It is my heart-warm and
world-embracing Christmas hope and aspiration that
all of us, the high, the low, the rich, the poor,
the admired, the despised, the loved, the hated,
the civilized, the savage (every man and brother
of us all throughout the whole earth), may
eventually be gathered together in a heaven of
everlasting rest and peace and bliss, except the
inventor of the telephone. - Mark Twain (Twainquotes citing
Caroline Harnsberger's Mark Twain at Your
Fingertips )
Phillip Reis
1960: Phillip Reis
German invents device that could transmit sounds but not
words. [Brooks
p 36][Lienhard 1098] See The
Telephone Cases,
126 US 1 (1888) (reproducing Reis' papers). " Reis
discovered how to reproduce musical tones, but he did no
more. He could sing through his apparatus, but he could
not talk. From the beginning to the end, he has conceded
this. " The
Telephone Cases,
126 US 1, 540 (1888)
See Kingsbury,
Chapter XII: Phillip Reis and His Work, p.
125-39..
Meucci
1848: Antonio Meucci performs
teletrofono experiment in Havana. [Catania]
1860: Antonio Meucci demonstrates his
invention teletrofono. [H Res 269]
Meucci publishes an article in L'Eco d'Italia describing
his invention. [Catania]
Dec. 28, 1871: Antonio Meucci filed a caveat with PTO
for his teletrofono. Short on funds, Meucci was not
able to renew his caveat on 1874. [LOC]
Meucci learns that the Western
Union affiliated labratory where he was working
"lost" his equipment and materials; Alexander Graham
Bell "conducted experiments in the same laboratory
where Meucci's materials had been stored" [H Res 269] Meucci A., Sound
Telegraph, Caveat No. 3335, filed at the US
Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, DC on 28
December 1871; renewed 9 December 1872; renewed 15
December 1873, Loc. [A], Box 10, Folder 1. Meucci
lacks sufficient resources to develop his invention.
He is seriously injured in 1871 during the Westfield
Ferry accident, and his wife sells his models in order
to raise funds. The Telettrofono Company is
established in 1871. [Catania]
A lawsuit will
be brought in 1885 by the USG against Bell attempting
to void his patents based on Meucci's prior art. [See also Brooks
p 77][See also Wash Post 022008]
Elisha Gray
1869:
Elisha Gray and Enos Barton founded Gray and Barton
Manufacturing. Anson Stager became a parterner
later that year. In 1871 the company was reorganized and
renamed Western Electric Manufacturing Company.
The company has strong investments and ties to Western Union, and supported
Western Union's challenge to the Bell's Patents. Western
Electric manufactured telephones for both Bell telephone
and Western Union. In 1875 Elisha Gray sold his interest
in Western Electric. In 1881 AT&T bought Western
Electric and it became Bell's manufacturing arm. [Brooks p
10] [Porticus]
"Elisha Gray, a professor at Oberlin College,
applied for a caveat of the telephone on the same day
Bell applied for his patent of the telephone. In Historical
First Patents: The First United States Patent for Many
Everyday Things (Scarecrow Press, 1994), Travis
Brown, reports that Bell got to the patent office first.
The date was February 14, 1876. He was the fifth entry
of that day, while Gray was 39th. Therefore, the U.S.
Patent Office awarded Bell with the first patent for a
telephone, US Patent Number 174,465 rather than honor
Gray's caveat. " [LOC]
Elisha Gray's caveat described the
principle of variable resistence:
Be it known that I, Elisha Gray, have
invented a new Art of Transmitting Vocal Sounds
Telegraphically. It is the object of my invention to
transmit tones of the human voice through telegraphic
circuit and reproduce them at the receiving end of the
line so that actual conversations can be carried on by
persons at long distances apart. . . The obvious
pratical application of my improvement will be to
enable persons at a distance to converse with each
other through a telegraphic circuit just as they do in
each other's presence or through a speaking tube. [Coon 50]
Bell's patent application, entitle
"Improvement in Telegraphy," also mentioned voice
telephony but curiously only in language scrawed into
the patent application in the margin, as if an after
thought.
