History of the United States

Alexander Graham Bell, a Scottish-born inventor, scientist, philanthropist and teacher of the deaf is the person most widely credited as the inventor of the electric telephone. On March 7th 1876 he became the first to receive a patent for this device, and at that time resided in Salem, Massachusetts.

Alexander Graham Bell conceived of the telephone at his summer home in Brantford, Ontario and physically created his first phone in Boston, Massachusetts (where, he said, it was 'born'). This was a result of his research into improving the telegraph system. Bell was experimenting into improving the telegraph system so that multiple messages could be sent at the same time (his theory of the 'harmonic telegraph' was based on the principle that several messages could be sent simultaneously along the same wire if the different telegraph signals each had a different pitch). However at the same time he began working on the novel idea that speech could be transmitted electronically, as he accidentally discovered that the sound of a spring being twanged could be heard over his harmonic telegraph system. Almost a year later in March 1876 Bell uttered the first famous words into the device to his assistant in the next room: "Mr. Watson, come here -I want to see you".

A young black man, Lewis Lattimer, was employed as a draftsman by the patent law firm that Alexander Graham Bell used, and contributed to Bell's patent drawings. Lattimer become a successful inventor in his own right.

As with many other important technological devices, several people often worked on and independently created the same, or similar devices in the same general time period -an example being the modern navigational quadrant or sextant. While Bell was the first to receive a patent for the telephone, several others preceded his research and credit for inventing the electric telephone remains in dispute.

Despite the claims of those defending Alexander Graham Bell, its been suggested that both Antonio Meucci and then Elisha Gray successfully invented telephones in the United States before Alexander Graham Bell did in 1876. Some of the others who performed pioneering experimental work with electrical voice transmissions over wires included Thomas Edison, Innocenzo Manzetti, Charles Bourseul and Johann Philipp Reis.

Ironically in 2001 the United States Congress passed a 'resolution' stating that given all the facts of the patent disputes between Gray and Bell, under no terms could Alexander Graham Bell have been awarded the patent for the telephone by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 1876. However that Congressional resolution by itself served only as a declaration, and did not annul or modify the patent Bell received in 1876. The 2001 resolution was also subsequently followed by another legislative declaration upholding Bell's priority and his status as inventor of the telephone.

The person who first successfully 'patented' the telephone was indisputably Alexander Graham Bell, however given what we currently know, earlier inventors of 'telephone-like' devices may have been Meucci or even others before him.

Interestingly, the commercialization of Alexander Graham Bell's telephone was actually performed by several independent businesses which eventually created the 'Bell System' (and later AT&T), to which 'Alec', as he preferred to be called, participated very little in. Alexander Graham Bell, who went on to become an eminent scientist, inventor and humanitarian, considered the telephone to be an intrusion into his real work and refused to have one in his study.

Differing Opinions

According to an article in the UK Guardian in 2002, Bell did NOT invent the telephone. The article claims that Italian-American Antonio Meucci is the true father of modern communications. See the Related Link section below to read the complete article.
Alexander Graham Bell invented the modern telephone after years of working with the deaf. His studies in sound led to a contract to develop an "acoustic telegraph" and his first working model used a liquid transmitter that was later discarded. Thomas Edison made some improvements over the telephone that improved the clarity of the sound, most notably the carbon microphone.
graham bell
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell patented a telephone in March, 1876. Others had experimented with the transmission of speech over wires since the invention of the telegraph.

Bell used a vibrating diaphragm (microphone) to control the flow of electricity through a wire, such that when the electric flow reached a coil at the other end of the phone line, the coil vibrated another diaphragm (the speaker) in exactly the same pattern. This was efficient within the frequencies of human speech, and later, more precise microphones were able to recreate recognizable voices.
Alexander Graham Bell is considered the inventor of the telephone in the USA, Canada, and Scotland,

other countries that had no historical affiliation with him tend to look for possible inventors of their own ethnic background or their own country as THE inventor of the telephone
Alexander Graham Bell. :-)

He invented the telephone trying to improve hearing conditions and limitations of


Blind people such as his mother.


Hope I helped! ~WonX~
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander bell
Alexander Graham Bell
It was Alexander Graham Bell on March 10, 1876.