Vintage Images Of Old Telephones

Before the invention of the modern-day telephone, telegraphy was the standard and most efficient way to communicate messages between individuals who were situated great distances apart. But from about the mid-19th century many aspects relating to the branch of technology known as telecommunications began to develope and increase significantly, as many innovators of that era had engaged in a frantic race against time, and their scientific contemporaries in order to establish their unique places in history. In respect to the modern-day telephone, historically, many esteemed inventors have been associated with its meteoric ascendency and the epic nature of its evolution.

Antonio Santi Giuseppe Meucci (1808 - 1889): Italian Inventor

In 1849, Italian inventor Antonio Meucci invented a voice-communication apparatus that is arguably considered to be the very first rudimentary telephone invention. In 1848, Meucci was requested by an associate within the medical profession to assist him with the further development of a medical therapy system, which was originally invented by a German physician called Franz Anton Mesmer. Initially, this system was used for patients suffering from chronic rheumatism disorders, however, in 1849, following intense research, Antonio Meucci successfully co-developed a method of using electric shocks to treat several such illnesses, and consequently, it is believed that he also created a device through which it became possible to hear inarticulate human voices. Meucci called this device 'telegrafo parlante' (talking telegraph), henceforth, Meucci decided to dedicate the rest of his life to the further development of the so-called talking telegraphy.

In 1850, Antonio Meucci and his wife emigrated to the United States from Cuba in order to settle in Staten Island, New York. Just four years later, in 1854, Meucci's wife Esterre Mochi, unexpectedly contracted a serious illness called rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic painful long-term disease that adversely effects the joints, ultimately, leading to a state of invalidity for those affected, meaning that Meucci had to divide his precious time to care for his unfortunate bedridden wife, as well as pursuing his great passion for telephone experiments. Over the ensuing years, Meucci embarked on an intensive research campaign to gain further knowledge about the principles of electromagnetic voice transmission. And by 1856, Meucci had successfully constructed a telephone apparatus that was comprised of a basic transmitter and receiver unit, which enabled the transmission of voice sounds across wires, and this system was arguably the first of its kind. A short time later, Meucci installed the telephone-like device system within his Staten Island home by connecting his second-floor bedroom to his basement laboratory in order to conveniently communicate with his disabled wife, thereby, multitasking between her needs, whilst at the same time, greedily grappling with his ground-breaking experiments.

In 1871, Antonio Meucci submitted a patent caveat (a legal notice to file a patent application) to the US Patent Office, relating to his invention of a voice-communication device. But crucially, Meucci neglected to mention electromagnetic voice transmission sounds within his written document. This unfortunate oversight meant that Meucci's patent caveat application was already destined to fail. But it is important to point out that acoustic telephone systems are non-electrical speech-transmitting devices that are constructed on the principles of pipe-telephones used on ships, and they were invented well before 1871. In the ensuing years after Meucci had registered his first caveat, he encountered financial difficulties, which meant that he could no longer adequately finance his telephone experiments, whilst at the same time pay legal fees to his lawyers for services rendered. In later years, Meucci was embroiled in several expensive high court case disputes between competing contemporaries Elisha Gray, and Alexander Bell, each one had contested the right to the telephone patent, but eventually, the US Patent Office decided to grant Alexander Bell the telephone patent, which turned out to be a rather controversial decision. Nonetheless, today there are many Italians who firmly believe that Antonio Meucci was the true original inventor of the modern telephone. Importantly, in 1923, a commemorative plaque of Antonio Meucci was constructed at Staten Island house, in New York, where he once lived. In addition, in 1956, Staton Island house was converted into a public museum called Garibaldi-Meucci Museum, which is currently a National Historic Landmark that is owned by the Sons of Italy Foundation and administered by the New York Grand Lodge.

Charles Bourseul (1829 - 1912): French Inventor

Charles Bourseul (1829 - 1912) was born in Brussels, Belgium, but grew up in Douai, in France. Bourseul embarked on a career as a civil engineer working for a French telegraph company. He was said to be one of the major innovators and developers of the first basic telephone. Charles Bourseul had already researched and experimented with the electrical transmission of the human voice, by way of electromagnetic technology, two decades before Graham Bell received the first telephone patent. In the year 1854, Bourseul officially laid claim to the original working concept of the model telephone, at that time, his claim was said to be concurrent with the same claim of the Italian inventor Antonio Meucci. Charles Bourseul produced a written account that explained the technology which enables the capture and transmission of the human voice over wires connected to a model telephone apparatus. His written theory was eventually published in an episode of a popular weekly French newspaper called L'Illustration, which had received high critical acclaim.

