Title: History of the Telephone | From The 1880s To Current Time
Headings: History of the Telephone
History of the Telephone
Early Telephones
Mechanical Acoustic Devices
1700s: Scientist Theorizes You Can Transmit Messages Through Electricity
Before We Had Electrical Telephones, We First Needed Electrical Telegraphs
Limitations of the Telegraph: Why Did We Need a Telephone?
Who Invented the Telephone?
Bell Invents the Telephone
The First Telephone Line is Constructed in 1877
The First Telephone Switchboards
Bell Telephone Company
History of Pay Phones
Types of Telephones
Exchanges, Tap Dialing, and Rotary Dialing
Candlestick Phones
Touch Tone Phones
Cordless Phones
The First Cell Phones
The First Telephone Book

Content: There has been a significant amount of controversy over the years over whether Bell or Gray invented the phone. The controversy actually went before the Canadian Parliament and United States House of Representatives at one point. I’m not going to go into huge detail here because it’s outside the scope of this article, but you can read up on the Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell telephone controversy here. Ultimately, we can safely say the telephone is the work of many people. Bell, however, is credited with inventing the first practical, patented telephone – mostly because Bell won the famous legal battle instead of Gray. Bell Invents the Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father and grandfather were considered authorities in elocution and the correction of speech. Bell originally intended to follow in the footsteps of his family, and pursued a career and education in the same specialty. As one article on Bell explains, “his knowledge of the nature of sound led him not only to teach the deaf, but also to invent the telephone.” In 1875, Bell was experimenting with his unique “harmonic telegraph” approach.