Title: The Evolution of the Telephone
Headings: The Evolution of the Telephone
The Evolution of the Telephone
The Evolution of the Telephone

Content: The first telephone call was thus made, and Bell was awarded a patent for the electric telephone in March of 1876. This, of course, did not come without controversy from other inventors who were also doing pioneering work on the early telephone. Bell’s claim to being the inventor of the first telephone had to be defended in court some 600 times! While others did make significant contributions, it was Bell who was the first to recognize its commercial viability. Before automatic exchanges were invented, all calls were placed through manual exchanges in which a small light on a switchboard alerted an operator that a caller wanted service. The operator inserted an insulated electrical cable into a jack corresponding to the caller requesting service. This allowed the operator and the caller to converse. The caller told the operator the called party’s name, and the operator used another cord adjacent to the first to plug into the called party’s jack and then operated a key that connected ringing current to the called party’s telephone. The operator listened for the called party to answer, and then disconnected to ensure the privacy of the call. The first switchboard went into commercial service in 1878 with 21 subscribers in New Haven Connecticut, and not long after they began to sprout up across the country.