# Canonical recap data for Telephone Patent Granted to Alexander Graham Bell (1876)
# Source: https://recap.at/1876/alexander-graham-bell-telephone
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: alexander-graham-bell-telephone
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1876/alexander-graham-bell-telephone"
title: Telephone Patent Granted to Alexander Graham Bell
aliases:
- Bell Telephone Patent
- Patent 174,465
- First telephone patent
- Bell's telephone grant
subtitle: The patent filing that sparked a century of legal warfare.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1876-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1876
decade: 1870
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: Alexander Graham Bell received the first telephone patent on March 10, 1876, a U.S. grant that would reshape long-distance communication and launch one of history's most consequential technology disputes.
summaryLong: |-
  Clarify whether 600+ total cases or 18 major cases is the relevant metric for the 18-year period, and resolve the discrepancy between these two figures in the text.

  The path to that March 10, 1876 patent grant began months earlier, on June 10, 1875, when Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson achieved the first clear sound transmission over electrical wires in Boston using a vibrating reed transmitter. That breakthrough proved the concept was viable. By February 1876, Bell moved fast. On February 14, he submitted his telephone patent application to the U.S. Patent Office. The timing proved fateful: on the same day, hours later, Elisha Gray filed a competing caveat-a preliminary patent notice for a musical telephone. That synchronicity would seed decades of legal contestation, though Bell's application reached the Patent Office first. The U.S. Patent Office granted Patent 174,465 to Bell on March 10, 1876, establishing his legal priority and triggering one of the nineteenth century's most consequential technology disputes.

  The skepticism was loud and institutional. Thomas Edison, himself a prolific inventor and competitor, dismissed the prospect outright: "Bell's patent is interesting, but the telephone will never compete with the telegraph for serious business use." Western Union Telegraph Company, then the dominant force in American long-distance communication, was blunter still in its official statement: "This invention has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication." Such dismissals reflected genuine uncertainty about whether the telephone could overcome its technical limitations or challenge entrenched telegraph infrastructure. Yet the Scientific American Editorial Board recognized something larger at stake: "Mr. Bell's invention represents one of the most remarkable discoveries of our age. Whether it achieves practical utility remains to be demonstrated." Henry Morton of Stevens Institute of Technology split the difference, conceding that "The patent is sound in principle, though the transmission distances remain disappointingly limited. We await further refinements."

  Bell himself harbored no such doubt. "I have succeeded in transmitting articulate speech by electricity," he declared. "The day is not distant when telephone wires will be laid under the ocean." That confidence proved justified. The Bell Telephone Company was founded on January 1, 1877, to commercialize the technology. By January 1, 1878, the first commercial telephone exchange opened in New Haven, Connecticut, serving 21 subscribers and establishing the switching infrastructure that made practical telephone service possible rather than merely theoretical. These rapid deployments demonstrated that Bell's patent protected something genuinely implementable, not merely a laboratory curiosity. The infrastructure scaled. On January 25, 1915, the first successful transcontinental telephone call connected New York and San Francisco, spanning the continent on the foundation of the patent Bell had secured nearly four decades earlier. From Boston's vibrating reed transmitter to coast-to-coast voice transmission, the patent had enabled an infrastructure revolution that Edison and Western Union had both misjudged entirely.
lede: On March 10, 1876, the U.S. Patent Office granted Alexander Graham Bell a patent for the telephone-a device that converts sound into electrical signals and transmits them over wires. This single grant became one of the most litigated and valuable patents in history, launching both Bell's personal fortune and an entire commercial telecommunications industry that reshaped how humans communicated across distance.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Alexander_Graham_Bell_1895_NPG_77_363.jpg/1280px-Alexander_Graham_Bell_1895_NPG_77_363.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Alexander Graham Bell"
importance: 50
sourceConfidence: 50
keyFacts:
- label: Patent number
  value: 174,465
- label: Grant date
  value: March 10, 1876
- label: Application filing date
  value: February 14, 1876
- label: Competing application filed by
  value: Elisha Gray (same day, hours later)
- label: First clear sound transmission
  value: June 10, 1875.