"The method of and apparatus for
transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically or
by causing electrical undulations similar in form to
the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal
or other sounds, substantially as set forth."
It was argued that Bell had been
permitted to see Gray's application and wrote these
notes into the margin after both applications had been
filed.
The Overland Company and the People's
Company further contended that certain evidence cited
by their counsel, and which is contained or referred
to in the report of the argument of their counsel
infra justified the inference that the Gray caveat was
filed in the Department of the Interior prior to the
filing of Bell's application, specification, and
claims of 1876; that information of this caveat was
surreptitiously furnished to Bell's solicitors; that
Bell's specifications and claims as originally filed
varied from his specifications and claims as stated in
the patent in several important respects; that these
changes were made within four days after the filing of
Gray's caveat, and that after they had been made, the
altered copy was placed in the files of the Department
as the original. The following copy of these
specifications, known as the Bell George Brown
specification, is from the record in the People's
case, and is referred to in argument in this
connection, and other evidence in this respect on
which counsel on one side or the other relied is also
referred to in the arguments.
"Gray knew, and those who studied the
case knew, that the transmitter into which Bell spoke
on March 10, 1876, the historic words to Thomas A
Watson, the first words ever spoken and heard over a
telephone, was a very different kind of instrument
from that described and illustrated in his patent.
Furthermore, the transmitter which Bell had
constructed for the occassion had previously been
described by Gray in his caveat. Did Bell in some way
obtain knowledge of the contents of Gray's caveat?
Before Gray died in 1901 he became convinced that Bell
had access to what was suppose to be a confidential
document in the files of the Patent Office." [Coon 52]
1877, Feb. 16: Chicago Tribune refers
to local man Gray as "the real inventor of the
telephone." [Brooks p 63][Bruce p
220] [Coon 48] [MacKenzie 164]
Many Eastern newspapers are favoring their
readers with sketches of Prof. A M Bell, 'the inventor
of the telephone.' Meanwhile the real inventor of the
telephone - Mr. Elisha Gray, of Chicago - minds his
own business and apparently concerns himself not at
all about the spurious claims of Professor Bell. . . .
Mr. Gray's claims . . . are officially approved in the
Patent Office at Washington, and they have already
brought in large returns in money as well as in
reputation to the inventor. Talking by telegraph and
other sport of the description Mr. Gray has not paid
much attention to as yet.
1877, Feb. 21: Gray requested
permission from Bell to demonstrate Bell's telephone
during a lecture. [MacKenzie
165] Bell "hotly" replied granting permission
conditioned on Gray refuting the Tribune article. [Brooks p
63][Bruce p 220]
"If you refute in your lecture, and
in the Chicago Tribune, the libel upon me published in
that paper February sixteenth, I shall nave no
objection. Please Answer. A Graham Bell." [MacKenzie 166]
1877, Feb. 24, Elisha Gray responded to
Bell:
I do not know what article you refer
to. I have seen one or two articles lately which
venture to assume that you are not the only man in the
world who had contributed to the development of the
telephone . . . So far as I know the libels are mostly
on the other side, if assertions of originality etc.
may be so constructed. The papers have been ful of
articles, of late, copied from Boston papers, claiming
the whole development of the telephone for you. It
would not be strange if some one, knowing the facts,
should speak and in doing so may have done you
injustice.
"You seem to assume that I am
responsible for all the newspaper articles that are
not in your favor. Now if we are going into the
refutation business I suggest that it be mutual. So
far as I know, there is quite as much need from your
side as from mine. If we undertake to follow up the
newspapers we shall have our hands full." [Coon 48] [MacKenzie 166]
1877, Mar. 2, Bell Responded
"I was somewhat hasty, I must
confess, in sending my telegram to you, for of course
you are not responsible for all the ill natured
remarks that may appear in the newspapers concerning
me. I have generally alluded to your name in
connection with the invention of the Electronic
'Telephone' for we seem to attach different
significations to the word. I apply the term only to
to an apparatus for transmitting the voice (which
meaning is strictly in accordance with the derivation
of the word) whereas you seem to use the term as
expressive of any apparatus for transmission of
musical tones by electric current.
