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The telephone played a major communications role in American history from the 1876 publication of its first patent by Alexander Graham Bell onward. In the 20th century the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) dominated the telecommunication market as the at times largest company in the world, until it was broken up in 1982 and replaced by a system of competitors.
April 1877: A telephone line connects the workshop of Charles Williams, Jr., located in Boston, to his house in Somerville, Massachusetts, at 109 Court Street in Boston, where Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson had previously experimented with their telephone. The telephones became No. 1 and 2 in the Bell Telephone Company. [8]
The early history of the telephone became and still remains a confusing morass of claims and counterclaims, which were not clarified by the huge number of lawsuits filed in order to resolve the patent claims of the many individuals and commercial competitors. The Bell and Edison patents, however, were commercially decisive, because they ...
By 1900, the telegraph had become an integral part of American life, linking people and businesses across the country and around the world. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. After 1920 it replaced the telegraph as the primary means of communication between cities.
Telephones - main lines in use: 141 million (2009) [3] Most of the American telephone system was formerly operated by a single monopoly, AT&T , which was divided in 1984 into a long-distance telephone company and seven regional " Baby Bells ".
During the 20th century, telephones powered from the telephone exchange over the same wires that carried the voice signals became common. Early telephones used a single wire for the subscriber's line, with ground return used to complete the circuit (as used in telegraphs ).
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1851: The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company, which later became Western Union, is organized in Rochester, New York. May 1851: Wilmington, North Carolina reached by line. [82] 22 September 1853: First line in San Francisco opens between Lobos Hill and Telegraph Hill, superseding a four year old optical line. [4]