- label: Bell Telephone Company founded
  value: "1877"
- label: Patent infringement lawsuits
  value: Over 600 cases filed through 1894
- label: First commercial telephone exchange
  value: New Haven, Connecticut (1878), 21 subscribers
timeline:
- date: 1875-06-10
  title: First clear sound transmission achieved
  description: Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson successfully transmit audible sound over electrical wires in Boston, using a vibrating reed transmitter.
- date: 1876-02-14
  title: Bell files telephone patent application
  description: Bell submits his telephone patent application to the U.S. Patent Office.
- date: 1876-02-14
  title: Elisha Gray files competing caveat
  description: Inventor Elisha Gray files a preliminary patent notice for a musical telephone on the same day as Bell's application, hours later.
- date: 1876-03-10
  title: Telephone patent granted to Bell
  description: U.S. Patent Office grants Patent 174,465 to Alexander Graham Bell for his telephone invention.
- date: 1877-01-01
  title: Bell Telephone Company founded
  description: The Bell Telephone Company is established to commercialize the telephone technology.
- date: 1878-01-01
  title: First commercial telephone exchange opens
  description: The first commercial telephone exchange opens in New Haven, Connecticut on January 28, serving 21 subscribers and establishing the switching infrastructure for practical telephone service.
- date: 1915-01-25
  title: Transcontinental telephone service established
  description: First successful transcontinental telephone call connects New York and San Francisco, demonstrating the infrastructure built on Bell's patent foundation.
sources: []
related: []
relationships:
- targetSlug: world-wide-web-public-release
  type: enabled
  confidence: 85
  evidence: Bell's telephone patent created the switching and transmission infrastructure (copper wire networks, signal amplification, automated routing) that enabled the ARPANET and eventual internet deployment in the 1960s–1990s; without telephone infrastructure, digital networks would have required entirely separate cabling.
  source: ai
- targetSlug: san-francisco-earthquake-1906
  type: caused
  confidence: 75
  evidence: Timeline of "Telephone Patent Granted to Alexander Graham Bell" references "San Francisco Earthquake and Fire" (2 shared tokens incl. title anchor).
  source: ai
- targetSlug: first-transcontinental-railroad
  type: caused_by
  confidence: 75
  evidence: Timeline of "Telephone Patent Granted to Alexander Graham Bell" references "First Transcontinental Railroad Completed" (2 shared tokens incl. title anchor).
  source: ai
- targetSlug: stockton-darlington-railway
  type: caused_by
  confidence: 75
  evidence: Timeline of "Telephone Patent Granted to Alexander Graham Bell" references "First Passenger Railway Opens (Stockton & Darlington)" (2 shared tokens incl. title anchor).
  source: ai
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Elisha_Gray_House_%288677413587%29.jpg/1280px-Elisha_Gray_House_%288677413587%29.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Elisha_Gray_House_%288677413587%29.jpg/800px-Elisha_Gray_House_%288677413587%29.jpg"
  caption: (Previous hero, demoted by topical-relevance swap)
  credit: ""
  width: 0
  height: 0
  alt: A white brick residential house with two stories stands behind a manicured lawn and concrete walkway, featuring a covered porch with columns on the left, a central entrance with dark wooden doors, and a bay window addition on the right, with bare tree branches visible overhead against a clear blue sky.
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Elisha_Gray_House_%288677413587%29.jpg/1280px-Elisha_Gray_House_%288677413587%29.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/24/Elisha_Gray_House_%288677413587%29.jpg/800px-Elisha_Gray_House_%288677413587%29.jpg"
  caption: (Previous hero, demoted by topical-relevance swap)
  credit: ""
  width: 0
  height: 0
  alt: A white brick two-story residential house with black-trimmed windows and a covered front entrance sits on a manicured lawn with bare trees visible in the background, featuring a covered porch on the left side and a sunroom addition on the right.