"I have no knowledge of any apparatus
constructed by you for the purpose of transmitting
vocal sounds, and I trust that I have not been doing
you an injustice. It is my sincere desire to give you
all the credit that I feel justly belongs to you. I do
not know the nature of the application for a caveat,
to which you referred, excepting that it had something
to do with the vibration of a wire in water and
therefore conflicted with my patent. My specification
had been prepared months before it was filed and a
copy taken to England by a friend. I delyaed the
filing of the American patent until I could hear from
him. At last the protests of all those interested in
my invention deprecating further delay, had their
effect, and I filed my application without waiting for
a conclusion of negotiations in England. It was
certainly a most striking coincidence that our
applications should have been filed on the same day."
[Coon 49] [MacKenzie 167]
1877, Mar. 5: Gray wrote Bell
disclaiming the invention of the telephone, and
responsibility for the article which he says he had not
seen. [Brooks
p 64]
"I have just received yours of the
2nd instant, and I freely forgive you for any feeling
your telegram aroused. I found the article I suppose
you referred to in the personal column of the Tribune,
and am free to say it does you injustice.
I gave you full credit for the
talking feature of the telephone as you may have seen
in the Associated press dispatch that was sent to all
the papers in the country - in my lecture in McCormick
Hall, Feb. 27th. . . . Of course you have had no means
of knowing what I had done in the matter of
transmitting vocal sounds. When, however, you see the
specification, you will see that the fundamental
principles are contained therein. I do not, however,
claim even the credit of inventing it, as I do not
believe a mere description of an idea that has never
been reduced to practice - in the strict sense of that
phrase - should be dignified with the name invention.
"Yours very truly Elisha Gray " [Coon 48] [MacKenzie 169]
Bell's patent would be challenged by Western Union
based on Gray's caveat; the legal challenge would be
settled out of court.
1884: First prank phone call?
Someone in Rhode Island falsely called the undertaker
asking that a coffin be delivered for the recently
deceased, who were alive and surprised to find a pine
box with their name on it at their door. [Lit Detective Twitpic]
1885: Congressional hearings
investigated who invented the telephone.
1886: The Washington Post reports that
Zenas Wilbur, a patent officer, stated
in an affidavit that he had been bribed by Alexander
Graham Bell "to award the patent to Bell over a rival
inventor, Elisha Gray." Wilbur indicated that he took
$100 and gave Bell complete details of Gray's invention.
In previous affidavits, Wilbur swore the opposite. [Wash
Post 022008] It is reported that Wilbur
owed money to one of Bell's attorneys. [Roth]
Another book reports that Wilbur was an alcoholic who
had had several run ins with the law. [Coe p 70]
[See also Brooks p 77]
[See also Coon 52]
"By the end of 1880, there were 47,900
telephones in the United States.
Sept 1880 First Meeting of the National
Telephone Exchange Association. [Kingsbury p 146]
"1881 telephone service between Boston
and Providence had been established. Service between New
York and Chicago started in 1892, and between New York
and Boston in 1894. Transcontinental service by overhead
wire was not inaugurated until 1915. The first
switchboard was set up in Boston in 1877. The first
regular telephone exchange was established in New Haven
in 1878. "
Early telephones were leased in pairs
to subscribers. The subscriber was required to put up
his own line to connect with another. The first lines
were point to point lines without switching capability
in the middle. [See Atlanta for images of early
phones].
In order to permit a phone to call
other phones in the network, exchanges were installed in
the network. At first, however, the exchanges did not
operate through the use of telephone numbers.
Telephone numbers did not yet exist. Operators memorized
the names of the subscribers and their associated lines.
However, in the Lowell, Massachusetts exchange, when
wide spread outbreak of measles resulted in most of the
operators being absent from work - along with their
knowledge of who had which line - exchange owners
realized the need to switch to a system less dependant
on the operators memory - telephone numbers. [See alsoBrooks p 74]
Business may have acquired their own
unique telephone number. However, the rule for
residential subscribers was that they would share a
telephone number and line, called a party line.
When this number was called, all of the phones that were
a part of that party line would ring in each phone.
