William Francis Channing (February 22, 1820 – March 20, 1901) was an American

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

, electrical researcher,

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

, and

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

. He invented the first citywide electric

fire alarm system A fire alarm system warns people when smoke, fire, carbon monoxide or other fire-related or general notification emergency, emergencies are detected. These alarms may be activated automatically from smoke detectors and heat detectors or may also ...

. Channing worked with

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Te ...

in developing the

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

Early life

Channing was born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

on February 22, 1820. He was the son of

William Ellery Channing William Ellery Channing (April 7, 1780 – October 2, 1842) was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton (1786–1853), one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. Channi ...

, the Unitarian preacher, and Ruth Gibbs. He was cousin of

William Henry Channing William Henry Channing (May 25, 1810 – December 23, 1884) was an American Unitarian clergyman, writer and philosopher. Biography William Henry Channing was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Channing's father, Francis Dana Channing, died when he wa ...

, Unitarian clergyman, writer and philosopher.

Mid life

Channing began to study at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and graduated in 1839. He decided to follow

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

instead and went to the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

. Channing did a thesis on the "Application of Chemistry to Physiology" in 1844 for his doctorate and received a degree in medicine. Channing was an assistant on the first

geological survey A geological survey is the systematic investigation of the geology beneath a given piece of ground for the purpose of creating a geological map or model. Geological surveying employs techniques from the traditional walk-over survey, studying outc ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

during 1841–42. He was associated with

Henry Ingersoll Bowditch Henry Ingersoll Bowditch (August 9, 1808 – January 14, 1892) was an American physician and a prominent Christian abolitionist. Bowditch was born on August 9, 1808, in Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Bowditch, a renowned mathematician. He gr ...

in the editorship of the ''Latimer Journal'' in

from 1842 to 1843. He also served in the capacity as an assistant on the geological survey of the

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

region of

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

in 1847.

Fire alarm system

Samuel Morse Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph ...

invented the

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

in 1837 and commercial usage was begun in 1844. Channing spun off this technology to create a citywide fire alarm system. With the assistance of Professor Farmer, an

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, they developed a fire-alarm telegraph. They talked the officials of Boston into financing the construction of a citywide fire alarm system. The first central office was located at 21 Court Square. The city owned the building. The system began testing on 28 April 1852. The first fire alert was received the very next night. Channing and Moses obtained a patent on this electrical telegraph system on 19 May 1857. It was US Patent #17,355 and known as the American fire-alarm telegraph or the "city system." The object of the fire-alarm system was to give a fast alarm in a city in case of fire. It first gave a signal to the central station of a fire from a local neighborhood. The citywide system was to provide a signaling station near all houses. The central station then had a

bell-tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

to give an alert by means of a bell that could be heard by many. The central office knew where the local fire was and the public could respond accordingly. Channing, being a medical physician, looked at electric wires and the human nervous system as resembling each other. He looked at this first fire-alarm system as merely an application of the fundamentals of self-preservation that is found throughout nature.

Science research and patents

Channing contributed to the ''American Journal of Science'' and published with Prof. John Bacon, Jr., " Davis's Manual of Magnetism," 1841; "Notes on the Medical Application of Electricity," 1849; and "The American Fire-Alarm Telegraph," 1855. Channing with

Moses G. Farmer Moses Gerrish Farmer (February 9, 1820 – May 25, 1893) was an electrical engineer and inventor. Farmer was a member to the AIEE, later known as the IEEE. Biography Farmer was born at Boscawen, New Hampshire. He received his schooling at Philli ...

received a patent 19 May 1857 for the first citywide electric fire alarm system in the United States. He also patented a ship railway for the inter-oceanic transit of ships in 1865. :Patents :*1857 �
US 17355A – Improvement in electric magnetic fire-alarm telegraphs for cities
:*1865 �
US 46878A – Certain improvements in marine railways
:*1875 �
US RE6241E – Improvement in electromagnetic fire-alarm telegraphs for cities
Channing moved to

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

, in 1861 and worked with Bell in making a ''commercially practicable'' telephone. He worked with Professor

John Peirce John Peirce (August 16, 1836 – March 3, 1897) was an American professor of chemistry, a scientist and an inventor. He participated in the development of the telephone. Biography Peirce was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on August 16, 1836 ...

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

at Providence with experimental telephone ideas that included a mouthpiece. Channing also came up with the innovation of a hand-held telephone. Many of these experimental electromagnetic telephone ideas were conveyed to Bell in 1876.This below is a letter of 30 July 1877 held at the Library of Congress concerning the electromagnetic telephone idea Channing had with Professor Peirce, describing it to Alexander Graham Bell.
Channing letter page 1.jpg, page 1
Describes about previous letter sent to Bell about home made microphone experiments with Professor Peirce Channing letter page 2.jpg, page 2
Diagrams and descriptions about an electromagnet and disc used as a microphone mouthpiece to talk into Channing letter page 3.jpg, page 3
Further descriptions about Professor Peirce's electromagnet microphone used to talk into to pick up sounds Channing letter page 4.jpg, page 4
Describes of a microphone coil having 280 ohms of resistance and talks of many complicated experiments he did

Family

Channing first married a Miss Susan Burdick and they had a daughter, Eva, who grew to adulthood. They had a one son, Allston, who died while a child. Channing later married a Miss Mary J. Tarr from Boston in 1859. They had three children, Mary,

Grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninco ...

, and Harold.

Death

Channing died in Boston on March 20, 1901.

Works

*1842 �
Davis's Manual of Magnetism
*1851 �
Communication from Dr. Wm. F. Channing respecting a System of Fire Alarms
*1852 �
Notes on the Medical Application of Electricity
*1865 �
The Medical application of electricity
*1871 �
Record of Proceedings Before the U.S. Patent Office:
*1876 �
Popular Science Monthly/Volume 9/October 1876/Organized Homesteads and Households
*1883 �
Popular Science Monthly/Volume 23/August 1883/The Telephone, with a Sketch of its Inventor, Philipp Reis

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* *
William F. Channing Papers, 1851–1898Harvard University Library Channing family papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Channing, William Francis 1820 births 1901 deaths People from Boston 19th century in Boston 19th-century American inventors Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania alumni Harvard University alumni