Chichester Bell

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Chichester Bell (1848-1924) was a cousin to Alexander Graham Bell and instrumental in developing improved versions of the phonograph.

Bell began working in 1881 with his famous cousin and their associate Charles Tainter on addressing the drawbacks to Edison's phonograph.

They created the Volta Laboratory Association to hold 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. While he resided in Washington, D.C., Chichester Bell was a cofounder of the Chemical Society of Washington.

He then traveled 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.

[edit] External links

• Story of the Graphophone
• Library of Congress, David Charles Bell family tree (source for birth/death dates)

[edit] Patents

• U.S. Patent 341,212  Reproducing Sounds from Phonograph Records (without using a stylus), filed November 1885, issued May 1886 (with Alexander Bell and Charles Tainter)
• U.S. Patent 341,213  Transmitting And Recording Sounds By Radiant Energy, filed November 1885, issued May 1886 (with Alexander Bell and Charles Tainter)
• U.S. Patent 341,214  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)