Charles Bourseul expounded his theory of two flexible moving discs placed at a distance from each other but built to work in collaboration for the purpose of capturing and transmitting the vibrations and fluctuations of the human voice. His theory explained in detail the process used for the spontaneous and simultaneous transmission of the human voice between individual discs, especially manufactured for that purpose, situated in different locations over a given distance, by way of electromagnetic technology, including, the various types of batteries and wires required for that process. Bourseul wrote that it would be perfectly possible for the said individual metal plates to be arranged in such a way that they received, emitted, and repeated the same voice vibrations back and forth via a connection of wires over a given distance, thereby, producing a result which appeared as though two persons had spoken to each other in close proximity. However, Bourseul was not known to have created a functioning physical prototype of the telephone, but his meticulously written work on the topic had received international acclaim at that time. As a result, today in France, there are many French nationals, who continue to assert that the first telephone was in fact created by Charles Bourseul.

Elisha Gray (1835 - 1901): American Inventor

Elisha Gray (1835 -1901) was said to be another important contributor to the early development of the telephone prototype. Gray was born in Barnesville, Ohio, United States, and he was the son of a Quaker family who was brought up on a farm. In his early years Gray had acquired a keen interest in physics and when he became a young man, despite not achieving his full graduation, all the same, Gray managed to gain employment as a physics teacher at Oberlin College, in Ohio, US. In later years, Gray obtained a career in electrical engineering, and his success in this field convinced him and Enos Barton to establish a small American business called Gray & Barton Co, which was originally situated in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1869. Gray & Barton sold a wide range of electrical goods, and it wasn't long before Gray's company began to flourish, and eventually it was relocated to Chicago, Illinoi, in 1872, when it became a incorporate subsidiary, then renamed as Western Electric Manufacturing Company, which became one of America's most successful organisations, and a major supplier to the notable US telephone company Western Union. During his impressive career, Elisha Gray had invented a variety of telegraphic devices for which he had received US patents. However, Gray is best known for his invention of a telephone prototype in 1876, in Highland Park, Illinois, USA. Unfortunately, for Elisha Gray, his arch-rival Alexander Graham Bell had contested Gray's caveat application, and subsequently, many acrimonious court cases between the two men ensued, at the conclusion, it was Alexander Graham Bell, who was awarded the telephone patent in 1876. However, controversially, some experts have argued that Elisha Gray should go down in history as the true inventor of the telephone, on account of, Alexander Bell, had allegedly stolen the concept of the liquid transmitter from Elisha Gray, which at that time was a crucial mechanism for the complete functioning of the world's first telephone invention.

Alexander Graham Bell (1847 - 1922): Scottish Inventor

Alexander Graham Bell (1847 - 1922) was a famous Scottish scientist and engineer, who is officially remembered as the inventor of the telephone in 1876. Bell was brought up in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he received most of his education. His mother suffered from hearing impairment and his father worked as an elocutionist to help people who suffered from hearing loss or partial deafness, as a result, Alexander Bell had developed a profound interest in speech therapy from a very early age. In 1870, Bell and his family decided to move to Canada and according to the story, during a visit to his hearing-impaired mother, both individuals engaged in a casual conversation on the topic of electronic speech when suddenly, Bell conceived a notion, which became his greatest scientific inspiration. In 1871, Bell resolved to resettle in Boston, United States, where he became a professor of vocal physiology at the Boston University, and it was also, where he first met Mabel Hubbard, his future wife, in 1873. Mabel was the daughter of Boston lawyer and tycoon businessman Gardiner Green Hubbard, and Alexander Bell became acquainted with Mabel when she happened to be one of his students, as he was teaching a class of deaf students at Boston University. Mabel was completely deaf due to contracting scarlet fever when she was just a child. Nonetheless, the pair struck a bond of close friendship, which led to a romantic relationship and then marriage two years later. And following their wedlock, Bell had resolved to find a cure for his wife's hearing impairment, and his detailed exploration had covered many aspects of sound technology, including electric speech transmission technology.

