On the History of an Experimental Set for Wireless Telephony from 1906

Abstract

The paper aims to combine the narrative of and the reflection on the development of an artefact by simultaneously considering production and consumption aspects. It will be shown that the meaning of the experimental set for wireless telephony has changed not only from its development at the Telefunken company until its variable use in the Deutsches Museum. The meaning of the set also differed within individual phases of its existence. The conceptualization of the experimental set as a human/non-human hybrid helps to reveal its various technical, symbolic, political and economic assessments as a modern, promising device, an important but ineffective historical step or a useless toy — often at the same time. Furthermore, the seemingly constant materiality and functionality of this artefact were essentially correlated to and even evoked such assessments, which for their part are linked to historical changes and individual characteristics of perception, demands, goals and so on. Telefunken managers, engineers, representatives of the German Post Office, the German Emperor and, last but not least, curators played an active role, as well as the set itself. Therefore any written or displayed history of the experimental set continually has to reflect on the processes of how its respective meaning(s) emerged.

Keywords:

• WIRELESS TELEPHONY
• HIGH-FREQUENCY ARC LAMPS
• PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLOGY
• WILHELM SCHLOEMILCH
• CARL SCHAPIRA
• GEORG GRAF VON ARCO
• TELEFUNKEN
• WILHELM II
• DEUTSCHES MUSEUM