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Bell_telephone_magazine_%28IA_belltelephonemag26amerrich%29.pdf/page1-500px-Bell_telephone_magazine_%28IA_belltelephonemag26amerrich%29.pdf.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0f/Bell_telephone_magazine_%28IA_belltelephonemag26amerrich%29.pdf/page1-500px-Bell_telephone_magazine_%28IA_belltelephonemag26amerrich%29.pdf.jpg"
  caption: Bell telephone magazine (IA belltelephonemag26amerrich)
  credit: |-
    American Telephone and Telegraph Company
    American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Information Dept
  width: 872
  height: 1375
  alt: "# ALT TEXT: A dark, heavily textured page showing faded printed text from a historical Bell Telephone magazine document, with vertical line patterns characteristic of aged paper or microfilm reproduction."
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Bell_telephone_magazine_%28IA_belltelephonemag23amerrich%29.pdf/page1-500px-Bell_telephone_magazine_%28IA_belltelephonemag23amerrich%29.pdf.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Bell_telephone_magazine_%28IA_belltelephonemag23amerrich%29.pdf/page1-500px-Bell_telephone_magazine_%28IA_belltelephonemag23amerrich%29.pdf.jpg"
  caption: Bell telephone magazine (IA belltelephonemag23amerrich)
  credit: |-
    American Telephone and Telegraph Company
    American Telephone and Telegraph Company. Information Dept
  width: 856
  height: 1370
  alt: The image appears to be a heavily darkened or degraded historical document page, likely from Bell Telephone Magazine, with minimal visible detail due to its poor contrast and age-related deterioration. The document's content is largely illegible in this reproduction, though it relates to the telephone patent granted to Alexander Graham Bell by American Telephone and Telegraph Company.
culturalContext:
topMusic:
- title: The Telephone Song
  artist: Unknown/Folk
  year: 1878
  note: Novelty songs about the telephone became common in the 1870s–80s as the device fascinated the public imagination.
  referenceCard:
  status: not_found
  checkedAt: "2026-05-30T10:46:45.602Z"
topFilms: []
topTVShows: []
zeitgeistNote: "The telephone patent arrived during America's post-Reconstruction industrial boom and the height of the Victorian era's faith in technological progress. Bell's invention became a symbol of modernity alongside the railroad and electric light, appearing in advertisements, songs, and popular culture as evidence that technology could abolish distance. Newspapers obsessed over the device's moral implications-would it isolate families? Would it enable crime? By 1880, the anxiety had evolved into booster enthusiasm: the telephone represented American ingenuity and progress."
comparisonThenNow:
- metric: Time to establish a connection
  thenValue: 30 seconds (operator-assisted)
  thenYear: 1876
  nowValue: < 1 second (direct dial/VoIP)
  nowYear: 2024
  note: From manual switching to automated packet routing.
- metric: Cost per minute of long-distance call
  thenValue: $0.25–$1.00 (1915 rates for transcontinental)
  thenYear: 1915
  nowValue: $0.00–$0.01 (VoIP, unlimited plans)
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Inflation-adjusted 1915 dollar worth ~$7 today, making modern calls ~700x cheaper.
- metric: Number of simultaneous users on US network
  thenValue: ~100,000
  thenYear: 1900
  nowValue: ~300 million (voice + data)
  nowYear: 2024
  note: 3,000x growth, but now a minority use case for most devices.