Over several years Alexander Bell diligently underwent countless research and experiments on prototype telephones, until the day arrived when Bell finally achieved his goal, this had occurred almost concurrently with his competitor Elisha Gray, who had also completed his telephone invention, unusually, both scientists had planned to submit a telephone patent on 14th February 1876. However, this was not a mere coincidence as each man was fully aware of the other's intentions. On that morning, Elisha Gray had submitted a patent caveat application, meanwhile, Bell's submission was a patent application. The difference being, a caveat was a provisional patent application, but without a request from the original applicant for an official examination of his prototype invention, and also, it was a notice to the registry office not to process a competitor's application, without first informing the first applicant who had lodged the caveat, thereby, giving the first applicant the advantage of a prepared response to his competitors application. Bell's patent was entitled, Improvement in Telegraphy, while Elisha Gray's application was entitled, Transmitting Vocal Sounds Telegraphically. Unfortunately for Gray, according to historical records, Bell's lawyer got his paperwork completed correctly and submitted it to the US Patent Office (USPTO), just a few hours before Gray's lawyer could do the same, but Gray had bitterly contested this decision at that time.

Following 14 February 1876, a dispute erupted between Elisha Grey and Alexander Bell, regarding conflicting claims stated on each of their patent applications, specifically relating to a device termed 'liquid transmitter' also known as a variable resistance device, which was deemed crucial to the functioning of the prototype telephone at that time in history. Gray had allegedly accused Bell and his lawyer of later adding new crucial information to Bell's earlier patent application. The amended version included additional details which had laid claim to a device called a liquid transmitter, but according to Gray, the so-called liquid transmitter was his original concept, as stated within his patent caveat application, and Gray remained convinced that Bell had stolen his idea. But Alexander Bell had robustly denied the accusation, and after many weeks of deliberation and investigation by the US Patent Office, the telephone invention (US Patent 174, 465) was duly awarded to Alexander Bell on 7 March 1876. The important factor within Bell's patent that tipped the balance in his favour was his vastly superior written detailed description of a feature known as the undulating current, in contrast with Gray's description of the same feature mentioned on his caveat application. Alexander Bell went on to demonstrate his telephone device at the Centennial International Exposition, in Philadelphia, in 1876, which was known to be the first world's fair to take place in the US. The event commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, but it had also proved to be a spectacular showcase event for America's industrial achievements. The Bell Telephone Company was founded in Boston, Massachusetts, on 9 July 1877, by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, and importantly, this organisation later evolved into AT&T, the world's first largest telecoms company.

Bell's father-in-law was Boston lawyer Gardiner Hubbard, a prominent American businessman, who became Bell's financial supporter. At the time of the controversy there were lingering rumours that Hubbard had exerted his considerable influence to assist Bell with the acquisition of the telephone patent. It is said that Elisha Gray was bitterly disappointed when he was not granted the telephone patent, and that he had continued to accuse Bell of unscrupulous means in order to win that honour. In the ensuing years the ongoing bitter dispute between the two men culminated with Elisha Gray undertaking legal action against Alexander Bell in numerous United States Supreme court case battles. And surprisingly, in a famous US court case in 1886, it became known that the telephone patent examiner Zenas Fisk Wilber, had stated in an affidavit that Bell's lawyer Marcellus Baily, had been a close friend and that they had served together in the American Civil War. Also, Wilber admitted that he was an alcoholic and had been in considerable debt to his friend Baily. Furthermore, Zenas Wilber confessed that he had revealed Gray's patent caveat to Bailey and Bell, and that Bell had paid him $100, which was the equivalent of roughly $2,500 for the privilege. But, although Bell later admitted that he had inspected Gray's caveat, he denied ever providing any payment to Wilber for presenting the opportunity to him. Nonetheless, today there are many modern academics who consider Elisha Gray to be the true original inventor of the modern telephone, despite him losing the bitter contest for that honour to Scottish inventor Graham Bell well over one hundred years ago. However, the true story of the actual events remains eternally buried beneath a very murky mystery.

