

Supreme Court, Bell got the patent, the right to start the first telephone company, and the place in history books as the inventor of the telephone. Around the same time, other inventors-most notably a man named Elisha Gray-created and attempted to patent similar devices, but in a case that went all the way to the U.S. Three days after he filed for the patent, he placed his first famous call.īell wasn't the only inventor to think of using telegraph wires for voice communication. These vibrations were transferred magnetically along connected wires to another device's diaphragm, where they replicated the original sound. It converted sound waves into an electric current that varied in intensity and frequency, causing a thin iron plate-the diaphragm-to vibrate. With help from machinist Watson, Bell developed his first prototype.

Bell envisioned a "harmonic telegraph," a device that would allow individuals to speak to one another from different locations and from their own homes. The invention of the telegraph in 1843 had already made instant long-distance communication possible, but sending and receiving telegraphs required specialized equipment and hand deliveries to the recipients. While teaching in Boston, Bell became fascinated with the idea of transmitting speech over telegraph wires, first as a way to help deaf people learn to speak and later as a way for people to communicate across distances. Inspired by them both, Bell became a noted speech professor and established a school for the deaf in Boston. His mother was deaf and his father was an expert in speech development. According to the History Channel, Bell was only 29 years old when he revolutionized human communication.īell patented his electrical speech machine on March 7, 1876, but his love of communication started much earlier.

The idea of 20-something geniuses creating disruptive technology isn't a recent, Silicon Valley-specific phenomenon. Phones have become such an integral part of daily life that now is a good time to take a break from texting, tweeting, emailing, and playing "Angry Birds" to recognize Bell's invention and to celebrate all the inventors who helped it become smarter and smarter over the next 140 years. Heck, to teenagers, any phone with a cord looks like an antique or foreign object. If you want something, text me your order."īell would not recognize the smart, wireless devices we now call phones, nor would most people recognize his "electrical speech machine" as a telephone. Just waiting on my mocha frappuccino at Starbucks. Watson would likely reply, "I'll be right there.
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To say telephones have come a long way since then is more than an understatement.
