Invention+of+the+Telephone

Invention of the Telephone

Early Years: On March 3rd, 1847, Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.He attended Edinburgh University and received special training in his father’s system for removing speech impediments. In 1870, he migrated to Canada with his father. A year later he moved to Boston and became a professor at Boston University for physiology.
 * Alexander Graham Bell: (1847-1922) **

Motivations: Bell was always interested in speaking to spirits. He was regularly searching, striving, and wanting to always lean and create. He was also interested in the sound of electricity. While he worked on a multiple telegraph, he developed the basic ideas for the telephone. In 1876 at age 29, he invented the telephone. In 1877, he formed the Bell Telephone Company. He was interested in communications and explored scientific activities such as kites, airplanes, tetrahedral structures, sheep-breeding, artificial respiration, desalinization, water distillation, and hydrofoils.

**Early Years of Telephone Invention: (late 1800s-early 1900s)** Background Information: In the early 1800s, communication was inconvenient. If you needed to contact someone, you had to tour the whole town. All of thi s changed in 1877, when Gardiner Hubbard created The Bell Telephone Company. This business took off very quickly and in just one short year over three thousand telephones in service. Furthermore, by 1878, The Bell Company alone had 10,000 telephones in service. Later in 1878, a switchboard was created, the first one being located in New Haven, Connecticut. These switchboards were first operated by teenage boys, but later, it became a female’s job. Competition was so intense that some cities were beginning to have two switchboards. The Bell Company fought, and won, over 600 law suits in the course of 20 years, proving its strength. The booming business was part of its own monopoly called the “Bell System”. However, Western Union stole The Bell Companies ideas and, with help from Thomas Edison, created a new business they called American Speaking Telephone Company. Western Union excelled in technology, with great thanks to Edison, and had a better switchboard thanThe Bell Co mpany. However, in September of 1878, The Bell Company had an incredulous victory against Western Union in a law suit, causing Western Union to sell their patents, claims, networks, and inventory.

Emergency Services: In 1937, Britain and reserved a 3 digit number for a public emergency number to contact a system that was used when people found themselves in dangerous situations;this number was 9-9-9. In new Zealand, it was 1-1-1. In America, AT&T finally decided to use 9-1-1 as their emergency system number and the first call was placed in Alabama that year.

How Telephones Worked in the Early 1900s: In the early 1900s, party lines were very popular. There were always six or seven parties on one line and to reach the operator you "turned one long crank of the little handle on the side of the phone box." Once the operator got this call, they would ask you who you wanted to reach and then they'd ring them for you. Calls you put in were private and only heard by you, but calls received could be heard by any of the members sharing your line. There was a system of rings which would differentiate who the received calls, your neighbors would quickly memorize the code of rings. It was very easy for neighbors to eves drop because of party lines, all anyone had to do was quietly slip the receiver off the hook. At times, a third or fourth person would join in the conversation. Community was bound together by complex cords and boxes that spoke to you.



Distribution of the telephone: In the first few years of the telephone, industry men seeded the continent with telephone exchanges. Between the third week of February and the third week of April 1878, first exchanges opened in California, New York, Delaware, and Massachusetts. In the first few years, geological distribution of exchanges reflected Bell’s fight with Western Union over the urban centers. Then Bell continued to concentrate its construction in the major cities outside the South. From 1902 to 1937, telephones spread most widely in states that urbanized, grew commercially, added farm owners, and whose farmland appreciated in value. From 1920 to 1940, the distribution of farm telephones became distinguished by farm tenancy and farm wealth. By the late 1920s, the telephone was a normal, though not yet universal, feature of middle-class homes.
 * Prime Telephone Years: (1878-1940)**

