Exploring the invention of the telephone timeline is beneficial to anyone who is interested in how the telephone originated. The world of communications has undergone significant changes, especially in the last couple of centuries. Possibly one of the greatest leaps in communication advances was the invention of the telephone. The invention of the telephone timeline of the process underscores the amount of work and innovation that goes into major technological advances. The telephone is a means of communication that has revolutionized our everyday world. A telephone is a device that sends out and receives sound. It is most commonly used to send and receive voice over a distance. These days, most telephones function through a large network where electrical signals are transmitted. This allows a phone user to contact almost any other phone user. Exactly who invented the first modern telephone still remains a dispute to this day. Among those given credit for the invention of the telephone are Alexander Graham Bell, Antonio Meucci, Johann Philipp Reis and Elisha Gray. They all worked independently of each other, yet worked towards a common goal: allowing people to communicate over large distances. The progression of the invention of the telephone timeline can viewed as follows:
  • It was proven that vibrations on metal could be converted into electrical impulses by Michael Faraday.
  • Antonio Meucci demonstrated a telephone-like device to people in Havana.
  • In Germany, Johann Philipp Reis built a device that was capable of converting sound into electricity and back into sound again.
  • Meucci files an intention to patent.
  • Elisha Gray founded the Western Electric Manufacturing Company.
  • Thomas Edison builds a rheostat based on the principle of pressure on carbon molecules causing variable resistance.
  • An electromagnetic device that can transmit musical notes is invented by Gray.
  • 1876 Gray puts forward a caveat or notice of intention to patent for the telephone.
  • 1876 About 2 hours after Gray, Alexander Graham Bell puts forward his application to patent the telephone.
  • Alexander Graham Bell’s US patent is granted. The first full sentence was transmitted through the telephone on the 6 th of March 1876 by Bell. The first sentence was ‘Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.’
After the first sentence was transmitted through a telephone, many advances were then made to get to the telephone system we use today. Bell founded the Bell Telephone Company, which then became AT&T – the world’s largest telephone company. The first telephone system, or exchange, was installed in 1877 in Connecticut. This allowed communication between people who had telephones. This was done through a large switchboard with operators who would connect the calls manually. The first automatic switchboard system was installed in 1892 by Almon Strowger of Kansas City. William Gray patented the first coin-operated telephone in 1889. In the early 1960’s, touch-tone home telephones were introduced. Low-cost transistors made this possible. The positioning of the numbers on the phone was done after extensive tests to determine what number layout will increase dialing speed and reduce errors when dialing. In 1965 Terri Pall invented the cordless telephone. The base unit is connected to the landline. The base unit then communicates to the remote handsets via a radio signal. Although this allows the user to communicate within a certain range of the base, it does not work during power outages due to the power supply needed. In 1978, AT&T began testing a mobile phone system. These systems are cell structures, which means that a handset can communicate to a cell-site via radio. If the handset gets out of range from a particular cell-site then communication is taken up by a closer cell-site without any interruptions to the call. The mobile, or cellular telephone, was introduced nationwide throughout the United States in 1983. Through the efforts of many people, and with many changes and innovations occurring along the way, the timeline of the invention of the telephone timeline extends into the future as new technologies and advances are developed. This demonstrates the ever changing face of innovation, and the fact that the process of invention is never truly complete.