Granville Taylor Woods (1856-1910): African American Inventor

Granville Taylor Woods (1856 - 1910) was an African American engineer and inventor, who's birthplace was Columbus, Ohio, United States. In his day, Granville Woods was said to be a fascinating character, who had led a very eventful life, including being involved in a number of violent physical brawls, high profile court case battles with famous inventors, and very controversially, Woods was even sentenced to imprisonment by a high court case judge, after he had lost a lawsuit against a powerful American company. As recorded in American history, Woods became the first African American mechanical and electrical engineer after the Civil War. He was also the first African American in the history of United States to be granted with over 60 patents by the US Patent Office; in addition, Granville Woods was referred to as the Black Edison by various newspaper articles in the 1900s. It is believed that Woods had received some formal training prior to his profession, but that he had greatly supplemented his knowledge and experience in electrical engineering through the diligence of self-education. Woods had achieved an education standard which was uncommon for most black people living in that era, the law at that time had forbidden black Americans from even entering within public libraries, and most African Americans were prevented from receiving formal education. Granville Woods was a visionary who realized the future potential of electricity technology, therefore, in his early years he had devoted a great deal of his time and effort into studying the laws of electromagnetics. The story goes, Woods had to ask people he knew to bring him books from public libraries, and he purchased books whenever the opportunity was presented to him. Woods passion to acquire such knowledge was so great that he willingly used his wages to pay a master mechanic for private tuition lessons. During his career Woods became known primarily for his innovative ideas relating to trains and streetcars, as trains and streetcars were his great passion. But he was a prolific inventor who had contributed to the advancements within several of other technologies such as the industry for automatic emergency braking systems, phonography, telegraphy, and surprisingly, he made key contributions to the development of the modern telephone, particularly relating to electrical data transmission.

Granville Woods received his first patent for a steam boiler furnace (US Patent 299, 894) in 1884, it was to be the first of many. One year later, in 1885, Woods patented a mechanical device he called telegraphony (US Patent 315,368), which had the combined features of a telephone and telegraph, a revolutionary communication invention, which allowed users to switch between two forms of data transmission. Prior to Woods’s invention, the telegraph could only send messages over an electrical current by utilizing a combination of short and long pulses (commonly termed as dots and dashes) that represented letters of the alphabet, the famous American inventor Samuel Morse developed this system, in 1838. In that era, it was imperative that all the Morse code transmission operators be highly skilled and knowledgeable in carrying out such a process. Woods’s invention proved to be refreshingly simple to use as well as very economical, meaning that almost anyone without training could send and receive messages by the simple flick of a switch on a device, and then speak near the voice receiver, so that the voice message would be acknowledged as a clear articulate statement. The telegraphony was revolutionary because it enabled the simultaneous transmission of two types of data messages, both voice and Morse code, which was a new technological development at that time in history. This mechanism worked by selecting and processing the individual data sources, and then streaming them over a single medium or channel to a specified output. It was considered an important discovery that had generated a lot of interest from notable organisations. Unfortunately for Woods, at that time in history patent laws dictated that the intellectual property be assigned to companies that had the financial means and resources to develop and mass produce such inventions. Woods was eventually compelled to sell the rights for his patent device to Alexander Graham Bell's Telephone Company, in 1887. The Bell scientists further developed the technology to such an extent that within approximately 40 years, the Bell Telephone Company could multiplex thousands of channels over a single cable. Woods used the money he had earned from selling the rights for his invention to set up his own small business (mainly for research and inventions) from where he began working on new projects.

In the year 1887, Woods created a mechanism that he had termed 'Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph' (US Patent 373,915) which for the first time in history allowed communications between train stations and moving trains. The Synchronous Multiplex functioned by way of a magnetic field around a coiled wire that was connected beneath a train, which in turn relied upon ambient static electricity from existing telegraph lines to send messages between train stations and transit trains in any direction. It was a revolutionary concept which allowed greater safety during train journeys. It was this particular invention that had very much piqued the interest of the great Thomas Alva Edison, historically, the man who is famously considered to be America’s most prolific inventor. In his day Edison had developed a fearsome reputation for suing other inventors, and successfully obtaining the inventions in question. It had followed that Edison attempted to sue Woods, proclaiming that it was he, Thomas Edison, and not Woods, who had first invented the multiplex telegraph device. Subsequently, following a costly court case battle, unexpectedly, it was Woods who was victorious on that occasion. Despite the disappointment of losing the patent to Woods, Edison was still extremely interested in acquiring and utilizing the invention for his organisation, as a result, Edison offered Woods a lucrative partnership within one of his companies. But to most people's astonishment, Woods rejected the offer, stating that he valued his independence even more. Lucius J. Phelps was another notable inventor, who had challenged Woods in a United States court for the patent of the same device, but remarkably, Phelps was also defeated by Woods. However, over time, once again, Woods was forced to sell the rights for his patent, partly for the financial support Woods had obtained from doing so, which maintained his status as an independent self-employed inventor. But even though Woods was unable to market his inventions to the general public due to racial discrimination laws and certain other obstacles, nevertheless, by selling many of his invention rights to American giants such as General Electric, American Engineering, Westinghouse, and the Bell Telephone Company, he had not only contributed significantly to the growth and success of those organisations, but also to the US economy.

