The History of Telephone - Research Paper

Introduction

A telephone gets construed as a system that is used in the transmission of voices over a distance with the use of a radio or wire. In most events, it converts the acoustic vibrations into the electrical signals. The history of the telephone is one which has been debated over the years with the fundamental question being on who made the invention. Before the invention of the electromagnetic telephones, there was the acoustic device which primarily served as tools for transmitting speech and music over a distance that was greater than that of the great normal speech. Most of the earliest mechanical telephones were mainly based on sound transmission, and they used the physical media and pipes. The acoustic telephone is also known as the "lovers' phone," therefore, exist as one which has been known for centuries. It mainly connected with two diaphragms. The connection was initiated by the use of strings or the wires, something which helped in the transmission of sound by the use of mechanical vibration from one string to the other (Post, 272).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

A classic example which can aid in giving illustrations is the children's telephone toy that is made through connecting the bottom of two plastic bottles, caps, or even the metal cans and tightly held by a string. Some of the earliest test experiments which were conducted on the acoustic string telephone were noted between 1664 and 1685. One of the people behind such experiments was Robert Hook. The success of the acoustic string telephone which was made in 1667 is attributed to him. Below is a picture of such a telephone.

The depiction portrays two metal cans which are connected at the bottom by the use of a string.

The history of the telephone as noted in the introductory section is one which brings into context one particular person who for centuries has been believed to have been the primary inventor. The person is Alexander Graham Bell. History has it that in the 1870s, Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray both contributed in inventing and independently designing a device which could facilitate in the transmission of sound along the electric cables or wires (Beauchamp, n.p). Each one of them was registered at the patent office within intervals of hours. Immediately after the registration, doubt emerged, and a bitter legal battle ensued on who the real inventor was. Alexander Graham Bell was lucky to win the legal argument, and the case rested with him retaining the U.S. patent for the invention. Some of the historical facts opine that before the invention of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell was interested in the invention of the telegraph, and it was through the concept of the telegraph that he found the idea of the telephone. Funny enough, even the concept of the telegraph was also brought to question by other historical critics who argued that before Alexander Graham's experimentation, the telegraph was highly successful in communication. Alexander Graham only improved its manner of operation. It was noted that the primary problem of the telegraph was drawn from the fact that it used the Morse code, something which Alexander Graham had a better understanding of. His understanding was also advanced on sound and music systems. He, therefore, perceived the possibility of transmitting more than one message along the same wire at a time. The idea was not new because there were people who had envisaged many telegraphs. In his case, he offered his solution which was known as the harmonic telegraph. The telegraph was based on a principal about the musical note getting sent simultaneously along the same wire especially when the notes differed in pitch.

The question which we are now left with is on who was the real inventor of the telephone if Alexander Graham Bell who won the case against Elisha Gray and acquired the U.S. patent for an invention is not the actual inventor. The winning of the case also automatically eliminated Elisha Gray from the picture. When we dig deeper into history, we come to realize the existence of an Italian by the name Antonio Meucci who lived between 1808 and 1889. On 28th of December, Antonio took out something called a caveat. A caveat is an official document which shows that a person intends to patent a new invention. Below is an example of a caveat, it mainly shows a sketch of what a person intends to invent. The image given can, therefore, be used as an example of a caveat for the invention of the telephone.

It is thus worthwhile to note that there exists a difference between a patent and a caveat. In the case of a patent, the primary concern is on the invention of a new idea which you would not wish to be stolen by another person. A caveat is a little bit cheaper. The unfortunate event which coupled Antonio Meucci's invention is drawn from the fact that he did not renew the idea after 1874. Below is the picture of Antonio Meucci. In the picture, he can be seen carrying another example of a caveat.

It was after 1874 that a Scotsman by the name Alexander Graham Bell followed up on the idea pioneered by Meucci. The accurate date when he got granted the patent for the telephone was 7th March 1876. The granting of the patent portrayed that the invention of the telephone was his idea but not that of Antonio Meucci or Elisha Gray. Graham made his first experimentation of the phone in Boston America and was fascinated by the manner in which electricity was converted into sound. It was at the time that the idea of the cell phone also came in. By 1875, the telephone acted as a simple receiver that could receive and transmit sound. On March 1876, Alexander Graham spoke his first words on the newly invented telephone (Grosvenor, Edwin, and Morgan, n.p). The words were on informing Mister Watson to come and see him. The history of the cell phones extended to 1940s when the engineers who worked at the AT & T developed the cells for various mobile stations. The first mobiles were mainly the two-way radios that allowed people, for example, the taxi drivers to have ease in communication. Motorola later became the first company to produce the first mobile phone. Below are the images of Motorola products at the time.

Nokia 3310 later crashed on the shop shelves, something which brought stiff competition to the Motorola Company. At least 126 million units of Nokia 3310 had been sold by 2000.

It is from the history of telephone that cell phones have developed to what we can hold today - an advanced technology that allows easier dissemination of information from one place to another or from one person to another. It started with the idea of Antonio Meucci to that of Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Grey to that which we have today. Below are the various types of advanced cell phones drawn from a history that is somewhat complicated but in the end denies Alexander Graham Bell the mantle of the real inventor.

Conclusion

In summary, the history of the telephone denies Alexander Graham Bell, the mantle of the real inventor. It is explicit that he advanced the ideas of Antonio Meucci who failed to renew his caveat. It is from the advancement that telephones have developed to the first cell phones like Motorola and Nokia 3310 to what people use today.

Works Cited

Beauchamp, Christopher. Invented by law: Alexander Graham Bell and the patent that changed America. Harvard University Press, 2015.

Grosvenor, Edwin S., and Morgan Wesson. Alexander Graham Bell. New Word City, 2016.

Post, Robert C. "Invented by Law: Alexander Graham Bell and the Patent That Changed America. By Christopher Beauchamp. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015. 272 pp. $35.00.) "The student of historical method will hardly." The Journal of American History (2015).