From the Telegraph to the TTY
Here's a report on Dr. Harry Lang's TDI workshop entitled "From
the Telegraph to the TTY - The Deaf Experience in the History of
Communication" - a really fascinating history of the TTY.
Harry Lang is a professor in the Department of Research at the
National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). He has written several
books, including his most recent work, "A Phone of Our Own: The
Deaf Insurrection Against Ma Bell".
There once was a deaf physicist with an idea for distance
communications that would be accessible to deaf people, but he was
unable to interest the government in his idea. Any idea who this might
be? Robert Weitbrecht (inventor of the TTY) is one person who fits the
bill, but the person I'm thinking of is Guillaume Amontons, the father
of the optical telegraph. He lived in France about 300 years ago, and
came up with the idea of using windmills (which were the tallest
structures around) to relay messages across long distances. An operator
would display a text message from the sending windmill; an operator at
the receiving windmill would read the message using a telescope, then
pass it on to the next windmill. Communications over long distances
could occur quite rapidly for that era.
Several deaf people were involved in the early development of the
telegraph. They didn't need to hear, because they could feel the
vibrations of the sounder (device which produces the telegraph sound).
In 1893 Asa Gray invented a communications system called the "electrowriter".
It involved the transmission of text over wires (much like a TTY).
However, the technology was overwhelmed by Bell's voice phone, so
deaf-accessible telecommunications was postponed for 70 years.
Another attempt at accessible communications was made in 1912, when a
deaf inventor created a visual telephone, which had a light for each
letter. The idea was that text would be transmitted a letter at a time,
and the corresponding light would flash on the receiving end.
It is well known that Thomas Edison was deaf. Modern estimates are
that he had no hearing in one ear and a 70 dB loss in the other. He
didn't sign or read lips. He received spoken information from an
interpreter, who tapped out Morse code on his leg.
Other deaf scientists who contributed to the development of
telecommunications technology include John Ambrose Fleming, who invented
the electric valve (vacuum tube) and Oliver Heaviside, who developed
telephone transmission theory. Heaviside is perhaps best known for
proposing the existence of an atmospheric layer that reflects radio
waves, and therefore allows long distance radio communications. He is
honored by having this layer named after him.
In 1941, a deaf woman with a German last name used Morse code to communicate
over the telephone. Although unable to understand speech over the phone,
she was able to distinguish a dash from a dot. You may recall that the
world was embroiled in World War II at the time. The deaf young woman
and her parents had
some serious explaining to do when the Secret Service showed up to find
out what all the code was about.
Real telecommunications access for people with hearing loss became
possible following the invention of the TTY modem by Robert
H. Weitbrecht in 1963. Hearing about Weitbrecht's talents and wanting to help
bring telecommunications access to deaf people, a deaf dentist named Jim
Marsters flew to Redwood City, CA to meet Weitbrecht. Marsters
asked if Weitbrecht's radio teletype circuitry could be adapted for use
over the telephone line, and
Weitbrecht replied that it was possible.
Weitbrecht tried to get old ttys from Ma Bell, but was unsuccessful. Worried
that their old machines might be used for competition, Ma Bell was
careful to destroy them before discarding. So Weitbrecht scavenged parts
from the junkyard. He completed his first machine and made the first TTY
call in 1964. The first public demonstration of the TTY occurred at the
Alexander Graham Bell Conference in Salt Lake City that year.
The early TTYs were large and expensive; TTY expansion was slow.
There were 2 TTYs in 1964, 18 in 1966, and 174 in 1968. By 1971, the
number of TTYs in the US reached 1500. The Braille TTY was invented in
1974. By the early 70s, news and weather reports were transmitted via
TTY.
Because of ongoing lawsuits, AT&T did not support early TTY
development. Discarded machines from Western Union and the Army were the
primary sources for TTY components until the settlement of the lawsuits
in 1968. Additional indirect AT&T support came from a group called
Telephone Pioneers of America. Its members, who were retired AT&T
employees, trained deaf people on how to build and repair TTYs.
The early TTYs were quite fragile and had a multitude of technical
problems. Something as commonplace as a barking dog could cause the
transmission of errant characters.
The first international TTY call was made from Canada to St. Louis in
1968. In 1973, Marsters demonstrated the TTY in Europe, where it was
eventually adopted. The first transatlantic TTY call was made in 1975.
The miniaturization trend that began in the 1970s was responsible for
the subsequent availability and affordability of TTYs. As the size and
price came down, demand soared. By 1982, 180 thousand TTYs were in use.
