Antonio Meucci

The Invention of the

Telephone

The Real Inventor of the

Telephone: Bell or Meucci?

Although it was Alexander

Graham Bell who was
credited to be the inventor
of the telephone, it was the
ideas and plans of Antonio
Meucci which lead to the
development of Bells
famous invention.
On June 11th, 2002, the US
Congress finally officially
recognized that the Italian
inventor Antonio Meucci is
to be credited for the
invention of the telephone.

Life around the Telephone

Antonio Meucci was born in Florence, Italy in April 1808

He was initially obsessed with medical uses of electricity, and soon
realized that one could transmit voice via wire. Meucci developed a
method of using electric shocks to treat illness (electro therapy), which
had become quite popular in Havana. One day, while preparing to
administer a treatment to a friend, Meucci heard an exclamation of the
friend, who was in the next room, over the piece of copper wire running
between them. Between 1850 and 1862 he developed at least 30
different models of telephone, although he was too poor to protect his
inventions with a patent (this would have costed him $250).
Later a dramatic event happened, in which Meucci was severely burned
in the explosion of the steamship Westfield returning from New York.
This brought things to an even more tragic state. While Meucci lay in
hospital, miraculously alive after the disaster, his wife sold many of his
working models (including the telephone prototype) and other
materials to a secondhand dealer for six dollars. When Meucci sought
to buy these precious objects back, he was told that they had been
resold to an "unknown young man" whose identity remained a mystery.

Life around the Telephone

Crushed, but not beaten, Meucci

worked night and day to
reconstruct his invention and to
produce new designs and
specifications, clearly
apprehensive that someone
could steal the device before he
could have it patented. Unable
to raise the sum for a definitive
patent, he took recourse in a
caveat or notice of intent, which
was registered on December 28,
1871 and renewed in 1872 and
1873 but, fatefully, not
thereafter.

In 1876 Alexander Bell then

made a patent which made him
the inventor of the Telephone.

Controversy

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell filed a patent which

did not really describe the telephone but refers to it as
such. When Meucci learned of this, he instructed his
lawyer to protest to the U.S. Patent Office in
Washington, something that was never done.
However, a friend did contact Washington, only to
learn that all the documents relevant to the "Talking
Telegraph" filed in Meucci's caveat had been "lost."
Later investigation produced evidence of illegal
relationships linking certain employees of the Patent
Office and officials of Bell's company. And later, in the
course of litigation between Bell and Western Union, it
was revealed that Bell had agreed to pay Western
Union 20 percent of profits from commercialization of
his "invention" for a period of 17 years.

Criticism
There is still a lot of controversy and intrigue
surrounding the invention of the telephone. There
have been court cases, books, and articles generated
about the subject. Of course, Alexander Graham Bell
is the father of the telephone. Since it was his design
that was first patented, however, he was not the first
inventor to come up with the idea of a telephone.
There has been much debate over whether Bell or
Meucci should be credited for the invention of the
telephone. Finally, On June 11, 2002 the U.S.
Congress recognized Meucci as the real inventor.
Some say that Bell should be the inventor, while
other still believe that Meucci should be given credit.

Meuccis Caveat
Antonio

Meucci, began developing the

design of a talking telegraph or
telephone in 1849. In 1871, he filed a
caveat (an announcement of an
invention) for his design of a talking
telegraph. Due to hardships, Meucci
could not renew his caveat. It was then
that Alexander Bell filled for the
invention of the telephone and got it.

Importance
Meuccis

invention of the practical

telephone sparked a new era of modern
communication.
The telephone was and still is the basics
of modern world communication.
Without the invention of the telephone,
businesses and social activities would
not be the same.

So finally almost 150 years later, after a

hard struggle fighting for his invention,
which was taken away from him by
Alexander Graham Bell, Antonio Meucci is
given credit for the invention of the
telephone on June 11 2002.

The End