th-century scientist and ...
, Chichester was Assistant Professor of Chemistry,
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
. In 1881 Chichester Bell began working with Alexander and their associate
Charles Tainter on addressing the drawbacks to
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...
's
phonograph
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
.
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
Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C.
In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...
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.
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
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
. 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.
When Is A Bell Not A Bell?
/ref>
Bell was awarded the John Scott Medal
John Scott Award, created in 1816 as the John Scott Legacy Medal and Premium, is presented to men and women whose inventions improved the "comfort, welfare, and happiness of human kind" in a significant way. "...the John Scott Medal Fund, establish ...
of The Franklin Institute in 1900.Montreal, Quebec
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...
, Canada and died at Radcliffe Infirmary, St Giles, Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, on 11 March 1924.
Patents
* ''Transmitter for Electric Telephone Lines'', filed May 1884, issued February 1886
* ''Jet Microphone or Apparatus for Transmitting Sounds by Means of Jets'', filed May 1884, issued February 1886
* ''Telephone Transmitter'', Filed April 1885, issued February 1886
* ''Reproducing Sounds from Phonograph Records'' (without using a stylus or causing wear), filed November 1885, issued May 1886 (with Alexander Bell and Charles Tainter)
* ''Transmitting And Recording Sounds By Radiant Energy'', filed November 1885, issued May 1886 (with Alexander Bell and Charles Tainter)
* ''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
* Volta Laboratory and Bureau
The Volta Laboratory (also known as the Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory, the Bell Carriage House and the Bell Laboratory) and the Volta Bureau were created in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. by Alexander Graham Bell.(19/20th-century scientist and ...
References
External links
Story of the Graphophone
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Chichester
1848 births
1924 deaths
American manufacturing businesspeople
Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923)
19th-century American inventors
Scientists from Washington, D.C.
Alexander Graham Bell
Scottish chemists