User:Fentonrobb/Speaking tubes and voice pipes sandbox

Speaking tubes and voice pipes
Prior to the invention of the telephone in the middle of 19th century. the megaphone and speaking tube were the most generally used means of transmitting speech at sea and on land respectively.

Early megaphones, or speaking horns, consisted of two cones, of wood or metal, one shaped to fit the mouth connected to the other which was flared and extended to direct  and so amplify the sound. The speaking tube was in domestic use by the end of the 18th century. Originally a simple tube with a mouthpiece at each end, later a small whistle on a cork mount was fitted at each end. Removing the cork and blowing into one end activated the other whistle. This was intended to summon a listener to the other end. The ends of the tube was often flexible for convenience of use. The speaking tube supplemented the array of remotely controlled hand bells that were operated in the ‘upstairs’ rooms and rang in the servant’s quarters in even modest houses in the 19th century. The phrase 'give him a blow' and the use of 'blower' as a synonym for 'telephone' may have had their origin in this feature of speaking tubes.

Voice pipes, the maritime term, served to transmit reports from lookout positions aloft to the deck and from the bridge to the steering position and engine room. These are somewhat larger in diameter than the domestic version and are ofter lagged in sound absorbant material to increase their efficiency. About 1780, one captain removed a canvass voice pipe installed by an imaginative midshipman saying he was sure the topmen would “use it for an improper purpose”. Permanently fitted voice pipes are still in use and are generally covered with heavy lids to avoid ingress of water. They are robust and rigid. The speaker has to place the mouth over the bell-shaped end of the pipe and the receiver has to 'bend an ear' to hear what is being said. Their simplicity favours their reliability. One disadvantage of voice pipes is that they may breach the integrity of watertight spaces.

Reference
Pseudo. ‘Suffolk Coast’ (1933). Memories of an Old Ipswich Mariner Capt. R. H. Gower. Suffolk Chronicle 2nd December.