17. Payphone
Category – History
Payphones were once found in millions of public places. Street corners and super markets had coin-operated phones hung on walls or housed in glass booths. Cell phones have reduced the need for payphones. Now they are mainly found in transportation hubs, like airports and train stations.
Question –
· Today’s phones are touch tone. Each time you press a button on your phone, it transmits a signal to the telephone company. Before touch tone phones became a standard in the 1970s, people used rotary phones. How does this older style of phone work?
Assignment – See the answer in action by watching a YouTube video. This clip was made from a short instructional film. It was shown to movie audiences in theaters before the main feature, so they could adapt to the new technology for dialing a number yourself, without help from a phone company operator.
Question –
· Alexander Graham Bell is well known as inventor of the telephone, but he was curious about the world and had many interests. What famous society did he help found in 1888?
Assignment – Discover the answer by visiting the non-profit “Invent” website. You’ll find the answer in the short article.
Click here to research the answer.
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