Who invented the telephone?
Who gives the phone’s paternity? To Antonio Meucci in 1872 or to Alexander Graham Bell in 1876? The Italian inventor was born in Florence by a modest family and against the will of his father he enrolled in the Academy of Arts. In order to cope with the financial difficulties, however, he became a trainee in the theater, where his first inventions were immediately noticed communication mechanisms. From Cuba to New York, as a wealthy, skilful inventor entrepreneur whose wife had to sell sketches and phone experiments for a few dollars to ward for the expenses, Meucci’s fate crosses with those of Bell in 1872 when the Italian delivered the designs of his teletheter to the American District Telegraph of New York, the company for which he worked as consultant Alexander Graham Bell, who in turn presented the patent office with his telephone in 1876. The Diatribe continued for years in the Tribunal between mutual accusations. In 2002, 113 years after his death, the Washington House proclaimed Meucci “the inventor of the phone.”
The Scottish-born scientist Alexander Graham Bell is commonly credited as the inventor of the first telephone. Many people question whether he actually was first. Without issue, Bell did important work in communication and was a primary inventor in developing a machine transmitting sound by electricity. He did get a patent on March 7, 1876. Hollywood produced somewhat of a biographical film of Bell in a 1939 black and white movie starring an Italian actor, Don Ameche, but nowhere is there reference to another Italian, Antonio Meucci, who was born in Florence, Italy in 1808.
Meucci was 27-years-old when he relocated to Havana, Cuba where he worked with patients having electric therapy. It was during those sessions of several years, where he conceived the idea and experimented that speech could be transmitted electrically. He moved to the U.S. in 1851, bought a home on Staten Island and opened a candle factory. He continued his interest in transmitting sound and tested with instrument after instrument. He had a working model by 1855 and, in 1860, demonstrated it publicly. Focused on this “pet project,” his candle factory went belly up, forcing him to survive on public charity. To make matters worse, he was severely injured on a ferryboat excursion and confined to bed for several months. To pay the bills, his wife sold his telefono paper work and instruments for a few dollars to a junk dealer.
In 1871, five years before Bell’s patent, Meucci borrowed $20 to purchase a protective writ for his invention, but could not afford the paperwork filing for a patent. Learning of Bell’s invention, Meucci protested, but to no avail, and sold his intention to Globe Telephone which lost a court battle with the American Bell Telephone Company. The U.S. attorney eventually charged Bell with patent fraud but the criminal case ended when Meucci died in 1889.
Meucci died fully believing he was the first to create a primitive telephone. On June 11, 2002 the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring Antonio Meucci for his key contribution to the invention of the telephone. But, he has been much overshadowed by Bell. To this day, it’s “Ma Bell” — not “Ma Meucci.” Visit here to know more about Who invented the Telephone?
Meucci was 27-years-old when he relocated to Havana, Cuba where he worked with patients having electric therapy. It was during those sessions of several years, where he conceived the idea and experimented that speech could be transmitted electrically. He moved to the U.S. in 1851, bought a home on Staten Island and opened a candle factory. He continued his interest in transmitting sound and tested with instrument after instrument. He had a working model by 1855 and, in 1860, demonstrated it publicly. Focused on this “pet project,” his candle factory went belly up, forcing him to survive on public charity. To make matters worse, he was severely injured on a ferryboat excursion and confined to bed for several months. To pay the bills, his wife sold his telefono paper work and instruments for a few dollars to a junk dealer.
In 1871, five years before Bell’s patent, Meucci borrowed $20 to purchase a protective writ for his invention, but could not afford the paperwork filing for a patent. Learning of Bell’s invention, Meucci protested, but to no avail, and sold his intention to Globe Telephone which lost a court battle with the American Bell Telephone Company. The U.S. attorney eventually charged Bell with patent fraud but the criminal case ended when Meucci died in 1889.
Meucci died fully believing he was the first to create a primitive telephone. On June 11, 2002 the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring Antonio Meucci for his key contribution to the invention of the telephone. But, he has been much overshadowed by Bell. To this day, it’s “Ma Bell” — not “Ma Meucci.” Visit here to know more about Who invented the Telephone?
A recording which was heard 128 years ago, which had Bell talking. Every Italian who heard it, thought it to be the voice of a thief because they considered Antonio Santi Giuseppe Meucci to be the real face of the invention of the telephone. Bell just stole his idea and gave it his name without giving any acknowledgments to Meucci.
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