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.

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