Millennium Icons

Millennium Icon: Telephone

Ding-a-ling-a-ling! Can we talk? Yes, we can, and it's all because Alexander Graham Bell figured out how to transmit speech electrically over long distances.

1790s
Low-Tech 'Telegraph' Towers
French engineer Claude Chappe develops a visual system of long-distance communication in Paris and other European cities. He creates a crossbar with two jointed arms and installs them on top of tall buildings or platforms spaced miles apart. A human operator changes the position of the crossbar and arms to spell out messages, which could be relayed one after the other to "telegraph" towers in the system. Eventually, there were 500 "telegraph" towers across Europe. This becomes the fastest way to send messages long distance.

1837
Electric Telegraph Patents
British physicists Charles Wheatstone and William Cooke patent an electric needle telegraph. The receiver has needles that point to letters written on a dial to spell out messages. The five-needle system requires many wires to connect it to the other end of the circuit. A two-needle system is difficult to use. American inventor and painter Samuel Morse applies for a patent for an electric telegraph, but he doesn't get one until 1840.

1844
Electric Telegraph Is Born
With funding from the U.S. government, Morse, his collaborator Alfred Vail and other partners hire workers to hoist 40 miles of thin, insulated copper wire on tall wooden poles from Washington to Baltimore. On May 22, Morse taps out a message with a series of dots, dashes and spaces based on the Morse code -- and it is successfully read by the recipient in Baltimore.

Pop Quiz!
Question: What message did Samuel Morse tap out on the first long-distance test of the telegraph?
Answer: "What hath God wrought!"

In 1843, the U.S. Senate prepared to vote on an appropriation bill for the telegraph. Morse was sitting in the U.S. Capitol, ready to throw in the towel after many years of rejection and lack of funding. He was expecting the worst, when Annie Ellsworth, the daughter of the U.S. patent commissioner, approached him and congratulated him on passage of the bill.

An elated Morse promised Ellsworth that she could write the first telegraph message to be sent from Washington to Baltimore on May 24, 1844. Morse's collaborator Alfred Vail received the message, "What hath God wrought," over the wire in Baltimore and sent a return message to Morse in Washington.

It was Vail who in 1838 transmitted the other messages ("A patient waiter is no loser" and "Attention the Universe. By Kingdom's Right Wheel") in separate telegraph tests.

1845
Commercialization
Morse founds Magnetic Telegraph Co., which builds a commercial telegraph line from New York to Philadelphia, the first of many networks in the eastern United States.

1861
Growing Network
Hiram Sibley founds Western Union Telegraph Co., the most successful telegraph company, and completes the first transcontinental telegraph line. Six years later, the first trans-Atlantic telegraph line links the United States to Europe. For 30 more years, the telegraph remains the fastest form of communication. Thousands of miles of telegraph lines are strung from coast to coast. It renders the Pony Express obsolete.

Newspaper staffs use the telegraph to send stories, revolutionizing the way news is communicated. Even today, when journalists read stories fed by news services, they say the copy is coming over "the wire."

1876
Telephone Is Born!
Alexander Graham Bell, a Scottish-born inventor and educator who immigrated to the United States, is issued a patent for the telephone on March 7. Three days later, while tinkering with a voice transmitter in his Boston home, Bell accidentally spills battery acid on his pants and hollers out, "Mr. Watson. come here! I want you!" Thomas A. Watson, Bell's collaborator, comes running in from another room with excitement, not about the spilled acid, but because he heard Bell's voice clearly on the receiving end of the voice transmitter.

Bell is 29 when he invents the telephone. Later this year, he conducts a one-way, long-distance call between Brantford and Paris, cities in Ontario, Canada. He and Watson conduct a two-way, long-distance conversation between Boston and Cambridge, Mass.

Pop Quiz!
Question: The origin of the word "telephone" is ...
Answer: Greek

The word telephone originally comes from two Greek words: "tele," meaning far, and "phone" meaning sound. It may have been a word the Greeks used to describe shouts from one Athenian hilltop to another. The Germans later used the word telephon to mean megaphones, which were created in 1796.

1877
The Big Bell Bell
Telephone Co. is formed by Bell, Watson, Bell's father-in-law Gardiner G. Hubbard and Thomas Sanders, the father of one of Bell's students. There were more than 600 lawsuits in ensuing years filed by people claiming to have invented the telephone, but the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Bell's patents. Bell Telephone becomes National Bell Telephone.

The first telephone switchboard begins operation.

1878
'Hello, Central!'
Telephone switchboard operators are hired. The operator drags a wire across the floor and plugs one telephone subscriber into another on the switchboard. At first, men are hired as operators, but subscribers don't like their telephone manners.
• The first switchboard operator is George Willard Coy of New Haven, Conn. He answers the phone, saying "Hello, Central!" indicating he was speaking from the central exchange.
• The first telephone directory is published by New Haven (Conn.) District Telephone Co. It lists 50 names.
• The first female telephone operator is Emma M. Nutt, who works for Telephone Despatch Co. in Boston.
• The first telephone in the White House is installed during 19th President Rutherford B. Hayes' administration (1877-1881).

