Title: telephone | History, Definition, Invention, Uses, & Facts | Britannica
Headings: Telephone
Telephone
Learn how Alexander Graham Bell went to revolutionize telegraphy but instead invented the telephone
What is a telephone?
When was the telephone patented?
When was the telephone introduced to the public?
Who is credited as the inventor of the telephone?
When did the first transmission of speech occur with a telephone?
The telephone instrument
Working components of the telephone
Power source
Switch hook

Content: telephone | History, Definition, Invention, Uses, & Facts | Britannica
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WRITTEN BY
David E. Borth
Corporate Vice President and Director, Communications Research Laboratories, Motorola Inc., Schaumburg, Illinois. Coauthor of Introduction to Spread Spectrum Communications. Last Updated: May 7, 2021 See Article History
Alternative Title: telephony
Learn how Alexander Graham Bell went to revolutionize telegraphy but instead invented the telephone
Overview of the invention of the telephone, with a focus on the work by Alexander Graham Bell. Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz See all videos for this article
Telephone, an instrument designed for the simultaneous transmission and reception of the human voice. The telephone is inexpensive, is simple to operate, and offers its users an immediate, personal type of communication that cannot be obtained through any other medium. As a result, it has become the most widely used telecommunications device in the world. Billions of telephones are in use around the world. Alexander Graham Bell and the New York City–Chicago telephone link
Alexander Graham Bell, who patented the telephone in 1876, inaugurating the 1,520-km (944-mile) telephone link between New York City and Chicago on October 18, 1892.