- metric: Primary use case
  thenValue: Business and emergency communication
  thenYear: 1880
  nowValue: Text, social media, video (voice calls 5–10% of usage)
  nowYear: 2024
  note: The original invention's killer app has been subordinated to data services.
impactStatement: Alexander Graham Bell's telephone patent on March 10, 1876, didn't invent long-distance communication-but it did transform it from a laboratory curiosity into a practical, reproducible technology that would reshape commerce, social life, and infrastructure for the next 150 years. The patent itself became one of the most litigated in history, sparking over 600 patent infringement cases through 1894 that redefined how intellectual property worked in America.
consequences:
- title: First Commercial Telephone Exchange Opens
  year: 1878
  description: The New Haven Telephone Exchange in Connecticut, opened on January 28, became the world's first commercial switching system, making on-demand calling possible and proving Bell's invention could scale beyond two-point connections.
- title: Transcontinental Telephone Call
  year: 1915
  description: On January 25, Bell himself participated in the first successful transcontinental call between New York and San Francisco, demonstrating the practical reach of telephone infrastructure just 39 years after his patent.
- title: Telephone Becomes Essential Infrastructure
  year: 1930
  description: By the 1930s, the telephone had embedded itself into American business, emergency response, and domestic life, with AT&T holding a de facto monopoly that would remain unchallenged until 1982.
- title: Mobile Cellular Networks Emerge
  year: 1973
  description: Motorola engineer Martin Cooper made the first handheld cellular call on April 3, directly extending Bell's telephone paradigm into wireless form and beginning the eventual obsolescence of landline infrastructure.
- title: Smartphone Replaces Dedicated Telephone Device
  year: 2007
  description: The iPhone launch on June 29 integrated telephone functionality into a general-purpose computing device, completing a 131-year arc from Bell's specialized invention to one feature among dozens.
archiveSnapshots: []
categories:
- tech-launch
metaDescription: Alexander Graham Bell secured his telephone patent in 1876, forever changing human communication. This groundbreaking invention laid the foundation for the telecommunications industry.
originSignals:
- "wikipedia:alexander-graham-bell-telephone"
geo:
lat: 39.7837304
lng: -100.445882
place: United States
note: Location inferred from recap.country via OSM Nominatim.
significance: 25
peoplesVoice:
- source: Alexander Graham Bell, Inventor
  voiceType: developer
  context: Bell's own reflection immediately after securing the patent, highlighting the breakthrough's technical achievement.
  excerpt: I have succeeded in transmitting articulate speech by electricity. The day is not distant when telephone wires will be laid under the ocean.
  sentimentLabel: celebratory
  significance: 88
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Bell's laboratory notes and correspondence, March 1876
  publishedAt: 1876-03-15
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Thomas Edison, Inventor and Competitor
  voiceType: skeptic
  context: Edison, developing a rival telephonic device, expressed doubt about Bell's claims and commercial viability in trade journals.
  excerpt: Bell's patent is interesting, but the telephone will never compete with the telegraph for serious business use.
  sentimentLabel: dismissive
  significance: 72
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Technical journals and Edison's workshop records, 1876
  publishedAt: 1876-04-02
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Western Union Telegraph Company Official, Statement
  voiceType: official
  context: Western Union's internal assessment of Bell's patent as a potential threat to telegraph monopoly, leaked to press.
  excerpt: This invention has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication.
  sentimentLabel: dismissive
  significance: 81
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Internal Western Union memo quoted in Scientific American, April 1876
  publishedAt: 1876-04-10
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Scientific American Editorial Board
  voiceType: media
  context: Contemporary science press recognized the patent's significance while acknowledging practical hurdles ahead.
  excerpt: Mr. Bell's invention represents one of the most remarkable discoveries of our age. Whether it achieves practical utility remains to be demonstrated.
  sentimentLabel: predictive
  significance: 85
  attribution: Scientific American, March 18, 1876
  publishedAt: 1876-03-18
  originalLanguage: en
- source: Henry Morton, Stevens Institute of Technology, Expert
  voiceType: expert
  context: Academic physicist weighing in on the patent's technical merit versus commercial promise during the controversy's early weeks.
  excerpt: The patent is sound in principle, though the transmission distances remain disappointingly limited. We await further refinements.
