Industrial Revolution (1800’s-1940’s)
48 The Invention of the Telephone
Corinne Castelli
Introduction
The Industrial Revolution was an extremely important time in history to note when discussing the improvement of communication. In the early 1800’s, America was becoming familiar with the telegraph, which was an invention dedicated to improving communication. It was the first time somewhat-instant communication over long distances could occur; before this, the printing press was the largest invention used for communication and written communication was the main way individuals could keep in touch without traveling long distances to physically visit one another. However, the telegraph’s technology was not exactly instantaneous, as it would take a few minutes to send a message over a large distance. During the time of the invention of the telegraph, the innovation behind the telephone was already taking place (“History of the Telephone”, 2024).
Connection to STS
The invention of the telephone is a clear example of technology created through scientific observations interacting with society. Men not trusting the telephone initially is an example of society being skeptical of technological innovations, and women not being able to interact with the technology based on what their husband thought of the device makes them a missing voice in society at the time. Inventions like the telephone throughout time have been made from scientific observations in an effort to better society, and how society interacts with the invention and what society uses the invention for allows the invention to evolve over time, which is exactly what the telephone has done from its invention to today.
Who invented the telephone?
As mentioned earlier, innovation of the telephone was already taking place as America was becoming familiar with the telegraph in the early 1800’s. Antonio Meucci is credited with making the first basic phone in 1849, which was during the time of the telegraph’s invention. However, the main person credited for the telephone’s invention is Alexander Graham Bell. He started research in 1874 and was granted the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876 (Anderson, 2005). This invention was the first time instant communication was able to occur over long distances. By 1880, almost 50,000 telephones were in use (Anderson, 2005).
Who could use the telephone?
Initially, the telephone was mainly used to link small groups of households and businesses together (Martin, 1991). This thus is exclusive to those that were wealthy enough to get their homes wired up, which made it an unfair advantage for those less fortunate and were unable to afford to install the wires for the telephone in their homes.
Businesses that needed telephones could have them installed, so men were able to use the telephone in their offices. However, for any individual (mostly women) who didn’t have telephones installed in their homes, they could walk to the general store to make and receive p