History of the telephone

The history of the telephone chronicles the development of electrical technology that enabled bidirectional human speech conversations over distances farther than a person could shout.

Telephone prehistory

Mechanical devices

Before the invention of electro magnetic telephones, there were mechanical devices for transmitting spoken words over a greater distance than ordinary speech. The very earliest mechanical telephones were based on sound transmission through pipes or other physical media. According to a letter in the Peking Gazette, in 968, the Chinese inventor Kung-Foo-Whing invented the thumtsein, which probably transported the speech through pipes. Speaking tubes long remained common, and can still be found today. The lover's telephone or string telephone has also been known for centuries, connecting two diaphragms with string or wire which transmits the sound from one to the other by mechanical vibrations along the string and not by electric current. The classic example is the children's toy made by connecting the bottoms of two paper cups, metal cans, or plastic bottles with string.

Electrical devices

The telephone began as improvements to the telegraph. Samuel Thomas von Soemmering constructed his electrochemical telegraph in 1809. An electromagnetic telegraph was created by Baron Schilling in 1832. Carl Friedrich Gauß and Wilhelm Weber built an electromagnetic telegraph in 1833 in Göttingen. The first "commercial" electrical telegraph was constructed by Sir William Fothergill Cooke and entered use on the Great Western Railway in Britain. It ran for 13 miles from Paddington station to West Drayton and came into operation on April 9, 1839.

An electrical telegraph was independently developed and patented in the United States in 1837 by Samuel Morse. His assistant, Alfred Vail, developed the Morse code signaling alphabet with Morse. America's first telegram was sent by Morse on January 6, 1838, across two miles of wiring.

During the late 1800s inventors tried to find ways of sending multiple telegraph messages simultaneously over a single telegraph wire by using different audio frequencies for each message. These inventors included Charles Bourseul, Thomas Edison, Elisha Gray, and Alexander Graham Bell. Their efforts to develop acoustic telegraphy to reduce the cost of telegraph wires led to the telephone.

Invention of the telephone

Credit for inventing the electric telephone remains in dispute. Charles Bourseul, Antonio Meucci, Johann Philipp Reis, Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray, amongst others, have all been credited with the invention. The early history of the telephone is a confusing morass of claim and counterclaim, which was not clarified by the huge mass of lawsuits which hoped to resolve the patent claims of individuals. The Bell and Edison patents, however were forensically victorious and commercially decisive.

Alexander Graham Bell is often credited as the inventor of the telephone, and the Italian Antonio Meucci was recognized by US Congress on June 11th, 2002 for his pioneer work on the telephone. However, the modern telephone is the result of work done by many people, all worthy of recognition of their contributions to the field. Bell was merely the first to patent the telephone, an "apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically", 16 years after Meucci, who did not have sufficient funds to file a patent application, demonstrated his "teletrofono" in New York in 1860.

The "Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell controversy" considers the question of whether Bell and Gray invented the telephone independently and, if not, whether one stole the invention from the other. This controversy is more narrow than the broader question of who deserves credit for inventing the telephone, for which there are several claimants.

Early telephone developments

The following is a brief summary of the history of the development of the telephone:
*1667: Robert Hooke invented a string telephone that conveyed sounds over an extended wire by mechanical vibrations.
*1844: Innocenzo Manzetti first mooted the idea of a “speaking telegraph” (telephone).
*1854: Charles Bourseul writes a memorandum on the principles of the telephone.(See the article : "Transmission électrique de la parole", "L'Illustration", Paris, 26 August 1854).
*1854: Antonio Meucci demonstrates an electric voice-operated device in New York; it is not clear what kind of device he demonstrated.
*1861: Philipp Reis constructs the first speech-transmitting telephone
*1872: Elisha Gray establishes Western Electric Manufacturing Company.
*July 1, 1875: Bell uses a bi-directional "gallows" telephone that was able to transmit "voicelike sounds", but not clear speech. Both the transmitter and the receiver were identical membrane electromagnet instruments.
*1875: Thomas Edison experiments with acoustic telegraphy and in November builds an electro-dynamic receiver, but does not exploit it.
*April 6, 1875: Bell's U.S. Patent 161,739 "Transmitters and Receivers for Electric Telegraphs" is granted. This uses multiple vibrating steel reeds in make-break circuits, and the concept of multiplexed frequencies.
*February 11, 1876: Elisha Gray designs a liquid transmitter for use with a telephone, but does not build one.
*March 7, 1876: Bell's U.S. patent 174,465 for the telephone is granted.
*March 10, 1876: Bell transmits the sentence "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you" using a liquid transmitter and an electromagnetic receiver.
*January 30, 1877: Bell's U.S. patent 186,787 is granted for an electro-magnetic telephone using permanent magnets, iron diaphragms, and a call bell.
*April 27, 1877: Edison files for a patent on a carbon (graphite) transmitter. The patent 474,230 was granted May 3, 1892, after a 15-year delay because of litigation. Edison was granted patent 222,390 for a carbon granules transmitter in 1879.
* 1877: First long-distance telephone line

