Who was the real inventor of the telephone? Graham Bell or Antonio Meucci?

Whereas Antonio Meucci, the great Italian inventor, had a career that was both extraordinary and tragic; (Engrossed as Agreed to or Passed by House)[H.RES.269.EH]

Part of the story....
Up to 1874 Meucci had only the money to renew his caveat while looking for funding for a true patent. After waiting two years without receiving an answer, Meucci went to Grant and asked him to give back his documents, but Grant answered he had lost them.

So I supposed that as I always said... The story is written by whom has the money to do it!

but Did you know it?

I'm afraid you've been given a little misinformation about this story, and especially about the resolution that passed Congress in 2002 .

The resolution appropriately honored the contributions of Antonio Meucci. But the resolution, and the evidence in general, does NOT support the claims by some that Meucci was the "REAL" inventor of the telephone, and certainly not the idea that Bell stole from him or that Bell was awarded the patent dishonestly because of anti-Italian prejudice or for financial reasons.


I hope the following overview helps::

First, note that there were clearly a number of people who were experimenting with things along roughly the same lines in the mid-19th century, building in part on the success of the telegraph. This is scarcely surprising or unusual in the history of inventions.

It is also clear that normal patent application procedures were followed, and that Bell, according to those procedures DID properly procure the patent for the telephone.

There is NO evidence of Bell STEALING his ideas from someone else --nothing in his history supports that suggestion, and he would have to have done unbelievably extensive doctoring of his documents over the course of many years to pull it off. (I do not believe anyone has attempted to demonstrate any such thing based on an examination of his documents --which ARE available.)

Some of the "Meucci, not Bell" claimants have been rather careless in their assertions, and this makes it much harder to credit their arguments. For instance, it is said that he had already come up with the invention long before Bell, but could not AFFORD the costs of patenting it. That would be sad (though legally it would change nothing), but it is difficult then to explain how --during the VERY period in question-- Meucci applied for and received many OTHER patents!

As for the suggestion of some that it's all because Meucci was Italian and Bell was not. Unfortunately, this seems to be based on emotional appeal more than that facts. Sadly, some who make it resort to innuendo and try to make it all into an issue of prejudice. That is irresponsible unless one has specific evidence of such prejudice related to the facts of THIS case.

I do not see that anyone has put forward any such evidence. (Unfortunately, on the other side, there are those who have rather quickly endorsed the strongest Meucci claims without, it seems, looking carefully at the evidence. They seem to believe it MUST be true on the basis of THEIR own ethnic pride and/or from anti-WASP sentiment... though it some cases it's just that people often find the very idea of a conspiracy appealing, and may believe them regardless of the actual evidence.)

Remember, giving the credit to Bell is NOT based on some sort of popularity contest, or who was most successful in their efforts to "spin" the history. It is based on the LEGAL records, most importantly, those involving the patent process. (More generally, we have had plenty of folks given patents and credit for inventions who were not "WASP"s.)

As for the 2002 Congressional resolution -- note that is does NOT give Meucci credit as "the true inventor of the telephone" as some have claimed, but credits his CONTRIBUTIONS.

___________________

Excellent overview of the question:
http://inventors.about.com/library/inven...

See for some further citations/sources:
http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/...

(Warning - don't take what you read about this on wikipedia at face value. Most contributors to the article on Meucci have been "Meucci not Bell" proponents, and often not careful to be balanced. In fact, the article has often been marked "in dispute".)

alexander graham bell is generally regarded as the inventor of the telephone

Bell made it to the patent office only 2 hours before the other guy.

In the lobby of the Telephone Co building in Boston, they tell the story.
Went there as a kid.

yes i did .... there'ss more info on this on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Meu...

it was originally antonio but unfortunately he couldnt so graham bell took up this invention n made telephone

Anything is possible. The founder of American was really the viking. I guess we are lucky we are not called Norse Land

Not only telephone something as simple as jeans...Jeans were first created in Genoa, Italy when the city was an independent republic and a naval power. The first were made for the Genoese Navy because it required all-purpose pants for its sailors that could be worn wet or dry, and whose legs could easily be rolled up to wear while swabbing the deck. These jeans would be laundered by dragging them in large mesh nets behind the ship, and the sea water would bleach them white. The first denim came from N卯mes, France, hence de Nimes, the name of the fabric. The French bleu de G锚nes, from the Italian blu di Genova, literally the "blue of Genoa" dye of their fabric, is the root of the names for these pants, "jeans" and "blue jeans," today.

But it was patented in United States Patent and Trademark Office.