This article will mention and talk about the invention of the telephone, as well as the first phone call made by Alexander Graham Bell. If you love history and is wondering about the initial history of the telephone, then, you would love reading this article. Let’s check it out, shall we?
The dominance of the telegraph
Before the telephone was invented, one of the most practical ways people could do to communicate with others who live in a distant area would be using the telegraph. It was considered as the most practical and convenient means of communication at that time, and telegraph had been used for 30 years prior to the invention of the telephone. Actually, the existence of the telegraph also had a serious contribution to the invention of telephone since Bell made the first one by experimenting on a telegraph.
Although telegraph had been successful and enjoyed wide usage for thirty years, it had several drawbacks that made communications inconvenient. The most glaring drawback the telegraph had was that it operated based on the Morse code and it prevented the device from sending more than one message at a time. Definitely, your conversation would not be fun when using that thing!
Bell’s idea
Seeing this problem as a handicap, a Scottish-born inventor who was also an educated person which understood sound and music really well, Alexander Graham Bell began his experiment to invent a new device called as the telephone, and eventually, made the first phone call. By the way, if you are wondering, he was born on March 3rd, 1847 in the capital city of Scotland, which is Edinburgh. Well, how did he invent the telephone?
Bell believed that transmitting multiple amounts of a message could be done simultaneously by using the same wire. This idea, though, was not a new thing since many people had already thought of the idea of a multiple telegraphs. And in 1874, he had made significant progress with his experiment and he gained the money required from Gardiner Green Hubbard, a local attorney who would become his father in law in the future.
The phone call
After the long and numerous trials and errors, Bell discovered that a sound could be heard from the wire, which was the sound of a clock spring. He realized that this could be the sign of a new way of communicating and created the basic principle of a telephone. Talking through an electrical wire was now possible, thanks to him. In 1876, he made the first phone call in the world.