Telephone Firsts: Transcontinental Phone Call

[1PartAngel]

Why is your bra strap showing???? In the "future" a one arm top, take off the other bra strap, didn't your mama raise you right? hehe

[cringevenom]

well that was worthless

[malmonator]

Bell was the first person to conceive, reduce to practice and patent the basic form of the telephone before any one else. He was also the first to recognize its remarkable potential to revolutionize society. Recently there's been books published suggesting that Elisha Gray, Antonio Meucci or Philip Reis were the first true inventors of the telephone, but extensive and well-documented evidence from the 19th century makes it clear there are serious holes in these arguments.

[Blahhhhhhhhh]

Actually he was Scottish who latter moved to Canada. Then he stole the idea for the telephone from Elisha Gray and got it patented. Nice

[Buskieboy]

Nope. His patent and his idea was proven to be ahead of Gray. Grey accused Bell of using his "water transmitter" but it would have been something Bell could have conceived of anyway.

Bell never went further with the water version and developed the electromagnet type that we know today.

[Blahhhhhhhhh]

well that is contested by quite a few people and sources. But what is certain its not quite as clear cut as this very basic video seems to claim.

[Buskieboy]

I agree that the whole thing is a tad confusing and unclear. It's not as if Bell stole the whole idea; he was working on the phone after all. He didn't steal the idea for the phone from Gray as you stated, which is a bit inflammatory.

:P

This is kind of like who invented the television?

Gray did come up with a major component that helped Bell prove it could be done, but Bell went on to make a different phone anyway.

[gunnerglory]

Exactly, you'll get about 10 different answers on who invented the TV other than Baird, and rightfully so as it was a process of many hands but I suppose it doesn't matter much anyways in the grand scheme of things. I bet 95% of the worlds educated population believe Bill Gates invented the computer.

[Mario60665]

@Blahhhhhhhhh actually it was the italian Antonio Meucci who he stole the idea from