Title: Did Antonio Meucci Invent the Telephone?
Headings: Antonio Meucci
Antonio Meucci
Did Meucci Invent the Telephone Before Alexander Graham Bell?
Antonio Meucci and the Patent Caveat for the Telephone
Meucci Resolution - H.Res.269
Antonio Meucci - Patents

Content: Bell was the first person to patent the telephone, and his company was the first to bring telephone services successfully to the marketplace. But people are passionate in putting forward other inventors who deserve the credit. These include Meucci, who accused Bell of stealing his ideas. Another example is Elisha Gray , who almost patented the telephone before Alexander Graham Bell did. There are a few other inventors who have invented or claimed a telephone system including Johann Philipp Reis, Innocenzo Manzetti, Charles Bourseul, Amos Dolbear, Sylvanus Cushman, Daniel Drawbaugh, Edward Farrar, and James McDonough. Antonio Meucci and the Patent Caveat for the Telephone
Antonio Meucci filed a patent caveat for a telephone device in December of 1871. Patent caveats according to the law were "a description of an invention, intended to be patented, lodged in the patent office before the patent was applied for, and operated as a bar to the issue of any patent to any other person regarding the same invention." Caveats lasted one year and were renewable. They are no longer issued. Patent caveats were much less costly than a full patent application and required a less detailed description of the invention.