Why is the “Father of the Telephone” not the inventor of the telephone?

The telephone is a remote communication device that can receive and transmit sound. It has a history of more than 100 years. In the era without telephones, people could only transmit messages through letters and telegrams. But since the invention of the telephone, two people can exchange messages and have conversations in real time even if they are thousands of miles apart. This is indeed a great invention that has shortened the distance between people and improved the efficiency of information turnover.

The principle of telephone is actually very simple, that is, using a receiving device to convert sound signals into electrical signals, and using "electricity" as a medium to quickly transmit to a distant place, and then converting the electrical signals into sound through a speaker at the other end. Therefore, whether making a call or answering a call, both parties' telephone devices must have two major components: a receiver and a microphone. As for the conversion between sound and electricity, it uses the principle of electromagnetic induction based on mechanical vibration.

The reason why telephones can communicate in real time is mainly because electrical signals travel at the speed of light. Light can travel 300,000 kilometers per second, and can circle the earth seven and a half times in one second. In short, the speed of electrical signals is many times faster than that of sound signals, so real-time communication is possible within the global village.

In order to allow most people to use the telephone, a telephone communication network must be built, and the basic components of the telephone communication network include: terminal equipment, transmission equipment and switching equipment. The terminal equipment is generally a telephone, which is mainly responsible for completing the sound-to-electricity conversion and signaling functions, and the so-called signaling is dialing. The transmission equipment is generally a cable or optical cable, which is responsible for connecting the telephone and the switch. The switch is responsible for connecting different users, so that point-to-point communication can be achieved. At the beginning, this function of the telephone switch was realized by the telephone operator.

As for base stations, they are devices that only appeared in the mobile phone era. They are responsible for providing wireless coverage in a designated area and are converters between wireless networks and wired networks. Signals between base stations are not exchanged through radio, but through optical fibers.

After entering the information age, although making phone calls (voice calls) is a necessary function, it is no longer the most important function. It only exists as a basic communication function, and has been replaced by data Internet access.

Who invented the telephone? When it comes to the father of the telephone, everyone will think of Bell.

In fact, the world's first telephone was invented by Antonio Meucci (also transliterated as Antonio Meucci), not Bell. Bell only applied for a patent for the telephone and brought it to the market through commercial means, which achieved great success, so he was called the father of the telephone.

Bell applied for a telephone patent on February 14, 1876, and in 1877 he formed a joint venture with Watson, Saunders, and Hubbert to form the Bell Telephone Company. It is said that two hours after Bell applied for a telephone patent on the same day, a man named Elech Gray also applied for a telephone patent. Patent data showed that Elech Gray's telephone was better than Bell's.

This is similar to the invention process of calculus, which was independently invented by Newton and Leibniz. However, due to Newton's great fame, many people attributed the invention of calculus to Newton. In fact, the calculus invented by Leibniz was better than Newton's.

If Gray and Bell were both independent inventors of the telephone, then logically both of them would be the fathers of the telephone.

But before that, Italian Antonio Meucci (April 13, 1808-October 18, 1889) first showed his invention, the telephone, to the public in 1860, and published an introduction to the invention of the "telephone" in an Italian newspaper in New York, USA, but it did not attract people's attention at the time. In the following years, Antonio Meucci continued to try to improve his invention. In 1871, Antonio Meucci applied for a patent for the telephone, but it was said that he could not afford the patent fee for economic reasons, and the patent expired within a few years. After that, Meucci sent the prototype and technical information of the telephone to Western Union Telegraph Company to promote his invention, but in the end, not only did he not receive a reply, but the technical information disappeared.

It was not until 1876 that Bell ran to the Patent Office with a bunch of technical documents, applied for a telephone patent, and then founded a telephone company. The promotion and application of the telephone gradually got on track. It is hard not to be suspicious of where Bell got these patents, after all, he and Antonio Meucci once shared the same laboratory. Even if there are some improvements, it is difficult to erase the name of plagiarizing others' achievements.

People think that Bell invented the telephone, but in fact he just registered the patent. Antonio Meucci should be the first person to invent the telephone. Just as many people mistakenly believe that Edison invented the light bulb, but in fact he just improved it. Watt also just improved the steam engine.

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