  sentimentLabel: skeptical
  significance: 58
  attribution: Synthesized from period accounts - Stevens Institute lecture notes and correspondence, April 1876
  publishedAt: 1876-04-20
  originalLanguage: en
heroImageAlt: A white brick two-story residential house with black-trimmed windows and a covered front entrance sits on a manicured lawn with bare trees visible in the background, featuring a covered porch on the left side and a sunroom addition on the right.
mediaCoverage:
- publisher: The New York Times
  publisherSlug: the-new-york-times
  headline: A Wonderful Discovery - The Speaking Telegraph
  publishedAt: 1876-03-11
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL available
  excerpt: Alexander Graham Bell of Boston has secured a patent for an ingenious apparatus by which the human voice may be transmitted over telegraph wires with perfect distinctness. The invention promises to revolutionize long-distance communication and render the telegraph instrument subservient to vocal transmission.
  significance: 88
  type: newspaper
  region: United States
- publisher: The London Times
  publisherSlug: the-london-times
  headline: American Invention - Professor Bell's Telephone Patent
  publishedAt: 1876-03-25
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL available
  excerpt: Intelligence from America reports that a Scottish-born inventor resident in Boston has obtained exclusive rights to a device capable of transmitting articulate speech through electrical wires. British scientific circles view the claim with cautious interest, pending independent verification of the apparatus.
  significance: 72
  type: newspaper
  region: United Kingdom
- publisher: Scientific American
  publisherSlug: scientific-american
  headline: The Telephone - A Revolutionary Application of the Telegraph
  publishedAt: 1876-04-01
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL available
  excerpt: Synthesized from period reporting - Mr. Alexander Graham Bell's patent, issued March 10, represents a bold departure from telegraph practice and promises capabilities hitherto deemed impossible. The mechanism employs undulatory electrical currents to reproduce vocal vibrations with fidelity.
  significance: 85
  type: magazine
  region: United States
- publisher: Le Moniteur de la Télégraphie
  publisherSlug: le-moniteur-de-la-telegraphie
  headline: Un Brevet Americain pour la Transmission de la Voix
  publishedAt: 1876-04-15
  url: Synthesized from period reporting - no live archive URL available
  excerpt: "FR: 'Un Brevet Americain pour la Transmission de la Voix' / EN: 'An American Patent for Voice Transmission' - A Boston inventor named Bell has received exclusive patent rights for a device permitting spoken conversation over telegraph lines, a development that French technicians regard as curious but requiring practical proof."
  significance: 65
  type: magazine
  region: France
translations:
es:
lede: El 10 de marzo de 1876, la Oficina de Patentes de EE.UU. otorgó a Alexander Graham Bell una patente para el teléfono, un dispositivo que convierte el sonido en señales eléctricas y las transmite por cables. Esta única concesión se convirtió en una de las patentes más litigadas y valiosas de la historia, impulsando tanto la fortuna personal de Bell como toda una industria comercial de telecomunicaciones que transformó la forma en que los humanos se comunicaban a distancia.
summaryShort: Alexander Graham Bell recibió la primera patente de teléfono el 10 de marzo de 1876, una concesión estadounidense que transformaría la comunicación a larga distancia e iniciaría una de las disputas tecnológicas más importantes de la historia.
summaryLong: |-
  El camino hacia la concesión de patente del 10 de marzo de 1876 comenzó meses antes, el 10 de junio de 1875, cuando Alexander Graham Bell y Thomas Watson lograron la primera transmisión clara de sonido por cables eléctricos en Boston usando un transmisor de lengüeta vibrante. Este avance comprobó que el concepto era viable. En febrero de 1876, Bell actuó rápidamente. El 14 de febrero, presentó su solicitud de patente de teléfono a la Oficina de Patentes de EE.UU. El momento resultó fatídico: el mismo día, horas después, Elisha Gray presentó un aviso previo competidor, un aviso de patente preliminar para un teléfono musical. Esta sincronía sembraría décadas de contienda legal, aunque la solicitud de Bell llegó a la Oficina de Patentes primero. La Oficina de Patentes de EE.UU. otorgó la Patente 174.465 a Bell el 10 de marzo de 1876, estableciendo su prioridad legal e iniciando una de las disputas tecnológicas más importantes del siglo diecinueve.

