Telephone

the telegraph had limitations

it was slow, it needed wires, it needed trained operators, and a new language

it was one-way and it wasn't voice

 
Alexander Graham Bell (Scottish/Canadian)

family background - teaching deaf students

 

1870s - Bell becomes intrigued with the possibility of sending voice over a wire

but, needs financing

hooks up with Gardner Hubbard

Hubbard wants Bell to work on an "harmonic telegraph"

Hubbard wants nothing to do with a "telephone"

 
"telephone"
 
As Bell works on the harmonic telegraph he works on the telephone on the side

hires Thomas Watson to help with the electrical and engineering side

 

experiments in 1875 lead to moderate success in sending voice

"Mr. Watson - Come here - I want to see you."

 
1876 "Bell" files for a patent and the patent is granted
Elisha Gray also filed for a patent on a telephone but filed his patent hours after Bell!

historical footnote - was the patent issued in 1876 or 1877?

 
with patent in hand, Bell has trouble raising additional financing

why?

 
Bell offers to sell his patent to Western Union for $100,000

Western Union said no

why?

Western Union had Gray working for them and Thomas Edison on retainer

at this point, the Gray/Edison telephone was technologically superior

 

a media footnote: Bell would later work on the "photophone" in 1880 - an attempt to use light as a medium for sending information!

another Bell story

 
Bell and Hubbard find enough financing to form the New England Telephone Company (later the Bell Telephone Company)
 
1878 - first telephone system operational (New Haven, CT)

21 phones!

how did such a system work? hoy! hoy!

 
Western Union continues to work on its telephone system
 
1878 - Bell sues for patent infringement
1879 - the case is settled

Bell got the rights to Western Union's improvements

Bell agrees to stick with telephony

Western Union agrees to stick with telegraphy

 

with patent stability, the Bell Telephone Company is poised for growth

 
 
1880 - 138 exchanges, 30,000 subscribers
1885 - name change to American Telephone and Telegraph
1887 - 787 exchanges, 110,000 subscribers
 
how did this growth (diffusion) occur?

franchising

relationship between local phone companies and AT&T

long distance lines, manufacturing (Western Electric)

 
by 1894, AT&T had turned 17 years of patent control into a national telephone monopoly
 
 
 
 

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