Who Invented the Telephone?
Alexander Graham Bell, also known as the father of the telephone, was the man behind the science of transmitting voice over a wire. His mother and wife were both deaf, and this was what influenced him to create a machine that could convey a message over a single wire.
Why did Alexander Graham Bell invent the Telephone?
Alexander Bell studied the human voice and also worked for many schools for the deaf. He loved working with sound and telegraph instruments. He was very much interested in electricity and made many attempts to send several telegraphic messages using a single wire. He took the help of a local engineer, Thomas Watson, who later became his closest friend.
The two friends became obsessed with producing sound over the harmonic telegraph – a device which was used to send multiple messages over a single wire.
History of the Telephone Invention
On 2nd June 1875 while Watson was working on some reeds of the telegraph in another room, Bell heard the sound of reeds coming to him from the other end of the wire. They got excited and after some adjustments the instrument transmitted Bell’s voice to Watson. The invention was done but they still had a lot of work to do. First was to submit a patent which was finally issued in 1976 to Bell. As soon as Bell was issued the patent, the telephone carried its first sentence “Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you.”
Alexander Bell now started to improve the design of the telephone. The telephone had now become a business and many private telephone lines began connecting businessmen and offices to homes.
The Telephone wasn’t the only invention Bell made. After the telephone bell created the photophone which used light to transmit sound. He invented a metal vacuum jacket that helped people with breathing trouble. Bell also invented an electromagnetic machine which detected where a bullet was lodged in the body when President James Garfield was shot. It failed at that time but it laid the foundation for metal detectors.
Alexander Graham Bell was a visionary who believed that one day people will not only use the telephone just to speak but will also be able to see the person on the other end.