Jobs: Out of the many advantages from the telephone's invention, jobs were a major advantage. Women especially benefited from these jobs. They worked as telephone operators, helping customers make long distance calls, providing information, and making sure the whole system worked smoothly. Women were hired for the Bell system because they were more polite than the very first phone operators, which were teenage boys. The very first phone operator was Emma McNutt, who established the telephone operator work as an exclusive women job. In the 1880s and 1890s, women telephone operators established a relationship with their clients and could recognize their voices. In many areas operators knew personal information about their clients, such as names, addresses, interests, and gossip. The telephone operator job was one of the few jobs available for women but it was not available to all women. Women with foreign accents and women who were under five feet tall were not hired to be a telephone operator in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Advertisements: In 1910, AT&T created an ad in the newspaper giving businessmen reasons to purchase telephone service for their wives. The advertisement had a picture of a man on the phone talking to his wife saying, "I'll be half an hour late" and his wife saying "All right- John." The ad appealed to working men who could communicate quickly with their wives so that they were able to let their wives know what time they'd be home. In 1915, an ad for the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company stressed greetings, rather than conversations, and long-distance calling, rather than subscribing itself. By the 1930s, social reasons for having a telephone were much more common in advertising. One ad said "Friends who are linked by telephone have good times." Beginning in the late 1900s, AT&T placed many national magazine advertisements that were designed to increase its standing with the American public, not directly to sell its service. The text said "the telephone helps to bring us closer together, giving us a better understanding and promoting more intimate relations" and applauds the Bell system for being "the welder of the nation for having made the continent a community."

Advancements: In 1891, Almon B. Stowger invented an automatic switching system. In 1892, phone service began between New York City and Chicago. In 1896, the first dial telephones went into operation in Milwaukee. In 1915, Transcontinental phone service began between New York City and San Francisco. Undersea telephone cables between North America and Europe began operating in 1956. By the late 1980s, cellular devices were available in most of the United States.

Cordless Telephone: For the longest time, all phones were attached to the wall and you were limited to the space in which the cord would let you go. Now, home phones are cordless allowing freedom to move about as you talk. Cordless phones are mobil but only to the area where it will receive service. Once you take the phone off its base the phone won't make or receive calls because its not in it's "service zone" Mobil Phones: The technology of telephones is so advanced that now, many people are dropping their land line and just using their mobil phones! Handheld phones are now all the rage. A mobil phone can do everything a landline can and more! It can make and receive calls from anyone in the public telephone network including many different services and international calls. Furthermore, mobil phones can send texts, pictures, movies, e-mails, and more. Many phones come with free games or an "app store" where you can buy them. Many phones also have instant messaging, GPS, and can be substituted for an MP3 players. With these phones you get a monthly, or a pay-as-you-go plan. Features on these mobil phones include a rechargeable battery, keypads and touch screens, basic mobil services, SIM cards to hold your memory, and more. When these mobil phones first came out, they were as big and clunky as your modern day landline phone. They had antennas that has to be put up as you talked. As the years progressed, phones got much smaller and lost the antenna. The screens got bigger and the visuals got better. Now, some phones on the market are not only convenient and "smart" but glamorous, such as the iPhone or a Blackberry. Wireless headsets: Headsets, or headphones combined with a microphone allows a "handsfree" way to talk on the phone. With a headset, you can talk while doing other things such as driving, exercising, or cooking.
 * Modern Day: **

Competition/advertisements: Currently, there are a few main service providers: Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint. These companies compete against each other for more money. The more people who get a contract with their company, the more money they bring in. Companies number one way of luring in customers in this day in age is through commercials. In 2009, Verizon brought in 2.2 million customers thanks to an advertisement highlighting all of AT&Ts weaknesses. These two companies especially are constantly trying to match each others devices such as the Android. If you look around the Verizon Wireless store, the devices aren't much different than AT&Ts. That, they say, is the point and is how they stay in "the game".

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1871 Alexander Graham Bell came to the United States 1874 Bell developed the idea of the telephone but continued his experiments with the harmonic telegraph 1876 Bell invented the telephone 1877 formed the Bell Telephone Company and the Western Union Telegraph Company entered the telephone business 1877 the first switchboard began operating in Boston 1878 the first telephone exchange opened in New Haven, Conneticut September 1878 Bell Company sued Western Union Telegraph Company 1885 AT&T was established to operate the long-distance network 1891 automatic switching system was invented 1896 first dial telephones 1899 AT&T took over Bell Telephone Company
 * Timeline Summary:**


 * Phone Fun Facts:**
 * Alexander Graham Bell thought the phone should be answered by "Hoy, Hoy" instead of "Hello".
 * In 1922, when Bell died, phones stopped ringing for a full minute in honor of him.
 * There are 149,084,370 telephone lines in the world and thousands are being added every day.
 * 1,525,000,000 miles of telephone wire are strung across the U.S.
 * 1/3 of the world population has never made a phone call.