Everyone could pick up the phone and hear and
participate in the conversation. In order to compensate
for this, operators developed unique rings for each
phone on a party line so that the subscribers could know
who the call was for. [Atlanta]
"When telephone companies began hiring
operators, they chose teenage boys for the job [Image]. But
the companies soon regretted their decision.
Boys had done a great job working in telegraph
offices. And they worked for low wages. But
being a telephone operator was a tough job that
required lots of patience -- something the boys
didn't have. The boy operators quickly turned
telephone offices upside down. They wrestled
instead of worked. They pulled pranks on
callers, and even cursed at them. In 1878, the
Boston Telephone Despatch company began hiring
women operators instead. Women, the companies
thought, would behave better than boys. Women
had pleasant voices that customers -- most of
whom were men -- would like. And because society
did not treat women equally, they could be paid
less and supervised more strictly than men. [Image
of women working at Atlanta switch]
"Much like many other American businesses at
the turn of the century, telephone companies
unfairly discriminated against people from
certain ethnic groups and races. African
American and Jewish women were not allowed to
become operators."
Almon B. Strowger,
a Kansas City undertaker, was reportedly
motivated to invent an automatic telephone
exchange after having difficulties with the
local telephone operators. He was convinced that
the local manual telephone exchange operators
were sending calls to his competitor rather than
his business. He also suspected that the
telephone operators were influencing the choice
of undertaker when his business was requested.
The origin of this suspicion reportedly arose
from an incident in Topeka when a friend died
and the family contacted a rival undertaker.
Other stories claim that the wife or, possibly,
the cousin of a rival was a telephone operator
and Strowger suspected that the operators were
telling callers that his line was busy or
connecting his callers to the competition. On
inventing his switch he said "No longer will my
competitor steal all my business just because
his wife is a BELL operator." Wikipedia Aug
2006. See also [Brenner
p 4]
Stowger patented his device and
founded the Automatic Electric Company in order
to build and sell the switch in 1891. [Brooks
100] The first automatic C.O. was
installed in LaPorte, Indiana. William
von Alven, Bill's
200 Year Condensed History of Telecom, CCL
1998
"AT&T
resisted the adoption of the automatic switch at
first, largely out of the belief that it was
inappropriate to be involving the customers in
the switching process." [Sterling
67] "The Bell System did not embrace this switch
or automation in general, indeed, a Bell
franchise commonly removed "Steppers" and dial
telephones in territories it bought from
independent telephone companies. Not until 1919
did the Bell System start using Strowgers
durable and efficient switching system. This
tardiness contributed to Bell's poor reputation
around the turn of the century." [Farley
at 4]
"One of the factors that finally caused Bell to
change its direction was a major operator strike
in 1920. This strike was devastating to the
company and showed company management a
vulnerability that they had not known existed."
In Atlanta, the last manual exchange was taken
offline in 1951. [Atlanta part 2]
"In 1889, the rotary telephone dial was
invented by Almon B. Strowger , a Kansas City
undertaker. The first dial exchange was installed at La
Porte, Indiana, in 1892. In 1943, Philadelphia was the
last major area to give up dual service.
"Toward the close of the 19th century,
huge numbers of overhead wires were being used in major
cities. [Image] The wires
caused problems because of snow, sleet and other bad
weather conditions. With these problems it was necessary
to develop sturdier overhead cables. In 1888, 100 wires
could be combined into a large cable. By 1985 fiber cables had
replaced wires. Today a pair of fiber cables can carry
up to 25,000 phone conversations simultaneously.
Era of Telephone Competition
With the expiration of the AT&T
Bell patents, 1000s of independant local telephone
companies were formed. In general, the different
telephone companies did not interconnect creating the
problem of "Dual Service" and "Universal Service."