1880
Nationalization
American Bell Telephone Co. is formed. The next year, the first international telephone conversation takes place between Calais, Maine, and St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada.

1882
'Crank' Call
A wall phone uses a hand-held receiver and a crank to signal the operator. The following year, the first fully enclosed telephone booth is patented. In 1889, the coin-operated telephone is invented.

1895
Wireless Telegraphy
Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi sends the first telegraph signals through the air -- without the use of electric wires. Six years later, he transmits the first trans-Atlantic wireless communication. The system is used as a method of sending Morse-code messages from moving ships or trains.

He gets a Nobel Prize in 1909 for his invention.

1899
Hello AT&T
American Telephone and Telegraph Co. is created to operate long-distance lines; it takes over American Bell Telephone Co.

1919
Dial Telephone
The first significant dial telephone is available. It requires complex switching equipment.

1922
A Moment of Silence Please
Alexander Graham Bell dies of diabetes on Aug. 1. In his honor, telephone service in the United States is halted for 60 seconds when he is buried on Aug. 4 at 6:25 p.m.

Pop Quiz!
Question: In addition to inventing the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell ...
Answer:
... helped found the National Geographic
... was a teacher of the deaf
... was a talented pianist and musician

Bell was always interested in sound. He worked with his famous father, Alexander Melville Bell, who invited a phonetic alphabet called Visual Speech as a way to teach deaf people how to speak. Young Bell's wife, Mabel, was deaf, and so was his mother.

Although he invented the telephone, he did not take an active part in the telephone business. He refused to have a telephone in his study; apparently, he didn't care for a phone that kept ringing off the hook.

Other accomplishments:
• Was a Boston University professor
• Perfected an electric probe used in surgery several years before the X-ray was discovered
• Developed a method of locating icebergs by detecting echoes from them
• Experimented with kites that could lift a person into the air
• Founded Science magazine

1927
Across the Atlantic
First trans-Atlantic telephone service takes place between New York and London. The next year, the desk telephone combines receiver and transmitter in a handset unit.

1947
Revolutionizing the Telephone
Bell Laboratories invents the transistor, which revolutionizes the communications industry. It allows sophisticated electronic circuits to be made smaller and more portable. Later, in 1956, three Bell Labs scientists share the Nobel Prize for Physics for the transistor's invention: John Bardeen, Walter H. Brattain and William Shockley.

1950s
Kids Do the Strangest Things
Telephone booths are outfitted with accordion glass doors. A nutty fad starts: College kids try cramming themselves into telephone booths just to see how many of them will fit.

1951
Self-Service
First coast-to-coast dial telephone service takes place without the need for operator assistance.

1956
Underseas Cables
Underseas telephone cables between the United States and Europe begin operation. The following year, a cable connects mainland United States with Hawaii. In two years, a speakerphone set goes on sale. A business phone with 30 push buttons goes into circulation.

1960
Satellite Communications
United States starts launching communications satellites. The first one is Echo, a balloon that reflects radio signals from one ground station to another. The telegraph becomes obsolete.

1962
Hello Moscow?
A hot line is installed between the White House and the Kremlin in Moscow.

1964
Reach Out and Touch Someone
Completion of an underseas cable launches telephone service between the United States and Japan. Newest phones feature "Touch-Tone" service -- push buttons instead of a dial.

1965
The Big Bird
First commercial communications satellite, Early Bird, is launched. It enables 240 two-way telephone circuits between Europe and the United States. Trimline telephones employ a space-saving dial or push buttons on the handset.

1967
Toll-Free Calls
AT&T introduces the 800 phone prefix to relieve the burden of operators handling collect calls to businesses. Toll-free service soars in the next 28 years.

1969
One Ringie-Dingie
Comedian Lily Tomlin introduces her character, Ernestine, on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In." Ernestine is a zany, nasal-voiced, power-loving, sarcastic and sadistic telephone switchboard operator. She starts her phone call with this inane query to her customers: "Is this the party to whom I am speaking?"

1970
Going the Distance
International Direct Distance Dialing begins operating between New York and London. This allows people to dial overseas without an operator's assistance. Soon, many cities around the world are added.

1974
AT&T's Antitrust Lawsuit
Federal government files an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T, claiming the phone company has blocked competition in long-distance service. On Dec. 10, 1981, Rep. Tim Wirth, D-Colo., introduces legislation to severely regulate AT&T. Six days later, AT&T directors authorize Chairman Charles Brown to negotiate the breakup of the Bell system.

The suit is finally settled in 1982 when AT&T agrees to divest itself of the Bell operating companies that provided local phone service. By 1984, the old Bell system is dead. In its place are long-distance provider AT&T and seven regional "Baby Bell" phone companies.

1976
Leave a Message
After the Tone Robin Elkins of Hollywood, Fla., patents voice mail.

1977
Fiber Optics
The first fiber optics communications system goes into service in Chicago. It improves long-distance telephone transmission and reception by using a laser to send signals through glass strands called optical fibers.