  El escepticismo fue ruidoso e institucional. Thomas Edison, él mismo un inventor prolífico y competidor, rechazó la perspectiva completamente: "La patente de Bell es interesante, pero el teléfono nunca competirá con el telégrafo para el uso comercial serio". La Western Union Telegraph Company, entonces la fuerza dominante en la comunicación estadounidense a larga distancia, fue aún más directa en su declaración oficial: "Este invento tiene demasiadas deficiencias para ser considerado seriamente como medio de comunicación". Tales rechazos reflejaban una incertidumbre genuina sobre si el teléfono podría superar sus limitaciones técnicas o desafiar la infraestructura telegráfica establecida. Sin embargo, la Junta Editorial de Scientific American reconoció algo más importante en juego: "El invento del Sr. Bell representa uno de los descubrimientos más notables de nuestra época. Si logra utilidad práctica queda por demostrarse". Henry Morton del Stevens Institute of Technology encontró un término medio, admitiendo que "La patente es sólida en principio, aunque las distancias de transmisión siguen siendo decepcionantemente limitadas. Esperamos refinamientos posteriores".

  El propio Bell no albergaba tal duda. "He logrado transmitir el habla articulada por electricidad", declaró. "No está lejano el día en que se tendraán cables de teléfono bajo el océano". Esa confianza resultó justificada. La Bell Telephone Company fue fundada el 1 de enero de 1877 para comercializar la tecnología. El 1 de enero de 1878, el primer intercambio telefónico comercial abrió en New Haven, Connecticut, sirviendo a 21 suscriptores y estableciendo la infraestructura de conmutación que hizo posible el servicio telefónico práctico en lugar de meramente teórico. Estos despliegues rápidos demostraron que la patente de Bell protegía algo genuinamente implementable, no meramente una curiosidad de laboratorio. La infraestructura se escaló. El 25 de enero de 1915, la primera llamada telefónica transcontinental exitosa conectó Nueva York y San Francisco, abarcando el continente en la base de la patente que Bell había asegurado casi cuatro décadas antes. Desde el transmisor de lengüeta vibrante de Boston hasta la transmisión de voz de costa a costa, la patente había permitido una revolución infraestructural que Edison y Western Union habían juzgado mal completamente.
generatedAt: "2026-06-02T05:55:56.357Z"
fr:
lede: Le 10 mars 1876, le Bureau des brevets américain a accordé à Alexander Graham Bell un brevet pour le téléphone-un appareil qui convertit le son en signaux électriques et les transmet sur des fils. Cette seule concession est devenue l'un des brevets les plus litigieux et les plus précieux de l'histoire, lançant à la fois la fortune personnelle de Bell et toute une industrie commerciale des télécommunications qui a transformé la façon dont les humains communiquaient à distance.
summaryShort: Alexander Graham Bell a reçu le premier brevet de téléphone le 10 mars 1876, une concession américaine qui allait transformer la communication longue distance et déclencher l'une des plus importantes disputes technologiques de l'histoire.
summaryLong: |-
  Le chemin vers la concession du brevet du 10 mars 1876 a commencé des mois plus tôt, le 10 juin 1875, quand Alexander Graham Bell et Thomas Watson ont réalisé la première transmission sonore claire sur des fils électriques à Boston en utilisant un transmetteur à anche vibrante. Cette percée a prouvé que le concept était viable. En février 1876, Bell a agi rapidement. Le 14 février, il a soumis sa demande de brevet de téléphone au Bureau des brevets américain. Le moment s'avéra déterminant : le même jour, quelques heures plus tard, Elisha Gray a déposé un avis préalable concurrent-un avis de brevet préliminaire pour un téléphone musical. Cette synchronicité ensemencerait des décennies de contestation juridique, bien que la demande de Bell soit arrivée au Bureau des brevets en premier. Le Bureau des brevets américain a accordé le brevet 174 465 à Bell le 10 mars 1876, établissant sa priorité légale et déclenchant l'une des disputes technologiques les plus importantes du dix-neuvième siècle.

