A speaking tube or voicepipe is a device based on two cones connected by an air pipe through which speech can be transmitted over an extended distance. While its most common use was in intra-ship communications, the principle was also used in fine homes and offices of the 19th century, as well as fine automobiles, military aircraft, and even locomotives. For most purposes, the device was outmoded by the telephone and its widespread adoption. This device was also known as a "megaphone", but that use has since become superseded.
Read more about Speaking Tube: Design, Maritime Use, Domestic Use, Gosport Tube, Modern Usage, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words speaking and/or tube:
“But there is nothing which delights and terrifies our English Theatre so much as a Ghost, especially when he appears in a bloody Shirt. A Spectre has very often saved a Play, though he has done nothing but stalked across the Stage, or rose through a Cleft of it, and sunk again without speaking one Word.”
—Joseph Addison (1672–1719)
“Even crushed against his brother in the Tube the average Englishman pretends desperately that he is alone.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)