In order to help deaf children, Alexander Graham Bell investigated many experiments. Bell conducted a trial in the summer of 1874 with a human ear and attached bones, a tympanum, magnets, and smoked glass. He conceived the theory of the telephone: an electric current can be made to change intensity precisely as air density varies during sound production. Unlike the telegraph’s use of intermittent current, the telephone requires continuous current with varying intensity. That same year Alexander formulated a harmonic telegraph, to transmit several messages simultaneously over one wire, and a telephonic-telegraph receiver. Striving to reproduce the human voice electrically, he became an expert with electric wave transmission. Early in 1874, Bell met Thomas A. Watson, a young machinist at a Boston electrical shop. Watson became Alexander’s indispensable colleague, bringing to his experiments the crucial ingredient that had been lacking; Watson’s technical expertise in electrical engineering. Bell was the one who supplied the ideas while Thomas made and assembled the equipment. They worked endless hours together brain storming different experiments for the telephone. Although Bell constructed the basic form of the telephone, Hubbard insisted that the young inventor should focus his efforts on the harmonic telegraph instead. Alexander fulfilled this thought and switched telegraphs. When he patented one of his telegraph designs in February 1875, he found that Elisha Gray had patented a multiple telegraph two days earlier. Greatly discouraged, Bell consulted in Washington with the elderly Joseph Henry, who urged him to pursue his “germ of a great invention”- speech transmission. Back in Boston, Alexander and Thomas carried on with the harmonic telegraph, but still with the telephone in mind. Operating with tuned reeds and magnets to synchronize a receiving instrument with a sender, by accident they transmitted a musical note on June 2, 1875. Bell immediately drew a sketch of the design and Watson built it. The telephone receiver and transmitter were indistinguishable: a thin disk in front of an electromagnet. On February 14, 1876, Bell’s attorney filed for the patent just hours before Elisha Gray showed up at the same patent office to file his caveat for his telephone. The U.S. Patent Office granted Bell the patent for the “electric speaking telephone” on March 7, 1876. It was the most valuable single patent ever issued, and it opened a new age in communication technology. Alexander continued his experiments to improve the telephone’s quality. Three days later on March 10, 1876, by another fault, he sent the first sentence “Watson, come here, I want you.” The first demonstration occurred at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences convention in Boston two months later gained more exposure, and Emperor Dom Pedro of Brazil ordered 100 telephones for his country. The telephone accorded only 18 words in the official catalog of the exposition, suddenly became the “Star” attraction. The first reciprocal outdoor conversation was between Bell and Watson on October 9, 1876. In 1877 the first telephone was installed in a private home. In July the first organization to commercialize the invention, the Bell Telephone Company was established. The company manufactured the first long-distance line in 1884, connecting Boston and New York. The American Telephone and Telegraph Company known as AT&T, was constructed by Alexander and others in 1885 to operate other long-distance lines. By 1889, when insulation was perfected, there were 11,000 miles of underground wires in New York City. The telephone took a great mind of thinking to invent, but also happened by a couple events of mishap. Thanks to Alexander Graham Bell, we now have one of the most useful inventions ever made used in this whole world.
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