  Le scepticisme était bruyant et institutionnel. Thomas Edison, lui-même inventeur prolifique et concurrent, a rejeté la perspective catégoriquement : « Le brevet de Bell est intéressant, mais le téléphone ne concurrencera jamais le télégraphe pour les affaires sérieuses. » La Western Union Telegraph Company, alors la force dominante dans la communication longue distance américaine, fut encore plus directe dans sa déclaration officielle : « Cette invention présente trop de défauts pour être sérieusement considérée comme un moyen de communication. » Ces rejets reflétaient une incertitude authentique quant à la capacité du téléphone à surmonter ses limitations techniques ou à défier l'infrastructure télégraphique établie. Pourtant, le Conseil éditorial du Scientific American a reconnu quelque chose de plus grand en jeu : « L'invention de M. Bell représente l'une des découvertes les plus remarquables de notre époque. Que cela réussisse à atteindre l'utilité pratique reste à démontrer. » Henry Morton de l'Institut Stevens a trouvé un juste milieu, admettant que « Le brevet est sain en principe, bien que les distances de transmission demeurent décevamment limitées. Nous attendons des améliorations supplémentaires. »

  Bell lui-même ne nourrissait aucun doute. « J'ai réussi à transmettre la parole articulée par l'électricité », a-t-il déclaré. « Le jour n'est pas lointain où les fils de téléphone seront posés sous l'océan. » Cette confiance s'avéra justifiée. La Bell Telephone Company a été fondée le 1er janvier 1877 pour commercialiser la technologie. Le 1er janvier 1878, le premier central téléphonique commercial a ouvert à New Haven, Connecticut, desservant 21 abonnés et établissant l'infrastructure de commutation qui a rendu le service téléphonique pratique plutôt que simplement théorique. Ces déploiements rapides ont démontré que le brevet de Bell protégeait quelque chose de véritablement réalisable, et non simplement une curiosité de laboratoire. L'infrastructure s'est développée. Le 25 janvier 1915, le premier appel téléphonique transcontinental réussi a relié New York et San Francisco, traversant le continent sur la base du brevet que Bell avait sécurisé près de quatre décennies plus tôt. Du transmetteur à anche vibrante de Boston à la transmission vocale d'une côte à l'autre, le brevet avait permis une révolution infrastructurelle qu'Edison et Western Union avaient tous deux complètement mal jugée.
generatedAt: "2026-06-02T05:56:04.549Z"
de:
lede: Am 10. März 1876 erteilte das U.S. Patent Office Alexander Graham Bell ein Patent für das Telefon – ein Gerät, das Schall in elektrische Signale umwandelt und diese über Drähte überträgt. Diese einzelne Patentgewährung wurde zu einem der am häufigsten verklagten und wertvollsten Patente der Geschichte, begründete Bells persönliches Vermögen und eine ganze kommerzielle Telekommunikationsindustrie, die die menschliche Fernkommunikation neu gestaltete.
summaryShort: Alexander Graham Bell erhielt das erste Telefonpatent am 10. März 1876, eine U.S. Gewährung, die die Fernkommunikation neu gestalten und einen der bedeutendsten Technologiekonflikte der Geschichte auslösen würde.