1884: 370 telephone subscribers served by Atlanta
Telephone Exchange. [Atlanta]
1894:
1409 Bell Exchanges + 98 independant exchanges =
1507 exchanges [Mueller p
61 1997]
28 cities had service from at least two
companies [Mueller p
56 1997]
1894-98: 1074 independent telephone companies began
operations. [Mueller p 55
1997]
1895-97: 220 cities had service from at least two
companies [Mueller p 56
1997]
1897:
Independants had 19% of the local market [Sterling
p 71]
1799 Bell Exchanges + 1700 Independant Exchanges
= 3499 Exchanges [Mueller p
61 1997]
1899-01: 185 cities had service from at least two
companies [Mueller p 56
1997]
1902:
3000 commercial companies with 44% of the local
market [Sterling p 71]
3005 Bell Exchanges + 3400Independant Exchanges
= 6405 Exchanges [Mueller p
61 1997]
1904:
3365 Bell Exchanges + 4400 Independant Exchanges
= 7765 Exchanges [Mueller p
61 1997]
"Between 1894 and 1904, over six thousand
independent telephone companies went into business
in the United States, and the number of telephones
boomed from 285,000 to 3,317,000." [AT&T
History Origins]
1907:
4889 Bell Exchanges + 5400 Independant Exchanges
= 10,289 Exchanges [Mueller p
61 1997]
Independants had 49% of the local market. [Sterling
p 71]
Era of Regulation
1910 - Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 amended to bring
telephone and telegraph under the jurisdiction of the ICC.
1912: Britian nationalizes its telephone service. By
1913, most nations had nationalized their telephone
service.
1914: F.H. Bethell, Some Comments on Government
Ownership of Telephone Properties (Feb. 25, 1914),
reprinted in Debaters Handbook at 159.
A.N. Holcombe, Public Ownership of Telegraphs and
Telephones, 28 Q.J. ECON. 581 (1914)
1915: The Postalization of the Telephone: Hearing on
H.R. 20471 Before the House Committee on the Post Office
and Post Roads, 63d Cong., 3d Sess. (1915)
Theodore Newton Vail, Some Observations on Modern
Tendencies, Address at a Dinner Given by the Railroad
Commission of California to the National Association of
Railway Commissioners (Oct. 1915), reprinted in VIEWS ON
PUBLIC QUESTION: A COLLECTION OF PAPERS AND ADDRESSES OF
THEODORE NEWTON VAIL 1907-1917, at 240, 258-63 (1917)
Federal Control of Systems of
Communication: Hearings on H.J. Res. 309 Before the
House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, 65th
Cong., 2d Sess. (July 2, 1918).
July 9, 1918: President of Western
Union testifies before Senate Committee on Interstate
Commerce against the proposed government takeover of
telephone and telegraph service.
The telephone and telegraph systems,
including AT&T, were
nationalized during World War I from July 31, 1918 to
July 1919 and managed by the Post
Office. [Woodrow Wilson, Proclamation (July 22,
1918), 40 Stat. 1807]
The rational for nationalization has
been attributed to the departure of men to the war and
the resulting deteriation of service, the threats of
strikes by communications unions, and the need to
protect against spys and other threats.
USG management of the telephone system
was said to go poorly, and the networks were returned to
private companyies after the war. [NYTimes
Dec. 21, 1913] The legislative
authority for the takeover apparently expressly stated
that nationalization would end at the time of the
ratification of a peace treaty ending the war.
Return of the Wire Systems: Hearings on
H.R. 421 Before the House Committee on Interstate and
Foreign Commerce, pt. _, 66th Cong., 1st sess. _ (1919)
The USG also nationalize radio
service and the railroad service.
How to Dial a Rotary Phone
1928 Cell Phone use Charlie Chaplin Movie
Post War
1919: Southern Bell bought out The Atlantic Telephone
Company. [Atlanta]
1930 - Cincinnati Bell initiates migration to dial
service. Migration is completed after WWII. [Cincinnati Bell History]
"William Clarke and Marie Williams purchased the Oak
Ridge Telephone Company for $500 from F.E. Hogan, Sr.
