Communication Technology

Telephone Technology

The invention of the telephone is one of the most important in the modern era. Before electromagnetic telephones were introduced, primitive examples of acoustic devices were used to amplify sound over long distances. The most famous example of this is the tin can.

The success of the telephone was born out of the improvements made to the electrical Telegraph. Who invented the telephone is a contested issue? Despite most commonly been associated with the American inventor Alexander Graham Bell, many individuals were critical to the process. These include inventors such as Thomas Edison, Johann Philip Reis, and Elisha Grey.

The first telephone line was constructed in 1877 between Boston and Somerville in Massachusetts. And by 1894 passages of New York and Boston were connected by a telephone. Interestingly, the worlds first pay phone was invented shortly after in 1889 by the Connecticut born inventor William Gray.

There have been many incarnations of the telephone the first of which was a tapping system where people had to tap the phone the correct number of times to input the desired number. As technology developed the rotary dial was introduced and at the time was far superior. During the 1970s the cordless phone was introduced and meant that call could be taken remotely for the first time.

Despite having an explosion in technological advancement and popularity within the last 20 years it is thought that the first mobile phone dates to World War II America. However, it would take over four decades until the first cell phone was commercially available to the public and Motorola was the first company to release a model.

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