The telephone
Speech itself is sent down a wire.
- When
- Known to
- ± 1 year
- Era
- Industrial, Holocene
Bell patents the telephone in 1876, hours ahead of Elisha Gray filing a caveat on a similar device — a coincidence that produced litigation for years. Unlike the telegraph it needs no operator or code, so anyone can use it, and within decades exchanges connect millions of homes and offices. It is the first communications technology to enter ordinary domestic life directly.