Books: 1. Fischer, Claude S. //America Calling: a Social History of the Telephone to 1940//. Berkeley: University of California, 1992. Print.
 * Bibliography:**

// 2. The 2000 World Book Year Book: the Annual Supplement to the World Book Encyclopedia : a Review of the Events of 1999. // Chicago: World Book, 2000. Print.

<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Websites:

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">1. "Alexander Graham Bell." // Alexander Graham Bell //. Evisum Inc., 2000. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. <http://www.alexandergrahambell.org/>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">2. Schoelles, Leah. "Telephone History Social Reaction." // Schoelles Home Page //. Dec. 2001. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. <http://www.schoelles.com/Telephone/telsocial.htm>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">3. "Alexander Graham Bell - Biography." // Inventors //. 1997. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. <http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bltelephone2.htm>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">4. "Alexander Graham Bell - Inventors - Made in Canada - Library and Archives Canada."// Welcome to the LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA Website | Bienvenue Au Site Web BIBLIOTHÈQUE ET ARCHIVES CANADA //. 11 May 2006. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/innovations/023020-3020-e.html>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">5. Lanfrey, Damien. "DamienLanfrey.net - The History of Communication - 1849/1876 - The Telephone." // DamienLanfrey.Net - Home //. 19 Dec. 2007. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://www.damienlanfrey.net/test/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=108&Itemid=26>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">6. "Telephone History." // Antique Phones - We Carry Antique Telephones, Old Phones / Pay Phones for Sale. // 1998. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://www.telephonymuseum.com/telephone history.htm>. <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">7. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">Marcus, Michael N. "1878: First Female Telephone Operator(replacement for 11/28 Entry)."// For The First Time (or the Last Time) //. 30 Nov. 2007. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://4thefirsttime.blogspot.com/2007/11/1878-first-female-telephone-operator_30.html>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">8."TELE No. 706 & 8706." Bobs Telephone File - The Webs Wonder, TELEPHONES, SWITCHBOARDS, PMBX, PAX, PABX, ERICSSON TELEPHONES, BRITISH TELEPHONES, GPO, BT, POST OFFICE, ERICSSON, TELEPHONE SYSTEMS & KEYSYSTEMS, GEC TELEPHONES, FOREST of DEAN, LOCAL EXCHANGE TRADING SYSTEM, LETS. 23 Jan. 2011. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://www.britishtelephones.com/t706.htm>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">9. Kharif, By Olga. "Verizon Wireless-AT&T Competition Heats Up - BusinessWeek."// BusinessWeek - Business News, Stock Market & Financial Advice //. Bloomberg L.P, 26 Jan. 2010. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2010/tc20100126_523377.htm> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">10. "Headset (equipment)." // Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia //. Wikimedia Foundation Inc., 30 Jan. 2011. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headset_(equipment)>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">11."Cordless Telephone." // Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia //. Wikimedia Foundation Inc., 13 Feb. 2011. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordless_telephone>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">12. "Mobile Phone - Credo Reference Topic." // Credo Reference Home //. RM, May 2003. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://www.credoreference.com/topic/mobile_phone>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">13. "The Telephone in the Early 1900's." // Five J's | A Homeschooling Mom Striving to Raise Lifelong Learners //. Winter 2009. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://fivejs.com/the-party-line-the-telephone-in-the-early-1900s/>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">14. "Fun Phone Facts." // Welcome to the ChevronCars.com //. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://www.chevroncars.com/learn/odds-ends/telephone-facts>.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">Pictures: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">NOTE: many pictures came from websites with information listed above, but a few we took from just this website and took no information. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">1. "Telephone Ads through the Decades." // New Site Index of Myinsulators.com //. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. <http://www.myinsulators.com/commokid/telephones/telephone_ads.htm>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 32px;">2. "Rcast || Can Chimps Paint Pictures?" // Realsmart //. Web. 16 Feb. 2011.