Home Guru: The Ubiquitous Doorbell, From Buzz to Beethoven’s Fifth
It’s funny how a certain smell or sound can evoke memories of something totally unrelated to an experience at hand. With me, whenever I hear a doorbell, I think of the Fuller Brush man who years ago would go door to door selling his wares.
My wife and I as newlyweds had just moved into our first small apartment in a high-rise building. On our first day of residence, while still unpacking, we heard the sound of a ping and realized it was our doorbell. My wife threw open the door to a salesman, an older gentleman, who immediately admonished us for not looking through the peephole first.
“Lady, please at least ask, ‘Who’s there,’” he said. “I could be a killer.”
When I was a little boy, I remember when my parents bought a newly constructed home, it featured a doorbell with a particularly beautiful set of chimes. I’m told it was that particular feature that sold my mother on the house.
From the earliest times, visitors to a home were announced simply by banging one’s knuckles against a door. The task was made easier with the appearance of the door knocker where a visitor would lift an iron or brass knob and strike it against a metal plate. Later, a bell on the inside of the house would be sounded by pulling a string from the outside.
In 1831, the electric doorbell was invented by Joseph Henry, an American scientist who was the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. It was a simple device, much like the wired doorbells we see today, where an outside button is pushed and electrical current flows to an inside transformer, which activates a noise signal.
In the beginning, this noise was an annoying buzz, but the sound was enhanced in the 1920s to bells or a chime. In my home, built in the early 18th century, the doorbell still features that annoying buzz sound, much like an insect zapper. I’m convinced that the same device has been working faithfully since the 1920s.
Well, maybe not so faithfully. In the recent past, any unannounced visitor could get very frustrated trying to reach us inside. It’s embarrassing to admit, particularly as The Home Guru, but something went haywire with my doorbell system and it didn’t ring for a couple of years.
Visitors would call us on our cells saying they were waiting for us in the driveway.
Recently, I had a handyman install new buttons outside thinking that was the problem but, not being an electrician, he couldn’t figure out the connection to the buzzer. Even the electricians who came later had a hard time getting it operational again. But now it works like a charm, albeit still with the annoying buzz.
While the basic function of a doorbell has always been an important signaling device, there are times when you just don’t want to hear it. For instance, during a visit to my local Subway sandwich shop, I was seated near the door trying to enjoy my meatball sandwich. Every time a customer walked through the door, there was an annoying and loud sound that all but stopped my heartbeat. I can only imagine the effect this must have on the staff who have to listen to it all day, everyday.
From the first mechanical systems, it seems that inventors have spent a lot of time and effort devising new ways to alert people of visitors, from the first use of chimes to iTunes ringtones.
Today the major choice in doorbells is whether to buy a wired or wireless version, and there seems to be a debate about which is better. While wired doorbell systems are still the preferred choice, wireless has caught the imagination of younger buyers who prefer living in a wire-free world.
Wired doorbells are cheaper than wireless, but more involved to install. Wireless can be up and running literally in minutes. Aesthetically, wired doorbells are more appealing, with many designs, shapes and materials from which to choose, while wireless models are more utilitarian in design. Wireless wins out on portability in that its receiver, whether battery operated or plug-in, can be moved around the house at will.
Sound quality and the range of tunes are clearly better on the wired models, while wireless can have flaky performance if there is outside interference.
With the advent of iTunes and the MP3, sounds announcing visitors are limitless, much like telephone ringtones. Now each time that I hear that annoying buzz from my antiquated but functional doorbell, I imagine what would best represent my personality in a customized sound.
How about “Zing Went the Strings of My Heart?” or “The Gang’s All Here?” Or maybe on a bad day, it might be the first four chords of Beethoven’s Fifth.
Bill Primavera is a residential and commercial Realtor® associated with Coldwell Banker, as well as a publicist and journalist writing regularly as The Home Guru. For questions about home maintenance or to buy or sell a home, he can be emailed at Bill@PrimaveraRealEstate.com or called directly at 914-522-2076.
