Distance Communication: The Telegraph and Telephone

Introduction: The Dream of Long-Distance Communication

When Scottish-born Alexander Graham Bell invented the first working telephone in 1876, he never could have envisioned the modern masses glued to their wireless devices. The wooden stand, funnel, copper wire, and acid used to form the first telephone could not be farther removed from the digital universe we live in now. What arose out of a general knowledge of acoustics and electricity became a revolution in technology and communications. The age-old human dream of long-distance communication became a reality with the invention of the telephone.

From Telegraph to Telephone: Early Innovations

What was once termed "talking by lightning" evolved out of many years of investigation into potential voice transmission devices. Samuel Morse's telegraph paved the way for future developments in telephony, but early phones served more as novelty items than practical devices. Nevertheless, during the late 1800s, a plethora of patents were issued for telephony devices. After Thomas Edison and Francis Blake invented more sophisticated electronic transmitters, the telephone moved to the forefront of new technologies.

Corporations quickly invested in the budding business. Western Union operated some of the first national switchboards. As the number of telephone subscribers grew, the National Bell Company was formed in 1879 under the guidance of William H. Forbes. In 1880, the American Bell Company was established, employing over 130,000 telephones. Theodore Vail created AT&T in 1885.

Corporate Growth and Regulatory Oversight

Roosevelt's New Deal plan to rescue America from the Great Depression gave birth to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 1934. An affirmation of the growing significance of the telephone, the FCC helped large businesses develop market strongholds while they promoted their communications devices. As technologies improved, so did the public's demand for the telephone. Direct dialing, microwave systems, transatlantic cables, and eventually digital carriers created a culture dependent on the phone.

By the end of the 1960s, consumer demand for telephony had escalated so dramatically that company service and maintenance could not keep up. The telephone had become an indispensable household item.

Conclusion: The Legacy and Future of the Telephone

In 1954, AT&T Chief of Engineering Dr. Harold Osborne predicted the future of telephone communications:

"Let us say in the ultimate, whenever a baby is born anywhere in the world, he is given at birth a number which will be his telephone number for life. As soon as he can talk, he is given a watch-like device with ten little buttons on one side and a screen on the other. Thus equipped, at any time when he wishes to talk with anyone in the world, he will pull out the device and punch on the keys the number of his friend. Then turning the device over, he will hear the voice of his friend and see his face on the screen, in color and in three dimensions. If he does not see and hear him, he will know that the friend is dead."

Osborne may not have been far off the mark. Perhaps the future will bring holographic phones that connect us with our loved ones across the miles. Perhaps we will even create devices capable of communicating across language barriers with a built-in translator. The earliest pioneers of the telephone could not have predicted its proliferation today, nor can we predict future developments.

One of the most — if not the most — dynamic developments in human communications is the telephone. Its invention changed the world, enabling people to transmit voice messages instantly over thousands of miles. We should never take for granted the convenience the telephone offers. Although the phone has ceased to be an object of curiosity, many callers are unaware of exactly how the device works. Were it not for early electrical engineers who painstakingly developed, over the course of many years, the inductors and transducers that made telephony possible, we would not today have fax machines, modems, or cellular phones.

Thanks to the ingenuity of American inventors and businessmen, the telephone's market demand skyrocketed during the first half of the twentieth century. What was once a device used mainly for business and emergency transmissions became a consumer item. By the 1950s, even welfare recipients demanded telephones as a fundamental human need. The gradual acceptance of the telephone into American and global society was inevitable — throughout human history we have sent smoke signals and used carrier pigeons to do what a tiny device does today. If the evolution of wireless communications does deliver a vision similar to Osborne's holographic watch, we should still thank the forefathers of the telephone for paving the road to improved human communications.