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Ezra Gilliland
Ezra Torrance Gilliland (June 17, 1845 – May 13, 1903) was an inventor who designed the telephone switchboard and the magneto bell. Gilliland had a laboratory in his home and "kept seven expert electricians employed" as he worked on his ideas. He built the first telephone exchange in Indianapolis in the 1870s under the name Gilliland Telephone Manufacturing Company and later worked for the Bell Telephone Company. Gilliland was a friend and colleague of Thomas Edison and the two worked together on many projects. They met as young men and called each other "Damon and Pythias" because of their close friendship. Edison met his second wife at Gilliland's home. Gilliland wrote frequently in trade journals promoting Edison's inventions. The two were business partners, even occupying adjacent vacation homes in Fort Myers, Florida Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cuba, New York
Cuba is a town on the western border of Allegany County, New York, United States. The village of Cuba lies within its borders. The federally recognized tribe of Seneca Native Americans has a reservation on the western town line. As of the 2020 Census, the total population was 3,154. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and (1.95%) is water. The west town line is the border of Cattaraugus County. The Southern Tier Expressway ( Interstate 86 and New York State Route 17) pass through the town, running east-west. New York State Route 305 is a major north-south highway that intersects New York State Route 446 in the village of Cuba. Cuba is on the main line of the Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad, which operates the former Erie Railroad between Hornell, New York and Meadville, Pennsylvania. Communities and locations in the town of Cuba * Black Creek – A former community in the town, now in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telephone Switchboard
A telephone switchboard was a device used to connect circuits of telephones to establish telephone calls between users or other switchboards, throughout the 20th century. The switchboard was an essential component of a manual telephone exchange, and was operated by switchboard operators who used electrical cords or switches to establish the connections. The electromechanical automatic telephone exchange, invented by Almon Strowger in 1888, gradually replaced manual switchboards in central telephone exchanges around the world. In 1919, the Bell System in Canada also adopted automatic switching as its future technology, after years of reliance on manual systems. Nevertheless, many manual branch exchanges remained operational into the second half of the 20th century in many enterprises. Later electronic devices and computer technology gave the operator access to an abundance of features. A private branch exchange (PBX) in a business usually has an attendant console, or an auto-atten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, which include the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and early versions of the electric light bulb, have had a widespread impact on the modern industrialized world. He was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of organized science and teamwork to the process of invention, working with many researchers and employees. He established the first industrial research laboratory. Edison was raised in the American Midwest. Early in his career he worked as a telegraph operator, which inspired some of his earliest inventions. In 1876, he established his first laboratory facility in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where many of his early inventions were developed. He later established a botanical laboratory in Fort Myers, Florida, in co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort Myers, Florida
Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in southwestern Florida and the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 92,245 in 2021, ranking the city the 370th-most-populous in the country. Together with the larger and more residential city of Cape Coral, the smaller cities of Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, and Bonita Springs, the village of Estero, and the unincorporated districts of Lehigh Acres and North Fort Myers, it anchors a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) which comprises Lee County and has a population of 787,976 as of 2021. Fort Myers is a gateway to the Southwest Florida region and a major tourist destination within Florida. The winter estates of Thomas Edison ("Seminole Lodge") and Henry Ford ("The Mangoes") are major attractions. The city takes its name from a local former fort that was built during the Seminole Wars. The fort in turn took its name f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1845 Births
Events January–March * January 10 – Elizabeth Barrett receives a love letter from the younger poet Robert Browning; on May 20, they meet for the first time in London. She begins writing her ''Sonnets from the Portuguese''. * January 23 – The United States Congress establishes a uniform date for federal elections, which will henceforth be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. * January 29 – ''The Raven'' by Edgar Allan Poe is published for the first time, in the '' New York Evening Mirror''. * February 1 – Anson Jones, President of the Republic of Texas, signs the charter officially creating Baylor University (the oldest university in the State of Texas operating under its original name). * February 7 – In the British Museum, a drunken visitor smashes the Portland Vase, which takes months to repair. * February 28 – The United States Congress approves the annexation of Texas. * March 1 – President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
