Communication technology is a kind of time travel. Messages that once took days, weeks, or months to arrive can now be shared instantaneously worldwide. More than ever, shaping the future is something we can do together.
Alexander Graham Bell’s experimental telephone prototype is the ancestor of the mobile phone in your pocket. While developing it he sought advice from Joseph Henry, the Smithsonian’s first secretary.
The Tellatouch Braillewriter provided people unable to see or hear with a new way to communicate, helping reduce social isolation. The keyboard resembles a conventional typewriter, with each key raising a Braille letter on the opposite side of the console.
This section contains the following objects:
Tellatouch Braille Typewriter
Alexander Graham Bell’s Experimental Telephone
Patent Models
Bakelizer
Radio Nurse Monitor
Reach Out and Touch Someone
Tellatouch Braille Typewriter
American Foundation for the Blind
Plastic, metal, and leather
Description: A brown typewriter with green buttons. The keyboard is laid out alphabetically, rather than the typical QWERTY keyboard. It has a latch that opens, exposing the keyboard. When the latch is closed, it shows a “Tellatouch” tag that reads, “For communicating in Braille. Tellatouch. American Foundation For the Blind, Inc. New York, N.Y.” Along the edge of the braille writer is a strap for easier transportation.
Description: A black and white photo of a pair of hands typing on the Braille Typewriter. A third hand has a finger on a touch point that is located on the other side of the keyboard.
Credit: Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
Helen Keller
Author and Activist
“Like some winged god the future is rushing towards us, and we are part of it—part of its glory or its shame, its terror or its triumph.”
—Helen Keller
Description: A portrait of Helen Keller. The portrait is digitally created based on a photograph. It consists mostly of brown, orange, and white tones. Keller is a white woman with brown hair in a low bun. She is shown in a side profile, looking down. She wears a white turtleneck top with ruffles. The image is stylized with small dots.
Despite losing her sight and hearing at the age of two, Helen Keller (1880–1968) became an expert communicator. She wrote many books and campaigned tirelessly for racial equality, women’s suffrage, and disability rights. She also helped found the American Civil Liberties Union. “It is in our power to make the future great and glorious,” she said. “It depends upon our answering rightly the vital questions of the present.”
Credit: This portrait was made by artist Nettrice Gaskins using Deep Dream Generator, a computer vision program that uses artificial intelligence to generate new and complex images.
Experimental Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell, 1876
Wood, brass, and tin
Description: A machine with a black, funnel shaped receiver on its side. The receiver is connected to a gold disc, fastened to a stand. There are wires attached to two identical orb shaped pieces behind the stand.The machine is secured to a wood base.
Credit: Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
Alexander Graham Bell demonstrating the telephone.
Description: A group of light skinned men wearing suits surround Alexander Graham Bell using a telephone. Many of the surrounding people have mustaches and wear suits. Some of them look straight into the camera and some of them look at Alexander Graham Bell. Alexander Graham Bell is a white man with short white or gray hair and a big beard. He wears a suit and sits at a desk. He holds the telephone up to his ear. The telephone is connected to a big box on his desk. At the bottom of the photo has text that reads, “Opening of New York and Chicago Telephone Line. October 18th 1892.”
Credit: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Alexander Graham Bell
Inventor
“Mr. Watson—Come here—I want to see you.”
—Alexander Graham Bell’s first phone call
Description: A portrait of Alexander Graham Bell. The portrait is digitally created based on a photograph. It consists of multi-colored lines reminiscent of wires. Alexander Graham Bell is a white man with light skin. He has short white hair and a full beard. He looks into the distance.
Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) invented everything from metal detectors to hydrofoils. But he is best remembered today as one of the creators of the telephone. Few people realize the personal motivations that led to his famous discoveries. Both his mother and wife had hearing loss, which inspired him to study the science of sound.
Despite his innovations, Bell approached the question of inclusion very differently from how we do today. For example, he discouraged marriage between people who were hard of hearing, because he thought they would create “a deaf variety of the human race.” Bell developed a technology that would transform the world and connect us all. Yet his story shows that even the most farsighted futurists have complicated legacies.
Credit: This portrait was made by artist Nettrice Gaskins using Deep Dream Generator, a computer vision program that uses artificial intelligence to generate new and complex images.
Models of Invention
The Smithsonian is home to more than 10,000 patent models. They represent inventions in many fields, from transportation to textiles, from engineering to education.
America’s patent system was itself a great innovation, a way to encourage ingenuity. Until 1880 inventors applying for patents had to submit physical models like these. Some were displayed to the public at the U.S. Patent Office Building—now the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.
Not all patented technologies turn out to be successful, but some have changed the world. The process of application and approval continues today. In 2018, the U.S. awarded its 10 millionth patent.
Charles R. and Norton P. Otis, 1880
Tin
Description: A small red elevator model. The model is covered in red, peeling paint. It is shaped like a tower with a flat top. It has four table legs. On the bottom are four panels connecting the legs. Inside the legs is a box with a string on top. The string loops through the flat top and is tied down to a hand crank at the bottom of the elevator.