1980s
Is This Progress or What?
The fax machine becomes a standard -- finally; it was invented in 1843. Cordless phones with limited frequency range are introduced. The following year, caller ID is patented by Bell Telephone Laboratories.

Cellular mobile telephones debut. By the end of the century, cell phones become ubiquitous. People can't seem to live without them, even in the theater. In 1999, actor Lawrence Fishburne yells at a cell phone owner who receives a call during a performance on Broadway of "The Lion in Winter." The audience applauds Fishburne's denunciation.

1995
Toll-Free Shortages
It takes 28 years to use up 7.9 million 800 numbers, two years for 888 to run out. And it's expected to take even less time for the 877 numbers to dwindle. 866 is the next toll-free code scheduled to begin at the end of 1999.

As wireless phones, pagers, businesses, fax machines, modems and families wanting second phone lines grab numbers at an ever-increasing rate, older dialing codes, such as 800, become coveted resources. Phone companies stockpile the dwindling supply of unused 800 number combinations.

Pop Quiz!
Question: Which venerable city went bonkers when it became clear in the late 1990s that the 212 area code was running out of telelphone numbers?
Answer: New York

New York's Manhattan has used 212 since area codes were first assigned in 1947. These very digits indicated its creator understood New York's position at the center of the universe. No allowable combination is faster to rotary dial than 212. Ever since, 212 has been universally recognized, so New Yorkers say. And that is why Manhattanites wailed when they discovered that newly assigned telephone numbers would use a different area code.

New York is not the only crowded city to get multiple area codes. Many others have followed suit. Los Angeles, which started with 213, has at least four area codes. In some places, residents with multiple lines even have different area codes in the same house!

1999
Internet Telephones
Emerging technology: Calls are routed over the public Internet and private networks that use Internet prototcol. Internet telephones are cheaper because the companies that provide them are largely unregulated, and callers can avoid access fees originarily paid to telephone companies that own circuit-switched networks.

AT&T says it will quit laying new switches to extend its circuit-switched network -- the long-distance network it has been building for more than a century. Instead, it will concentrate on developing Internet protocol technology.

Future of the Telephone
For more than 100 years, you've been happy with a phone that merely let you talk to someone else. Not so in the future. You'll have phones that send and receive faxes, hook you up to the Internet and serve as electronic calculators, address books and notepads.

Compact size: Look for wireless phones to get even more popular, especially as they grow smaller and lighter. A new series of wireless models from Motorola are about the size of a makeup compact and weigh as little as 2.7 ounces.

A new vision: Some visionaries suggest that you forget phones as you know them today. Picture a credit card-like device that you swipe through a slot when you walk through a room. That tells the network where you are. You talk and listen through a microphone and speaker installed in your office.

Voice command: You might be talking to your phone as much as talking into it. One system, developed by Wildfire Communications, lets you place calls by speaking the number or saying "Home" or "Work." The voice-mail system captures callers' names and phone numbers and you return calls by simply saying: "Give them a call." To help track you down, the system forwards calls -- to your house phone, your car phone, your cell phone -- until it gets an answer. If a new call comes in while you're listening to a message, the system announces the caller's name. Then you can accept or decline the call. If you don't want to chat, the system takes a message for you.

Internet phone: Phone calls via the Internet are gaining in popularity. With special software, you can talk to anyone worldwide who also has the software. Your cost is the Internet connection fee and the software. Throw in a digital camera and you can look at each other on your computer screens while chatting.

• New wireless: Dreaming of the future, Nokia created mockups of three phones that may -- or may not -- be a millennium reality.
• Videophone that is built directly into a wireless model.
• A phone that would take, send or store pictures.
• A phone that would offer Web services accessible by touching the screen.

Related Links
Editor's note: These links will take you to Web sites with content we do not control or endorse.

History of the Telephone
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/amex/technology/telephone/index.html
What we did without the phone and how it changed society, from PBS

Meet Alexander Graham Bell
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/bellhtml/bellhome.html
Bell's important papers preserved, from Library of Congress

How Do Telephones Work?
http://www.howstuffworks.com/telephone.htm
Anatomy of a telephone network, from How Stuff Works

Antique Telephone Collectors
http://www.cybercomm.net/~chuck/phones.html
A site devoted to antique phones, from Chuck Eby

Sources
World Book; "Once Upon a Telephone: An Illustrated Social History," by Ellen Stern and Emily Gwathmey; "Communications: Sending the Message," by Thomas Streissguth; Famous First Facts; The New Illustrated Science and Invention Encyclopedia; "Telecommunications: From Telegraphs to Modems," by Christopher Lampton; Chicago Tribune/KRT; The Seattle Times/KRT; Sun-Sentinel South Florida/KRT; The Dallas Morning News/KRT

Credits
Producer: Lily Chin/KRT
Designer: Ron Coddington/KRT
Photography: Library of Congress, National Archives, NASA

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