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Alexander Graham Bell, Metal Detector, 1891

Professor Alexander Graham Bell's induction-balance for ascertaining the location of a bullet in a human body from a sketch by William A. Skinkle. Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) was a Scottish-American speech therapist and inventor of the telephone. He is also credited with developing one of the early versions of a metal detector in 1881. The device was quickly put together in an attempt to find the bullet in the body of U.S. President James Garfield. According to some accounts, the metal detector worked flawlessly in tests but did not find the bullet partly because the metal bed frame on which the President was lying disturbed the instrument. The president's surgeons, ignored Bell's requests to move the president to a bed not fitted with metal springs. Alternatively, although Bell had detected a slight sound on his first test, the bullet may have been lodged too deeply to be detected by the crude apparatus.
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Title:
Alexander Graham Bell, Metal Detector, 1891
Caption:
Professor Alexander Graham Bell's induction-balance for ascertaining the location of a bullet in a human body from a sketch by William A. Skinkle. Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) was a Scottish-American speech therapist and inventor of the telephone. He is also credited with developing one of the early versions of a metal detector in 1881. The device was quickly put together in an attempt to find the bullet in the body of U.S. President James Garfield. According to some accounts, the metal detector worked flawlessly in tests but did not find the bullet partly because the metal bed frame on which the President was lying disturbed the instrument. The president's surgeons, ignored Bell's requests to move the president to a bed not fitted with metal springs. Alternatively, although Bell had detected a slight sound on his first test, the bullet may have been lodged too deeply to be detected by the crude apparatus.
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Image size:
4200 x 3390 px | 40.7 MB
Print size:
35.6 x 28.7 cm | 14.0 x 11.3 in (300 dpi)
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