Granville Woods lived in an era of extreme racial discrimination and oppression, which meant that many of his original ideas were illicitly and deceitfully obtained by contemporary inventors, who had sought to rob him of any glory. Historical accounts states that Woods had to spend much of his time fighting US lawsuits just to prove that many of his intellectual properties were in fact his original concepts, some of those patents he won, but he also lost many. In 1892 Woods was sued for criminal libel after he claimed that the American Engineering Company had stolen his patent for an electric railway. Unfortunately, Woods was sent to prison after losing the case, and when he was eventually released from prison, Woods found himself in considerable debt as his business had already been liquidated. According to the historical accounts Woods had fallen into destitution and lived the rest of his life as an embittered and tormented soul. Granville Woods died of a cerebral haemorrhage at Harlem Hospital in New York City, on 30th January 1910. Woods was buried in an unmarked grave, a very sad ending for one who had once sparkled briefly as a star, but ultimately, he was unable to enjoy the fruits of his accomplishments or live the American dream as some of his contemporaries had done. However, while Woods did not receive the accolade and public acclaim that he truly deserved when he lived, in recent years, Granville Woods has been officially honoured as one of the most understated inventors of the 19th century, whose inventions changed and contributed to the way modern communication systems operate today. It is important to mention that in current society, multiplexing has now advanced to such an extent that it is widely used within many types of communication technologies such as radio, television, telephones, wireless telephones, digital broadcasting, and importantly, telephone capability across the internet.

Charles Augustus Cheever (1852 - 1900): American Inventor

Charles Augustus Cheever (1852-1900) was an American industrialist and inventor, born into a very wealthy family. His father John Haven Cheever was the president of New York Belting and Packing Company, and his mother was Anna Elizabeth Cheever. Charles Cheever was a man of very small physical stature with an approximate height of 4 feet. In early infancy, Cheever was severely paralyzed from the waist down, which was due to deficiencies in his physical development, as a result, he was unable to walk correctly, so he had to be carried around to various places by a male assistant. Nevertheless, Cheever was a man of great mental fortitude with an exceptional business acumen, and over the years he had established himself as a well-respected notable industrialist and business entrepreneur, who was known to be a giant of a man within the business world. Cheever created several successful business enterprises, but also formed important affiliations with the companies of Alexander Bell and Thomas Alva Edison. In the early days of the telephone evolution, Graham Bell and Charles Cheever had meetings to discuss various plans and ideas about how best to advance the telephone industry and make that service more commercially viable. Subsequently, Cheever founded the Telephone Company of New York, in 1877, and constructed the first telephone lines in New York City which began from along Fifth Avenue, where the Empire State Building is situated and ran up to 34 Street, Manhattan, New York City. This momentous event was seen as a watershed moment for the telephone industry in the history of this great city.

The Telephone Company of New York soon began building a network of telephone lines across many parts of New York City, which demonstrated the commercial potential of telephone services everywhere. On 4th September 1884, the first long-distance telephone line (235 miles) was officially established between the cities of New York and Boston. The burgeoning telephone industry meant that by 18 October 1892, the first telephone service was also officially established between New York City and Chicago (950 miles). Over many future generations the modern telephone would be established as one of the most powerful instruments of business profitability by any organisation across the world, as for the first time in history telephone services made it possible for companies to conduct many of their business transactions over almost any distance, without being in the same location, which significantly reduced financial costs and time consumption. Additionally, telephone services offered many organisations a way to promote and greatly increase their productivity as well as their customer base. Initially, the growing demand for telephone services was predominantly used by large companies and wealthy individuals, but within just two decades numerous ordinary American citizens of various social classes began to register to indulge themselves in this new service, indeed, millions of people across the world became infectiously captivated by the phenomenon of speaking to a person who seemed so near and yet so far.