The Invention of the Telephone

What were the immortal words that were communicated through the water transmitter?

"Mr. Watson come here I want to see you"

Two years later, after the president rejected the telephone, the president told the colleagues he would consider how much money for the patent which was a bargain, but by that time the Belle Telephone Company was no longer interested in selling the patent?

$25 million

When did Antonio Meucci first submit a caveat for a telephone?

1871

When did the US Congress pass a resolution declaring Meucci as the rightful inventor of the telephone?

2002

What kind of system did Bell want to develop?

A system that could transmit musical notes and speech.

Realizing that they were moving closer to developing a device that could transmit speech , Bell and his assistant set about creating what?

A working transmitter with a membrane capable of varying electronic currents and a receiver that would reproduce these variations in audible frequencies.

Another inventor deserves some credit for inventing the telephone. Who was he?

Antonio Meucci

Around this time, Alexander Graham Bell was teaching at what university?

Boston University

At the same time, who was developing a similar system to Bell's?

Elisha Gray

Through misfortune and his lack of understanding what, Meucci was not able to renew his caveat or apply for a patent before Bell submitted his?

English

When did Bell file a patent and received the glory of inventing the first telephone?

February 14, 1876

When did Elisha Gray file a caveat (notice of application to file a patent at a later date) for his version of the telephone?

February 14, 1876

Both men submitted patents for their invention when?

February of 185

Bell first developed a theory of what?

It was a theory of a multiple harmonic telegraph that could be used to send a multiple tones on a telegraph line.

When did Bell experiment with a water transmitter and was able to successfully communicate?

March 10, 1876

In 1879, the telephone company acquired whose patent for the carbon microphone, which made the telephone practical for long distances, unlike Bell's voice-powered transmitter that required users to shout to be heard even at short distances?

Thomas Edison

William Orton had contracted with what inventors to find a way to send multiple messages on the same line to avoid the cost of constructing new lines?

Thomas Edison and Elisha Gray

Who did Bell offer to sell his patent to for $100,000?

Western Union Company

Who was the President of the Western Union?

William Orton

Th president of the company said no, feeling that the new invention was nothing but what?

a toy

There is still debate over who should receive the credit and Bell had to fight off what by those claiming they had invented the telephone first?

lawsuits

Although he sued Bell, he was not able to prove much in the way of what, and his case died with him in 1889?

material evidence

By 1884, communication traffic on the 30 year-old system had become very congested and operators were limited to sending how many messages at a time per line?

one message

Further experiments on multiple telegraph led to an accidental discovery. When Bell's assistant, Thomas Watson accidentally plucked a reed, and Bell heard the overtones and realized that they were similar to what kind of overtones?

speech overtones

The telephone was created as a direct result of trying to improve what machine?

telegraph

These closely timed submissions would foreshadow their competition over development of what invention?

telephone

What science did Bell have a keen interest in?

the science of acoustics

Around the same time, Elisha Gray was developing his own telephone using what kind of transmitter?

water transmitter