Fig. 128.
Fig. 129.
Fig. 125 shows a coil of wire, H, with soft iron core, the ends of the wires being connected to a delicate galvanoscope. If one pole of the magnet H M be suddenly moved up and down near the core, an alternating current will be generated in the coil, the circuit being completed through the galvanoscope. As H M approaches the core the current will flow in one direction, and as H M is withdrawn it will pass in the opposite direction. The combination makes a miniature alternating dynamo.
If we imagine the soft iron core of H, Fig. 125, taken out, and one pole of H M, or preferably that of a bar magnet stuck through the coil, a feeble current will also be produced by moving the soft iron back and forth near the magnet's pole. This is really what is done in the Bell transmitter, soft iron in the shape of a thin disc (D, Fig. 126) being made to vibrate by the voice immediately in front of a coil having a permanent magnet for a core. The disc, or diaphragm, as it is called, is fixed near, but it does not touch, the magnet. It is under a constant strain, being attracted by the magnet, so its slightest movement changes the strength of the magnetic field, causing more or less lines of force to shoot through the turns of the coil and induce a current. The coil consists of many turns of fine, insulated wire. The current generated is an alternating one, and although exceedingly small can force its way through a long length of wire.
Fig. 130.
Fig. 127 shows a section of a regular transmitter, and Fig. 128 a form of compound magnet frequently used in the transmitter. Fig. 129 shows a transmitter with cords which contain flexible wires.