Early commercial instruments

Early telephones were technically diverse. Some used a liquid transmitter, which was dangerous, inconvenient, and soon went out of use. Some were dynamic: their diaphragm wriggled a coil of wire in the field of a permanent magnet or vice versa. This kind survived in small numbers through the 20th century in military and maritime applications where its ability to create its own electrical power was crucial. Most, however, used the Edison/Berliner carbon transmitter, which was much louder than the other kinds, even though it required an induction coil, actually acting as an impedance matching transformer to make it compatible to the impedance of the line. The Edison patents kept the Bell monopoly viable into the 20th century, by which time the network was more important than the instrument anyway.

Early telephones were locally powered, using a dynamic transmitter or else powering the transmitter with a local battery. One of the jobs of outside plant personnel was to visit each telephone periodically to inspect the battery. During the 20th century, "common battery" operation came to dominate, powered by "talk battery" from the telephone exchange over the same wires that carried the voice signals. Late in the century, wireless handsets brought a revival of local battery power.

Early telephones had one wire for both transmitting and receiving of audio, with ground return as used in telegraphs. The earliest dynamic telephones also had only one opening for sound, and the user alternately listened and spoke (rather, shouted) into the same hole. Sometimes the instruments were operated in pairs at each end, making conversation more convenient but also more expensive.

At first, the benefits of an exchange were not exploited. Telephones instead were leased in pairs to the subscriber, for example one for his home and one for his shop, who must arrange with telegraph contractors to construct a line between them. Users who wanted the ability to speak to three or four different shops, suppliers etc would obtain and set up three or four pairs of telephones. Western Union, already using telegraph exchanges, quickly extended the principle to its telephones in New York City and San Francisco, and Bell was not slow in appreciating the potential.

Signalling began in an appropriately primitive manner. The user alerted the other end, or the exchange operator, by whistling into the transmitter. Exchange operation soon resulted in telephones being equipped with a bell, first operated over a second wire and later with the same wire using a condenser. Telephones connected to the earliest Strowger automatic exchanges had seven wires, one for the knife switch, one for each telegraph key, one for the bell, one for the push button and two for speaking.

Rural and other telephones that were not on a common battery exchange had a "magneto" or hand cranked generator to produce a high voltage alternating signal to ring the bells of other telephones on the line and to alert the operator.

In 1877 and 1878, Edison invented and developed the carbon microphone used in all telephones along with the Bell receiver until the 1980s. After protracted patent litigation, a federal court ruled in 1892 that Edison and not Emile Berliner was the inventor of the carbon microphone. The carbon microphone was also used in radio broadcasting and public address work through the 1920s.

In the 1890s a new smaller style of telephone was introduced, packaged in three parts. The transmitter stood on a stand, known as a "candlestick" for its shape. When not in use, the receiver hung on a hook with a switch in it, known as a "switchhook." Previous telephones required the user to operate a separate switch to connect either the voice or the bell. With the new kind, the user was less likely to leave the phone "off the hook". In phones connected to magneto exchanges, the bell, induction coil, battery and magneto were in a separate "bell box." In phones connected to common battery exchanges, the bell box was installed under a desk, or other out of the way place, since it did not need a battery or magneto.

Cradle designs were also used at this time, having a handle with the receiver and transmitter attached, separate from the cradle base that housed the magneto crank and other parts. They were larger than the "candlestick" and more popular.

Disadvantages of single wire operation such as crosstalk and hum from nearby AC power wires had already led to the use of twisted pairs and, for long distance telephones, four-wire circuits. Users at the beginning of the 20th century did not place long distance calls from their own telephones but made an appointment to use a special sound proofed long distance telephone booth furnished with the latest technology.

20th Century developments

By 1904 there were over three million phones in the US [ [http://www.corp.att.com/history/history1.html AT&T: History: Origins ] ] , still connected by manual exchanges.

