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First Telephone
Robert Hooke creates an acoustic string telephone that conveys sounds over a taut extended wire by mechanical vibrations. -
Innocenzo Manzetti
Innocenzo Manzetti first suggests the idea of an electric "speaking telegraph", or telephone. -
Antonio Meucci
Antonio Meucci demonstrates a communicating device to individuals in Havana. It is disputed if this is an electromagnetic telephone, but is said to involve direct transmission of electricity into the user's body. -
Charles Bourseul
Charles Bourseul publishes a description of a make-and-break telephone transmitter and receiver in L'Illustration, (Paris) but does not construct a working instrument -
Johann Philipp Reis
Johann Philipp Reis manages to transfer voice electrically over a distance of 340 feet with his Reis telephone. Reis uses his telephone to transmit his phrase "The horse does not eat cucumber salad". This phrase in German is hard to understand acoustically so Reis uses it to prove that speech can be recognized successfully at the receiving end. -
Innocenzo Manzetti
In an attempt to give his musical automaton a voice, Innocenzo Manzetti invents the 'speaking telegraph'. He shows no interest in patenting his device, but it is reported in newspapers. -
Antonio Meucci
Meucci reads of Manzetti's invention and writes to the editors of two newspapers claiming priority and quoting his first experiment in 1849. He writes "I do not wish to deny Mr. Manzetti his invention, I only wish to observe that two thoughts could be found to contain the same discovery, and that by uniting the two ideas one can more easily reach the certainty about a thing this important." If he reads Meucci's offer of collaboration, Manzetti does not respond. -
Antonio Meucci
Meucci files a patent caveat (a statement of intention to file a patent application)[3] for a Sound Telegraph, but it does not describe an electromagnetic telephone. -
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Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison notes variable resistance in carbon grains due to pressure, builds a rheostat based on the principle but abandons it because of its sensitivity to vibration. -
Elisha Gray
Gray invents electromagnet device for transmitting musical tones. Some of his receivers use a metallic diaphragm. -
Elisha Gray
Gray invents electromagnet device for transmitting musical tones. Some of his receivers use a metallic diaphragm. -
Mink, Louisiana
Mink, Louisiana finally receives traditional landline telephone service (one of the last in the United States).
