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 : Alexander Graham Bell, Metal Detector, 1891


Alexander Graham Bell, Metal Detector, 1891

Entitled: Professor Alexander Graham Bell's induction-balance for ascertaining the location of a bullet in a human body from a sketch by William A. Skinkle. Alexander Graham Bell (March 3, 1847 - August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-American speech therapist and inventor of the telephone. He is also credited with developing one of the early versions of a metal detector in 1881. The device was quickly put together in an attempt to find the bullet in the body of U.S. President James Garfield. According to some accounts, the metal detector worked flawlessly in tests but did not find the assassin's bullet partly because the metal bed frame on which the President was lying disturbed the instrument, resulting in static. The president's surgeons, who were skeptical of the device, ignored Bell's requests to move the president to a bed not fitted with metal springs. Alternatively, although Bell had detected a slight sound on his first test, the bullet may have been lodged too deeply to be detected by the crude apparatus

Picture No
12696557
Media ID
47671886
Size
4200px x 3390px (1.7MB)
Credit
Science Source/Mary Evans

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Abram At And T Colorised Colorization Commander-in-chief Detector Diagram Enhancement Garfield Groundbreaking Impulses Innovator Presidency Scottish-american Technological Tele-communication Telecommunication Therapist Transmission


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