When was the first output device invented?

Answer 1

Because the first Category selected for this question was just 'Technology', the answer to this question will depend on what which type of system having an "output" is being asked about... Is it asking about:

• early phonograph systems (which output sounds to large horns made of thick paper or thin wood or metal) or
• the earliest signal transmission systems, such as the first non-radio-based telegraph system (which used a simple pointer like a compass needle) or
• early telephones (which used a very low-fi ear-piece and a crude microphone containing carbon granules as a mouth-piece) or
• early radio sets (which first used very sensitive magnetic headphones and then, after amplifiers were invented , loudspeakers) or
• early black and white television (which used a glass vacuum tube with a phosphor-coated screen inside it for the vision and a loudspeaker for the sound) or
• the earliest computers (which first used rotating dials to indicate their output data, then rows of signal lights, then punched cards and/or punched paper tape...)