History of the telephone

The history of the telephone traces the development of devices and networks that transmit speech electrically, from early experiments to modern systems.

Antonio Meucci: An Italian inventor who developed voice-transmission devices and sought to commercialize them in the United States. Meucci’s earlier experiments became central to disputes over who invented the telephone.
Telephone transmitter: A telephone component that converts sound waves into varying electrical signals. Transmitter improvements made voices louder and clearer over telephone lines.
Telephone exchange: A facility that connects telephone subscribers and routes calls between them. Exchanges transformed separate telephone lines into usable local networks.
Bell System: The network of telephone companies historically controlled by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company. The Bell System built much of the United States telephone network under a centralized corporate structure.
Telegraphy: The transmission of encoded messages over distance using electrical or other signaling systems. Telegraphy sent coded symbols, while telephones carried speech directly.
Alexander Graham Bell: A Scottish-born inventor and teacher whose telephone patent and demonstrations helped establish commercial telephony. Bell’s 1876 patent helped turn telephone experiments into a commercial technology.
Carbon microphone: A microphone that varies electrical resistance through pressure on carbon granules. Carbon transmitters amplified speech and helped make long-distance calling practical.
Long-distance telephone service: Telephone service connecting callers across regions beyond a local calling area. Long-distance links extended telephone communication beyond the reach of local exchanges.
American Telephone and Telegraph Company: A United States telecommunications company founded in 1885 as a subsidiary of the Bell Telephone Company. AT&T became the dominant operator of American telephone service for much of the twentieth century.
Radio telephone: A telephone system that transmits speech by radio rather than through a continuous wire connection. Radio telephony carried the telephone function beyond wired networks.

Linked from 1 page

Henry SuttonRelated: Sutton’s telephone work forms a regional strand in the technology’s early history.