Reis telephone by Johann Philipp Reis

Reis telephone

Johann Philipp Reis · 1860–1861

Evidence status · documented

Identity and core specifications are documented; some historical fields remain unavailable.

Johann Philipp Reis, a German schoolteacher, built a make-and-break transmitter modelled on the human ear and a receiver using magnetostriction in an iron needle, demonstrated to the Physikalischer Verein in Frankfurt in October 1861. He coined the word 'Telephon'. It sent musical tones reliably, but speech reproduction was inconsistent.

Equipment photographs · 1

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Reis Phone·Science Museum Group·CC BY-SA 4.0

Why it mattered

01
It was among the earliest devices to turn sound into an electrical signal and back again, fifteen years before Bell's working telephone.
02
Its make-and-break contact could not follow speech smoothly, the limitation that Bell's [[bell-liquid-transmitter|variable-resistance transmitter]] overcame.

Engineering record

Transmitter: An eardrum-like membrane on an ear-shaped mouthpiece, with a metal contact that interrupted the circuit as the membrane vibrated[1]
Receiver: An iron rod wound with a coil and mounted on a wooden sounding box, which clicked as current pulses passed through the coil[2]

Original pricing

No reliable period price located

2026 equivalent

Not calculated without a reliable original price.

Public price evidence was not sufficient to publish a defensible original figure.

Use in the field

Demonstrated on 26 October 1861 to the Physikalischer Verein in Frankfurt am Main[1]

Manuals & original documents

No authoritative manual or original document has been located for this profile.

Sources

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