Here the contrast between Bell's design and Gray's becomes most apparent. The combination of devices Bell first used to transmit speech bears a superficial resemblance to the combination of devices described in Gray's caveat. But Gray's liquid transmitter depended on immersing a needle deeply in a vessel of water. Bell's liquid transmitter, in contrast, worked poorly if the needle or tuning fork went too deeply in water; he wanted to minimize the surface area of the vibrating contact and maximizing the area of the other contact.
From a modern standpoint, these differences might seem minor, but they were critical to the participants. In effect, Bell and Gray's liquid transmitters were different mechanical representations, because despite their superficial similarities, they embodied unique representations. Furthermore, Gray thought the transmission of speech might have required multiple speaking chambers, whereas Bell knew only one would be necessary.
The differences in the transmitters were mirrored by differences in the two receivers. Bell used his familiar reed mechanical representation, which could reproduce any tone. Gray used one of the receivers he had designed to discriminate and enhance single tones. In other words, Gray's receiver design would have been best suited to enhance a particular range of vocal tones, whereas Bell's was intended to reproduce any spoken sound. Again, superficial similarities that seem apparent in hindsight mask differences in the representations embodied in the devices.
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