A telephone is any device that is capable of transmitting sound over distances. Before the advent of the electronic phone system or cellular technologies and its offshoots,—instant messaging such as SMS and MMS—man had invented basic mechanical devices that could transport sound via physical media. Early devices in China were built to transport speech through pipes. Another well known device is the string telephone system, which was created by connecting two cups or diaphragms with a string. However the real predecessor of the telephone system was the telegraph system.

Before Telephones

In 1837, Samuel Morse invented the first American telegraph. The telegraph was a device that allowed a message to be sent electrically over a wire. His assistant Alfred Vail invented the Morse code, which became the standard for telegraphic messages. The Morse code uses a standardised system of long and short elements to communicate. In the case of telegraph it was how long the electrical signal was sent. Though use of telegraphs has declined the use of Morse code is quite prevalent even today.

Sir William Fothergill Cooke invented the first commercially used electrical telegraph in 1839. It was used to communicate on the Great Western Railway in Britain. The telegraph covered a distance of 13 miles and connected Paddington station to West Drayton, which was quite a feat in its day.

Inventors did not rest with the invention of the telegraph. The main problem that plagued inventors was that only one message could be sent at a time by telegraph. This barrier not only limited the number of messages being sent, it contributed in increasing the cost per message. Inventors thus were concerned with harmonic telegraphy, also known as acoustic telegraphy. This involved sending simultaneous messages over the same telegraphic wire. It was this quest that eventually led to the invention of the telephone system.

Origin of the Telephone

When asked, most people would say that Alexander Graham Bell is the father of the telephone. In reality, however, the invention of the telephone system is credited to a number of people. These included Antonio Meucci, Alexander Graham Bell, Elisha Gray, and Johann Philipp Reiss.

Of the four, it was Alexander Graham Bell who managed to successfully patent the telephone as an "apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically". However in 1860, sixteen years prior to the filing of the patent, Antonio Meucci had demonstrated a device which he called the 'teletrofono' in New York. The mystery of the true inventor of the telephone was only resolved in 2002, when the United States Congress recognised Meucci as at first inventor of the telephone.

Another question is whether Graham Bell and Elisha Gray invented their telephone system independently or whether one inventor stole the idea from another. Ultimately, Bell, due to a turn of events was credited with a patent for invention of the telephone system, on March 7, 1876. Hence, he is usually said to be the father of the telephone.

Evolution of the Telephone

Early telephones did not look anything like the sleek phones of today. They also operated on very different principles. The first phones used a liquid transmitter which was dangerous and soon went out of use. Others used a system that employed the use of a magnet and a coiled wire, and diaphragm setup. The most common and effective phone of the time used what was known as the Edison / Berliner carbon transmitter. Early phones required a local power source.

By the twentieth century, the need for a local battery was eliminated. Instead, a common battery at the telephone system exchange was able to send power over the same line that carried voice signals. Early phones had their bell boxes separately from the main phone. In the 1930s, the bell was integrated into the base of the telephone system. Around this time, the dial switch was introduced. The dial worked by briefly interrupting the current in the line that was supplied to the base by disconnecting it for a short period. This was done 1 — 10 times to coincide with the 10 digits possible in any phone number.

In the 1930s, plastic-moulded handles and a cradle system, which disconnected the line and transmitter battery, were introduced. For the next thirty years, the working of the system hardly changed. In the 1960s, the touch tone replaced the dial.

From Telephones to IP phones to Cell phones

With advances in technology, man has progressed from the basic telephone system. Now we have the development of Internet Protocol telephony. This is based on a technology called Voice over IP (VOIP). Here, the phone uses a broadband internet connection to transfer data in the form of packets. These phones are considered to be cheaper than mobile phones and are cost effective when calling people over long distances. The technologies behind phones continue to grow in leaps and bounds.