The Fiber Optics Illustrated Dictionary - Part 96 fills a gap in the literature by providing instructors, hobbyists, and top-level engineers with an accessible, current reference. From the author of the best-selling Telecommunications Illustrated Dictionary, this comprehensive reference includes fundamental physics, basic technical information for fiber splicing, installation, maintenance, and repair, and follow-up information for communications and other professionals using fiber optic components. Well-balanced, well-researched, and extensively cross-referenced, it also includes hundreds of photographs, charts, and diagrams that clarify the more complex ideas and put simpler ideas into their applications context | Fiber Optics Illustrated Dictionary transcontinental telegraph The first American transcontinental telegraph line was initiated by Hiram Sibley with encouragement from Ezra Cornell in the mid-1800s. Sibley the founder of what was to become Western Union made a reasonable estimate that it would take 2 years and about 1 million to complete the project. The telegraph line had a significant impact on the new Pony Express service which had been in operation for less than 2 years when it shut down in October 1861 after inducements to stay in service at least until the telegraph line was completed. Not surprisingly problems other than weather plagued the construction of the line. Buffalo discovered that telegraph poles made good scratching posts sometimes bringing down the poles in their enthusiasm. Native Americans sometimes made off with the wires because the lines stretched through their treaty lands within days or hours exquisitely woven copper wire bracelets would appear in local trading markets. Remarkably despite the great distance harsh conditions and the small size of the work crew only about 50 line workers the transcontinental telegraph was completed in October 1861. It had taken only 4 months at a fraction of the projected cost one of the most stunning achievements in western engineering transducer A general term for a device which converts one form of energy to another a process used throughout communications. When sound waves from a telephone conversation come in contact with a telephone mouthpiece diaphragm the diaphragm causes small polished carbon granules to cohere and the energy is converted to electrical impulses that are transmitted along the phone line. When the mechanical movements of a phonograph stylus are turned into electrical impulses and then at the speaker converted again to audible sound waves the signal has gone through at least two transducers. transfer lens A lens that propagates light in a useful direction and may also concentrate or .
