We all know that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone but there is a small twist in the story.
In 1870, two inventors - Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray both developed the device that could transmit voice electronically. Both of them finished their design within an hour and rushed to the patent office to register their device so they can be verified as an original inventor. Fortunate for Bell and unfortunate for Gray, Bell got to the office first and registered it. Although, Gray claimed the idea later on and tried to prove it is his idea for quite a sometime, Bell remained as original inventor.
By 1876 Bell had devised a method to talk via electricity, which he marketed as the telephone. His invention was much more successful than attempts by other people to create something similar, and he ultimately wound up victorious as the true inventor of the telephone. This was partly due to his previous experience with the telegraph, which was a wire-based electrical system much like the telephone. Bell’s prototype ‘harmonic telegraph’ showed that sounds of different pitch could be sent across a telegraph, providing the basis for his work on the telephone. He uttered the first words by telephone on 10 March 1876 to his assistant Thomas A Watson: “Mr Watson, come here, I want you.”