The Telephone Patent Conspiracy of 1876: The Elisha Gray-Alexander Bell Controversy and Its Many PlayersThe invention of the telephone is a subject of great controversy, central is which is the patent issued to Alexander Graham Bell on March 7, 1876. Many problems and questions surround this patent, not the least of which was its collision in the Patent Office with a strangely similar invention by archrival Elisha Gray. A flood of lawsuits followed the patent's issue; at one point the government attempted to annul Bell's patent and launched an investigation into how it was granted. From court testimony, contemporary accounts, government documents, and the participants' correspondence, a fascinating story emerges. More than just a tale of rivalry between two inventors, it is the story of how a small group of men made Bell's patent the cornerstone for an emerging telephone monopoly. This book recounts the little-known story in full, relying on original documents (most never before published) to preserve the flavor of the debate and provide an authentic account. Among the several appendices is the "lost copy" of Bell's original patent, the document that precipitated the charge of fraud against the Bell Telephone Company. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 5 | |
The Beginning The US Postal Telegraph Bill Nationalizing the Telegraph Industry | 18 |
State of the Art A Brief Review of Telegraph Developments to 1874 | 27 |
Race for Multiple Telegraphy October 1874April 1875 | 36 |
The Day the Patent Was Filed May 1 1875 February 14 1876 | 51 |
Inside the Patent Office February 15March 7 1876 | 71 |
Decision That Changed History The Unexplained Order of Acting Commissioner Spear | 85 |
The Affidavit Confessions of Former Patent Examiner Wilber | 165 |
Revelation of Patent Fraud Uncovering the Lost Copy of Bells Patent Application | 176 |
Charges of Collusion Are All Moonshine Claim Defenders of Judges Lowell and Gray | 188 |
Appendix A John Paul Bocock The Romance of the Telephone | 201 |
Dr Elisha Gray and the Invention of the Telephone February 2 1901 | 217 |
Appendix C Patent Office Copy of Grays Caveat | 221 |
Appendix D Patent Office Copy of Bells Patent No 174465 | 225 |
Appendix E Patent Office Copy of Bells Patent No 186787 | 233 |
Mr Watson Come Here The Closely Guarded Secret of March 10 1876 | 94 |
BellGray Letters Revealing Correspondence Between Two Adversaries | 103 |
Birth of the Bell Telephone Company Telegraphy Gives Way to Telephony | 114 |
The First Challenge The Dowd Case | 127 |
Other Challengers Two Notable Cases and Their Decisions | 141 |
The Reis Question Reis Telephone in the CourtroomIt Could Sing but Could It Talk? | 155 |
Other editions - View all
The Telephone Patent Conspiracy of 1876: The Elisha Gray-Alexander Bell ... A. Edward Evenson No preview available - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
AGB to parents Alex Hayes Alexander Graham Bell American Bell Telephone apparatus armature articulate speech battery Bell company Bell Telephone Company Bell-Gray Bell’s application Bell’s attorneys Bell’s patent body capable Boston British patent Brown’s copy capable of inductive cash blotter circuit claim company’s court decision device di›erent Dolbear Dowd Drawbaugh e›ect Edison electrical undulations electromagnetic Elisha Gray Ellis Spear Encyclopędia Britannica Examiner Wilber February February 25 filed George Brown Gray’s caveat harmonic telegraph Hubbard human voice Ibid induced inductive action infringement invention inventor issued January January 30 knew later letter liquid Mabel March McDonough ment never o›ered o‡cial Orton patent application patent examiner Patent O‡ce Pollok and Bailey Professor Reis telephone Reis’s Sanders set in vibration signals simultaneously speaking telephone specification tele telegram telegraph industry telephone patent testimony tion transmission transmitting instruments undulatory current variable resistance Washington Watson Western Union Wilber’s a‡davit