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· 11 Jan 2022

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When was telephone invented

One of the most important innovations in human history is the telephone, invented in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell (March 3, 1947-August 2, 1922). Bell's invention for a ‘speaking the telegraph,' as it was known at the time, was no doubt one of the most valuable patents in history. It made Bell a millionaire and served as the foundation for the Bell Corporation. The same invention also gave Bell the title of ‘father of telephone’.

The making of the first Telephone
Bell got the idea for multiple telegraphs after viewing one of Helmholtz's complicated tuning forks for generating vowel sounds. Bell experimented for a long time, gradually replacing Helmholtz's tuning forks with a new mechanical representation consisting of a tuned steel reed that was part of an electromagnet. The reed vibrated like a fork, but unlike a fork, it could be tuned exactly by varying its length. A form of this reed mechanical image, as well as piano string experimentation, was the foundations of Bell's first mental model for a speaking telegraph. In the summer of 1874, he experimented with delivering the sound of either reed, independently or in combination, from either pole of a horseshoe magnet. This experiment was somewhat successful, prompting him to design the "harp apparatus," a contraption containing dozens of reeds on each pole of an electromagnet. The overtone produced by a tuned reed was a 'mistake' from the perspective of multiple telegraphs. Given Bell's harp mental model, however, this inaccuracy provided a path to voice transmission. Bell tasked Watson with creating a working telephone that included a reed relay connected to a diaphragm or membrane with a voice chamber above it.

Controversy
Just like every great innovation, the telephone had a slew of potential fathers who went to court to assert their claims. Many historians believe that one of the Bell's opponents, Elisha Gray's assertions were the most credible ones. Gray was assured that Bell had stolen the concept from him. Both Bell and Gray's principal concerns in telegraph communications were first focused on one of the key reverse salients: the challenge of carrying many messages over a single line. Both innovators were interested in sending several messages down the same cable by employing multiple tones, either singly or in combination. At different times, each inventor suspected that others were stealing his ideas. The most well-known occurrence included telegraphy, or what we today refer to as "telephony." Gray submitted a caveat for a speaking telegraph on the same day Bell submitted his patent that contained speaking telegraphy (February 14, 1876). (A 'caveat' was a document filed with the patent office to indicate an inventor's intention to file a patent application at a later date when the invention was closer to implementation.) On March 7, 1876, Bell's invention was granted and legally registered. On, July 11, 1877, the Bell Telephone Company was founded and the same month, the General Post Office's chief engineer, William H. Preece, presented the first usable Bell telephone to the British Association in Plymouth, in Bell’s presence.

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