History of the Telephone

Many people think they know the history of the telephone. It was invented by Alexander Graham Bell, but there were actually two telephone invented at the same time by two different inventors. Elisha Gray also created a device that could transmit speech. Both rushed to get the patent first and, in an event that would define the history of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell was the first to receive the patent for the telephone. Elisha Gray waged a legal battle over the patent, but Bell eventually won.

Born in Scotland in 1847, Bell, the one who write the story of the history of the telephone, was interested in speech and its correction due to the influence of his parents and grandparents. He also enjoyed teaching the deaf and would later become a friend of Helen Keller. It was this love of sound that would allow him to bring us the history of the telephone.

So how did Alexander Graham Bell come up with the idea of the telephone? He was originally only trying to improve the functionality of the telegraph. The telegraph had been used for over thirty years, but only one message could be sent at a time. Bell thought it would be an excellent idea if multiple messages could be sent at the same time and set out to see if he could do this. To do his research, Bell was financed by his future father-in-law, Gardiner Greene Hubbard. Hubbard resented that Western Union Telegraph had a monopoly of the telegraph business. He funded Bell’s research on a multiple telegraph. Unbeknownst to Hubbard, while Bell was researching his multiple telegraph, he was also working on a device that could transmit spoken words electronically. The history of the telephone began on March 10, 1876 when Bell was able to successfully transmit those famous first words to his assistant Watson “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.”