Alexander Graham Bell making the first long-distance telephone call in New York (calling Chicago) in 1892. - Gilbert H. Grosvenor Collection, Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
THE name Alexander Graham Bell is synonymous with the invention that changed human communication forever.
But was he really the person who invented the telephone?
Verdict:
PARTIALLY TRUE
Fifteen years before Bell patented his invention, Italian innovator Antonio Meucci was working on a similar contraption in the 1850s.
However, due to financial constraints and a series of unfortunate events, Meucci's device was lost in the static.
In the 1870s, while Alexander Graham Bell was working at an institute for the hearing and speech impaired, he met Gardiner Greene Hubbard, a patent lawyer.
The duo discovered that they shared an interest in mechanical and electrical inventions, especially telegraphy.
Bell's device was designed as an improvement on conventional telegraphy, not as the telephone as we know it. Nevertheless, Bell began to speculate about the possibility of being able to hold conversations over long distances.
At the same time, both Bell and Hubbard knew that another inventor, Elisha Gray, was also working on telephony.
Hubbard urged Bell to patent the principle of speech transmission as soon as possible, gaining exclusive rights to its development.
And this is where the race to gaining that name as the inventor of the telephone began.
Both inventors submitted documents to the patent office in Washington DC on the same day, Feb 14, 1876.
The scenario that unfolded remains a mystery to this day. What went on between Bell's lawyers and patent officers will never be known because on March 7, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for his telephone.
The win, however, did not come with zero pushback.
Bell faced over 600 legal challenges to his patent – but none more notable than the one from Meucci. Yes, the Italian innovator from before who filed a caveat for his "talking telegraph" in 1871.
So, did Alexander Graham Bell actually invent the telephone? Well, he was the first to patent it.
Furthermore, his device was among the first to transmit actual intelligible voice sounds, evidenced by his iconic phrase to his assistant: "Mr Watson, come here – I want to see you."
References:
https://www.thoughtco.com/antonio-meucci-4071768
https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/telephone-and-how-it-changed-us
https://heritagecalling.com/2022/07/29/the-story-behind-the-worlds-first-telephone/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3RbnsHTuVw&ab_channel=CNET
