Alexander Graham Bell, Copyright Microsoft.
An early telephone, Copyright Franklin Institute.
A modern "tone" telephone.
A state of the art mobile GSM telephone. |
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The telephone was invented by
Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922). Bell started
working on the idea of a "voice telegraph" in 1873. After much painstaking and
thorough research on February 14th 1876, he applied for a patent of the new device. It was
on March 10, 1876 when he invention succeeded in transmitting the first ever voice message
across a copper cable. Using equipment that was further developed from the patent. The
first voice to be heard across this marvel of technology was "Mr. Watson, come here,
I want you.". It was also at this time that he was granted the first patent for the
development of a device to transmit speech sounds over electric wires.
Within 20 years of Bell's original patent
for the telephone other people had modified it, but they way it worked hadn't changed
fundamentally. Since the invention of the transistor in 1947, metal wiring and other heavy
hardware has been replaced by lightweight and compact microcircuitry. The advancement in
electronics has also improved the basic design of the telephone. Also the introduction of
"smart" features such as auto redialing and caller waiting has also been
introduced. Also the telephone exchanges that the phone companies use are totally
computerised now and can work without human intervention. Calls can now be seamlessly
relayed over copper wires, fiber optic cables and wireless sattellite links. (See also
computer, GSM telephone, cellular telephone)
Without the invention of the telephone we would not be
able to communicate with our voices over area of long distances. Also the telephone
brought about other inventions such as faxes, data transmissions and mobile telephones,
all of which have to ability to help us communicate with people as fast as possible. The
invention has saved people a lot of time. Instead of writing a message and asking someone
to deliver it, which will take a few days, you could just pick up the phone and dial in
the number of your friend and talk to them using the most natural human interface, voice.
So the telephone has made our life much more convenient and it lets us communicate faster.
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