subject: The Evolution Of The Telephone [print this page] The very first telephone invented does not have a definitive date, time and place. The idea was cultivated over many years by a number of different people.
The very first version was very simplistic indeed consisting of two diaphragms connected together with a tight wire or string a bit like a childs toy. The idea was that the sound was collected in the air within the diaphragms and the string or wire would bounce the sound waves along to the other end.
There is a lot of controversy about who should take the credit for the invention of the telephone when in actual fact many inventors spent years experimenting and they all played a part in the birth of communication as we know it today.
The idea of transmitting sound or the human voice from one place to another was a minefield of successes and failures. Many different materials were tried out to put together various devices used for transmitting voices. The idea was that sound could travel from a transmitter to a receiver via an electromagnetic field. Electrical impulses would travel down a coil of wire and when they arrived at the other end the process was reversed and the sound originally made was duplicated at the other end.
The first commercially viable telephone looked like a cone attached to a wire with a separate voice piece; it would take a while for the response from the person on the other end to arrive back again. Operators would patch calls through from one line to another and it was very much human operated. As the popularity of the telephone increased it became impossible to work the system manually and the phone networks began to evolve accordingly.
It is a certain fact that the telephone is one of the most important and influential inventions regardless of who was responsible and how it came to be. It is thought that the invention came about by mistake when other avenues were being explored for other conveniences, such as sending more than one telegram at a time.
Originally people could not afford to have telephones in their individual houses, therefore phones would be installed in local shops or post offices. Calls could be made via the operator for a fee. From this point party phones would be installed and shared among neighbours it is hard to imagine that any of the people in the party could pick up a phone and listen in to a neighbours telephone call; we would not stand for this today!
The telephone has evolved in so many ways; it went from a separate ear piece and mouth piece with a wind-up handle to a very nifty square phone with a dial for the numbers and a spiral cord attaching the receiver. It was very exciting when the buttons arrived, allowing you to press in the numbers rather than dialling. We still use the phrase dialling the number today although its only the retro novelty phones that use a dial.
Modern telephones are slim, streamlined, sleek and practical in many ways. We press buttons to dial; our phones come in all different varieties and many people now choose to use cordless phones, enabling us to wander around communicating freely in our homes. Phones have sophisticated answering services and customised ringtones the telephone is a very different device compared to its earlier counterpart.