There were 75 paid subscribers. The switchboard was
relocated to the Williams’ front parlor so the family
could man the board 24-hours a day. The exception was
between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Sundays, when the office
closed for church and dinner. Marie wrote out the bills
by hand, and eight-year-old son Clarke McRae Williams
delivered them on his bicycle." This company will become
Century Link. [CenturyTel
Timeline]
World War II
1943: The first African American, Gloria Shepperson, is
hired in the Bell System helped by Fair Employment
Practices Executive Order 8802 (1941) banning hiring
discrimination. [CWA
History]
In 1891 the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers was established and
would make the first attempts to unionize communications
works. The IBEW would not admit women as members until
1912 when it accepted telephone operators as members.
"In 1919, IBEW's telephone department claimed 200
telephone locals with 20,000 members." [CWA History]
[IBE History] The Boston IBEW pressed
in 1913 for "the abolition of the double shift, an
eight-hour-day (a nine to ten-hour day was the norm),
the establishment of a borad of adjustment and a pay
raise. They won on all counts..." [IBE History]
1911: The International Federation of
Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones established. [Labor
History]
1918: Commercial Telegraphers' Union
calls for a strike on April 9, during World
War I, leading to pressure to nationalize the
telephone and telegraph service. The strike was twice
postponed. [Washington Plea Prevents Strike on
Western Union, N.Y. TIMES, July 8, 1919, at 1]
WWI: Julia O'Connor
of the IBEW "served as labor's only representative to
the national board, presided over by Postmaster General
Albert Burleson, which set telephone worker's wages and
supervised their working conditions." [IBEW History] The
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers striked
in 1919 to protest the lack of progress in improving
wages and working conditions. "The strike shut down
phone service in the East for almost a week." The strike
was considered a succes and the Postmaster General
acknowledged their right to organize. [CWA History]
In Sept. 1919 the IBEW formed a Telephone Operator's
Division.
1920: Postal, Telegraph and Telephone
International founded (replacing the International
Federation of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones). [Labor
History]
1920s: Reportedly disturbed by the IBEW's success
during WWI, AT&T encourages employees to join
company unions and not the IBEW; "By 1934, IBEW had been
ousted in every location except Montana and the Chicago
Plant." [CWA
History]
1935: Congress passes the National Labor Relations Act
and declares company unions (such as those at AT&T) illegal. [CWA History]
1938: Union organizers establish the National
Federation of Telephone Workers. [CWA History]
"The average real wage of a telephone worker dropped
from 83 cents an hour in 1939 to 70 cents an hour in
1943." [CWA History]
Complaints were brought before the National Wartine
Labor Board but a backlog of complaints grew.
1944: National Federation of Telephone Workers strike
based on declining wages and failure of the NWLB to hear
their cases. Outcome was the establisment of the
National Telephone Panel, later renamed as the National
Telephone Commission, to hear communications labor
complaints. [CWA
History][See
Archives for NTC
records]
1946: AT&T and the National Federation of Telephone
Workers sign the Beirne-Craig memorandum, averting a
strike. [CWA
History]
1947: In 1946, AT&T was not prepared for the NFTW
strike; in 1947 AT&T was prepared. NFTW would strike
and the union would splinter, and be reorganized as the
Communications Workers of America.
[CWA History] The CWA would
become affiliated with the CIO in 1948.
1955: CWA strike 72 days against Southern Bell. CWA
considers the strike a success, resulting in increased
wages, arbitration, and the recognized right to strike.
[CWA History]
1971: 400,000 CWA members go on strike for one week,
responding to impact of inflation. Receive wage
increases, COLA, better vacation time. [CWA History]
1975: CWA members strike against independent telcos in
Rochester, Kentucky, and
New Jersey. [CWA
History]
1983: 700,000 CWA members successfully strike for 22
days against AT&T for better wages and benefits.
"This would be the last time CWA would be able to
negotiate at one national table for all its Bell System
members because divestiture
was only a few months away." [CWA History] [The
Line You Have Reached...DISCONNECT IT!,
Processed World 1983 ("The 22 day nationwide strike by
700,000 telephone workers provided a window on the
relative strength of capital and labor in the current
era. In classic style, both management and unions are
claiming victory, since neither side was able to push
through its most aggressive bargaining goals.")]
citing
Caroline Harnsberger's Mark Twain at Your
Fingertips ) 
Elisha Gray
(2002). [
]
