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Bell Dethroned as Telephone Inventor

Posted by michael on from the why-invent-when-you-can-steal dept.

On Hold writes "The US Congress has decided that A. G. Bell was not the real inventor of the telephone. According to this article, it was invented by a Florentine immigrant called Meucci. Meucci later worked with Bell in a lab, but couldn't afford the patent fees. It seems like Bell could." Wait until you read the stories giving Shawn Fanning credit for inventing P2P...

5 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. what about elisha gray? by larry+bagina · · Score: 4, Interesting
    On Feb. 14, 1876, Gray filed with the U.S. Patent Office a caveat (an announcement of an invention he expected soon to patent) describing apparatus 'for transmitting vocal sounds telegraphically.' Unknown to Gray, Bell had only two hours earlier applied for an actual patent on an apparatus to accomplish the same end. It was later discovered, however, that the apparatus described in Gray's caveat would have worked, while that in Bell's patent would not have. After years of litigation, Bell was legally named the inventor of the telephone, although to many the question of who should be credited with the invention remained debatable.
    --
    Do you even lift?

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  2. screams of hoax to me.... by jeffy124 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This sounds like a possible hoax to me. Too many odd questions surround this story -- Since when does Congress make rulings on who properly holds a patent/invention? Isn't that something for the court system? Why is it I cannot find this story at other sites? And why is the one with the story an Australian site, why hasnt the US press picked this up? Hence, I think it's a hoax.

    --
    The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
  3. wasn't it..? by FreakCERS · · Score: 2, Interesting

    hmm... I always thought Elisha Gray invented it...
    has anyone else heard of her? - or is this just one of those weird memory-lapses I seem to get every one in a while...

  4. Elisha Gray by Dimwit · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is (sort of) completely off-topic, but I have to toss this in - Elisha Gray is my great, great, great grandfather.

    The supposed story is that Bell was in collusion with the patent clerk (who was, I believe, his brother-in-law or son-in-law). Elisha Gray began the patent filing process earlier than Bell, but was told that without a working model, no patent would be granted.

    While I have no problem with his having to produce a working model, after Elisha Gray turned in his plans for a telephone, the patent clerk (knowing Bell was working on a similar project) gave Bell the plans, and then allowed Bell to apply and receive a patent even without a working model.

    So, dammit, I could've been a billionaire. Stupid patents.

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    ...but it's being eaten...by some...Linux or something...
    1. Re:Elisha Gray by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Gray founded Western Electric and probably made lots of money. If you didn't inherit it, perhaps you wouldn't have inherited any money if he had founded the phone company either.