What turned out to be the most popular and longest lasting physical style of telephone was introduced in the early 20th century, including Bell's Model 102. A carbon granule transmitter and electromagnetic receiver were united in a single molded plastic handle, which when not in use sat in a cradle in the base unit. The [http://www.porticus.org/bell/images/we-102.jpgcircuit diagram] of the Model 102 shows the direct connection of the receiver to the line, while the transmitter was induction coupled, with energy supplied by a local battery. The coupling transformer, battery, and ringer were in a separate enclosure. The dial switch in the base interrupted the line current by repeatedly but very briefly disconnecting the line 1-10 times for each digit, and the hook switch (in the center of the circuit diagram) permanently disconnected the line and the transmitter battery while the handset was on the cradle.

After the 1930s, the base also enclosed the bell and induction coil, obviating the old separate bell box. Power was supplied to each subscriber line by central office batteries instead of a local battery, which required periodic service. For the next half century, the network behind the telephone became progressively larger and much more efficient, but after the dial was added the instrument itself changed little until touch tone replaced the dial in the 1960s.

The "history of mobile phones" can be traced back to two-way radios permanently installed in vehicles such as taxicabs, police cruisers, railroad trains, and the like. Later versions such as the so-called transportables or "bag phones" were equipped with a cigarette lighter plug so that they could also be carried, and thus could be used as either mobile two-way radios or as portable phones by being patched into the telephone network.

In December 1947, Douglas H. Ring and W. Rae Young, Bell Labs engineers, proposed hexagonal cells for mobile phones. [ [http://www.privateline.com/archive/Ringcellreport1947.pdf 1947 memo by Douglas H. Ring proposing hexagonal cells] ] Philip T. Porter, also of Bell Labs, proposed that the cell towers be at the corners of the hexagons rather than the centers and have directional antennas that would transmit/receive in 3 directions (see picture at right) into 3 adjacent hexagon cells. [ [http://www.privateline.com/mt_cellbasics/ article by Tom Farley "Cellular Telephone Basics"] ] [ [http://www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs_iportals/iportals/aboutus/history_center/oral_history/pdfs/Engel366.pdf interview of Joel Engel] , page 17 (image 18)] The technology did not exist then and the frequencies had not yet been allocated. Cellular technology was undeveloped until the 1960s, when Richard H. Frenkiel and Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs developed the electronics.

On April 3, 1973 Motorola manager Martin Cooper placed a cellular phone call (in front of reporters) to Joel Engel, head of research at AT&T's Bell Labs. This began the era of the handheld cellular mobile phone.

Cable television companies began to use their fast-developing cable networks, with ducting under the streets of the United Kingdom, in the late 1980s, to provide telephony services in association with major telephone companies. One of the early cable operators in the UK, Cable London, connected its first cable telephone customer in about 1990.

21st Century developments

Internet Protocol (IP) telephony (also known as internet telephony) is a service based on Voice over IP (VoIP), a disruptive technology that is rapidly gaining ground against traditional telephone network technologies. In Japan and South Korea up to 10% of subscribers, as of January 2005, have switched to this digital telephone service.

IP telephony uses a broadband internet connection to transmit conversations as data packets. In addition to replacing POTS, IP telephony is also competing with mobile phone networks by offering free or lower cost connections via WiFi hotspots. VoIP is also used on private wireless networks which may or may not have a connection to the outside telephone network.

ee also

*Alexander Graham Bell
*Antonio Meucci claimed inventor of the telephone
*Carbon microphone
*Charles Bourseul claimed inventor of the telephone
*Elisha Gray
*Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell Controversy
*History of mobile phones
*History of telecommunication
*Invention of the telephone
*Johann Philipp Reis claimed inventor of the telephone
*Private branch exchange
*Telephone
*Telephone exchange
*Thomas Edison's Carbon telephone transmitter greatly improved the telephone
*Timeline of the telephone

References

;Citations

;General Information
*Baker, Burton H. (2000), "The Gray Matter: The Forgotten Story of the Telephone", Telepress, St. Joseph, MI, 2000. ISBN 0-615-11329-X
*Bruce, Robert V. (1990), "Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude", Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1990.
*Coe, Lewis (1995), "The Telephone and Its Several Inventors: A History", McFarland, North Carolina, 1995. ISBN 0-7864-0138-9
*Evenson, A. Edward (2000), "The Telephone Patent Conspiracy of 1876: The Elisha Gray - Alexander Bell Controversy", McFarland, North Carolina, 2000. ISBN 0-7864-0883-9
*Huurdeman, Anton A. (2003), "The Worldwide History of Telecommunications", IEEE Press and J. Wiley & Sons, 2003. ISBN 0-471-20505-2
*Josephson, Matthew (1992), "Edison: A Biography", Wiley, 1992. ISBN 0-471-54806-5