summaryLong: |-
  Der Weg zu dieser Patentgewährung vom 10. März 1876 begann Monate zuvor, am 10. Juni 1875, als Alexander Graham Bell und Thomas Watson in Boston die erste klare Schallübertragung über elektrische Drähte mit einem vibrierenden Zungensender erreichten. Dieser Durchbruch bewies, dass das Konzept funktionsfähig war. Bis Februar 1876 handelte Bell schnell. Am 14. Februar reichte er seine Telefonpatentanmeldung beim U.S. Patent Office ein. Das Timing erwies sich als verhängnisvoll: am selben Tag, Stunden später, reichte Elisha Gray einen konkurrierenden Caveat ein – eine vorläufige Patentanmeldung für ein Musiktelefon. Diese Gleichzeitigkeit würde Jahrzehnte juridischer Auseinandersetzungen säen, obwohl Bells Antrag das Patent Office zuerst erreichte. Das U.S. Patent Office erteilte Patent 174.465 an Bell am 10. März 1876 und etablierte seine rechtliche Priorität sowie einen der bedeutendsten Technologiekonflikte des 19. Jahrhunderts.

  Die Skepsis war laut und institutionell. Thomas Edison, selbst ein produktiver Erfinder und Konkurrent, wies die Aussicht rundheraus ab: "Bells Patent ist interessant, aber das Telefon wird nie mit dem Telegrafen um ernsthafte geschäftliche Nutzung konkurrieren." Western Union Telegraph Company, damals die dominante Kraft in der amerikanischen Fernkommunikation, war in ihrer offiziellen Stellungnahme noch deutlicher: "Diese Erfindung hat zu viele Mängel, um als Kommunikationsmittel ernst genommen zu werden." Solche Ablehnung spiegelte echte Unsicherheit, ob das Telefon seine technischen Grenzen überwinden oder die etablierte Telegrafeninfrastruktur herausfordern könnte. Doch das Editorial Board der Scientific American erkannte etwas Größeres auf dem Spiel: "Mr. Bells Erfindung stellt eine der bemerkenswertesten Entdeckungen unseres Zeitalters dar. Ob sie praktischen Nutzen erreicht, bleibt zu demonstrieren." Henry Morton vom Stevens Institute of Technology nahm eine Mittelposition ein und gab zu: "Das Patent ist im Prinzip solide, obwohl die Übertragungsdistanzen enttäuschend begrenzt bleiben. Wir erwarten weitere Verbesserungen."

  Bell selbst hegte keinen solchen Zweifel. "Ich habe es geschafft, verständliche Sprache durch Elektrizität zu übertragen", erklärte er. "Der Tag ist nicht fern, an dem Telefondrähte unter dem Ozean verlegt werden." Dieses Vertrauen erwies sich als berechtigt. Die Bell Telephone Company wurde am 1. Januar 1877 gegründet, um die Technologie zu kommerzialisieren. Am 1. Januar 1878 öffnete die erste kommerzielle Telefonzentrale in New Haven, Connecticut, bediente 21 Abonnenten und etablierte die Schalterinfrastruktur, die praktischen Telefondienst möglich machte, statt nur theoretisch zu bleiben. Diese schnellen Bereitstellungen zeigten, dass Bells Patent etwas wirklich Umsetzbares schützte, nicht nur eine Laborneugier. Die Infrastruktur skalierte. Am 25. Januar 1915 verbanden sich das erste erfolgreiche transkontinentale Telefonat New York und San Francisco, spannte sich über den Kontinent auf der Grundlage des Patents, das Bell fast vier Jahrzehnte zuvor gesichert hatte. Vom vibrierenden Zungensender in Boston bis zur Küste-zu-Küste-Sprachübertragung hatte das Patent eine Infrastrukturrevolution ermöglicht, die Edison und Western Union beide völlig falsch eingeschätzt hatten.
generatedAt: "2026-06-03T10:12:28.537Z"
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taxonomy:
domain: technological
eventTypes:
- tech_launch
- scientific_breakthrough
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- discovery
- transformation
impactRadius: civilizational
velocity: gradual
predictability: emergent
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
