Bell

A bell is a simple sound-making machine. In its most classical form it is a church bell[?]. Bells can be of all sizes: from dress accessories to church bells literally weighing tons. Some bells are used as musical instruments, such as carillons. Bells are common for raising attention, and the word is also used for the ringer in telephones, on bicycles and in door bells[?].

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The Bell telephone company was founded by Alexander Graham Bell.

In the 19th century Bell was acquired by AT&T, often called Ma Bell, which maintained a telephone monopoly in the United States until 1984. The breakup of AT&T led to the creation of seven regional phone companies, called Baby Bells. The name persists in companies such as Pacific Bell[?] and Southwestern Bell[?], which are now brands of SBC Communications[?]. See Regional Bell operating company.

See also telephone, AT&T, Bell Labs, and Lucent. The bel (one "L") and its derivitative the decibel or dB is a measure named after Alexander Graham Bell and used in several fields, notably audio. See bel.

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The Bell Aircraft Corporation, now the Bell Helicopter[?] Division of the conglomerate Textron[?], manufactured a number of important early aircraft, such as the P-39 Airacobra[?].

They also made a series of research aircraft, including the Bell X-1, the first aircraft to exceed the speed of sound (Mach 1[?]), and many famous helicopters, including the Bell Model 47[?] (US army "Sioux"), the Bell Model 204[?] (aka UH-1 "Huey") and the JetRanger[?] (model 206 or OH-55 Kiowa in army service).