Reis's telephone (1860) : Early Work
Probably the earliest work on inventing the original telephone began in 1860 by Reis. He was inspired by an 1854 paper that was written by a French investigator named Bourseul, who at the time suggested: 'Speak against one diaphragm and let each vibration 'make or break' the electric contact. The electric pulsations thereby produced will set the other diaphragm working, and it then reproduces the transmitted sound.' This started the original idea for a telephone.
Although Bourseul's telephone idea was a little bit shaky, in that while sending sound, the transmitter diaphragm shouldn't completely make or break an electrical contact. However instead it should vary the current of electricity flowing. His transmitter was a make-and-break device but Reis's receiver (earpiece) used a vibrating rod (a knitting needle in fact) that was magnetised to varying degrees by an electric coil.
Unfortunately Reis was let down by his hardware, it could reproduce continuous musical notes but it produced very indistinct speech. However his telephone was shown in demonstrations and seen all over Europe, including one in Scotland while Alexander Graham Bell was there, visiting his father.
Gray's telephone (1876) : nearly there
Timing is everything. Elisha Gray knew that all too well. On February 14, 1876, the day that Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for his version of the telephone, Elisha Gray applied for a caveat, a document indicating that he intended to file his own patent claim within three months.
But Gray was a few hours too late - Bell had already filed an actual patent application and the courts later ruled that this took precedence.
Even so, Gray's claim has its merits - Bell first transmitted the sound of a human voice over a wire, using a liquid transmitter of the microphone type previously developed by Gray and unlike any described in Bell's previous patent applications. He also used an electromagnetic metal-diaphragm receiver of the kind built and used publicly by Gray several months earlier.
The first telephonic sound (1875)
One summer afternoon, as Bell was working in his workshop in Boston, he heard an almost inaudible twanging sound from his prototype telephone - a sort of crude harmonica with a clock-spring reed, a magnet and a wire. This was connected to a similar device in another room where his assistant Thomas Watson was working.
Watson had snapped the reed on one of the instruments and from the other device Bell had heard exactly the same sound. It was the first time in the history of the world that a complex sound had been carried along a wire, and reproduced perfectly at the other end.
The first telephone call (1876)
After hearing their telephone first transmit a sound in June 1875, Bell and Watson spent the better part of a year making the telephone actually speak. Finally after much hard work, on March 10, 1876, Watson heard Bell's voice distinctly in the receiver saying: "Mr Watson, come here, I want you."
Watson, who was in another room, dropped the receiver and rushed with wild joy across the hall to tell the glad tidings to Bell. "I can hear you!" he shouted breathlessly. "I can hear the WORDS."
The Telephone was born!
Collectable Antique Telephones
In recent years Antique Telephones, including the classic Art Deco Bakelite Telephones from the 1950's have become very popular. TV programs like "Deal or No Deal" have brought these vintage telephones to the publics eye. Even the retro telephones such as BT's 706 and 746 telephones have become very popular. Old telephones appear to be an antique choice for the retro or vintage home.
The following are a list of very useful telephone related links we have collected over the years.