Credit: Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
Frank G. Johnson, 1881
Wood, metal, and iron
Description: A combined desk and chair. The desk is on the back of the chair. The desk and chair are both wooden. The iron legs of the chair and the bottom of the desk are painted green and gold. The chair is curved on the back. Both the seat of the chair and the top of the desk can fold into itself. The desk has two shelves underneath it, coming from the back of the chair.
Credit: Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
John Golding, 1837
Metal and wood
Description: A machine to guide a thread on a spool. This machine has a frame shaped like a house with a sloped roof at the top. The outside of the frame is blue and the inside is brown. On the front are the words, “John Golding.” It has six gold gears on the front. Inside are small sticks to hold spools. On the right are machine mechanisms to guide the thread. On the bottom, is another stick for the thread to go through the cranks in the middle of the machine.
Credit: Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
Henry William, 1877
Brass, steel, and wood
Description: A paddle wheel with eight small paddles around a center axel. A hand crank is in the center on both the front and the back. The paddles are all gold and have a spear-shaped protrusion where they connect to the spokes. The paddles are held up by a silver stand on a wooden base.
CRedit: Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
A. Cathcart Patent 6818
Andrew Cathcart
Wood (overall material)
Description: A model of a train locomotive, or engine. The locomotive is black. It has four wheels on each side. The two back wheels are bigger and connect to a cylinder, shaped like a spool, in the front of the locomotive. There are three additional cylinders on top of the locomotive. There is a plaque that reads, “A.Cathcart, Madison” on the side of the locomotive.
Credit: Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
George H. Corliss, 1876
Wood and metal
Description: A wooden square on a block. There are small metal rods that make up the interior of the wooden square. The rods connect to two small cylinders on each end. The cylinders are made out of wood. The rods meet in the middle at a small metal circle. It has a tag on it that states that the patent was issued to George H. Corliss, May 9, 1876, nos. 177059 and 177099.
Credit: Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
Leo H. Baekeland, ca. 1909
Cast iron
Description: An egg-shaped aluminum structure on a stand. It has various pieces attached to it. This industrial vessel has a small circular door in the front. There are two small windows to view the interior. The inside is hollow and contains a mixer. Extruding from the top are pipes, a turning wheel, and gears. The legs of the structure start from the center seam of the vessel and attach to a circular stand on the floor. It stands about six feet tall and three feet wide.
Plastic . . . Fantastic?
Plastics are everywhere. Inexpensive and versatile, they have fundamentally transformed our lives. They have also had a major impact on our planet. It is estimated that eight million tons of plastic are dumped into the ocean every year.
Chemist Leo Baekeland used this machine to manufacture the world’s first synthetic plastic, named Bakelite for its inventor. At the time plastic was considered a futuristic wonder, used to make everything from jewelry to electronics. But today we realize that this dream material can be a nightmare for the environment. The Bakelizer stands as an example of unintended consequences: plastic often far outlives its original purpose. But it’s also an inspiring object, for if materials can be invented, they can also be reinvented.
Credit: Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History
Bakelite Baby Monitor
Isamu Noguchi, 1937–1938
Molded Bakelite and metal
Description: A teardrop-shaped speaker that is wider on the top and narrows towards the bottom. It has horizontal slits for the speaker in the front. It is about the size of an average vase. On the back are the words, “Square “plaque” containing: [1] ZENITH (zigzag font logo) [2] RADIO / circle containing” SOS” and a baby’s head / NURSE [3] DESIGN BY NOGUCHI [4] PATENT APPLIED FOR [5] 117 VOLTS-50/60 CYCLE-25 WATTS [6] ZENITH RADIO CORP., CHICAGO.”
Credit: Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, Gift of Mel Byars, 1991-59-61
Credit: The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York; gift of Harold Zarember
Description: A photo of two people with the Bakelite Baby monitor between them. The viewer can assume that they are parents because they are listening to the baby monitor. They sit in a living room. The person on the left wears a suit, the person on the right wears a dress. The person on the left holds a cigarette and an ashtray while speaking to the person on the right. The person on the right is smiling, listening, sitting in a chair and holding a magazine. They both have light colored skin.
Credit: The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York
Artist and Designer
“To be hybrid anticipates the future.”
—Isamu Noguchi
Description: A portrait of Isamu Noguchi. The portrait is digitally created based on a photograph. Noguchi is a middle aged, Japanese American man with very short, balding hair. He looks very seriously at the viewer. The portrait has colorful abstract shapes that make up the painting’s foreground and background.
Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) had an incredibly flexible mind. During his long career he turned his talents to sculpture, theater sets, playgrounds, lighting, and much more. The Radio Nurse shown here is part of an early remote monitoring system he designed. It was used to ensure that a baby, or someone in need of medical care, was safe in another room. Noguchi’s design was influenced by masks used in Japanese Kendo (a type of martial art) and American nurse’s headdresses, reflecting his own split Japanese American identity.
Credit: This portrait was made by artist Nettrice Gaskins using Deep Dream Generator, a computer vision program that uses artificial intelligence to generate new and complex images.