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Posted by on January 23, 2008, 11:53 am
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> This claims to be the first book about Gray. Certainly, the story of
> the Gray-Bell patent dispute, including the race to the patent office
> and the litigation afterwards, is part of every history of the industry.
Like many modern technological inventions, the telephone was a
culmination of past work.
As I understand it, while the Bell family certainly became comfortable
from the invention's success, they did not become fabuously rich like
other tycoons of that era. The real explosion in telephony occured
after the patents ran out.
The invention of the telephone was only 50% of its success story.
(And let's remember it was Edison who invented the carbon transmitter,
not Bell.) The other 50% was the business acumen of Bell's already-
wealthy father-in-law (who also financed the venture), and subsequent
company leaders like Theodore Vail.
I believe it was around 1919 that Vail made the pact with the
government that created the Bell System as a regulated monopoly which
would strive to provide universal service. That pact allowed
telephone service in the US to grow and prosper far better than
anywhere else in the world and would last until divesture in 1983.
***** Moderator's Note *****
Edison invented the carbon microphone under contract to Western
Electric, so he got bragging rights but not the patents.
The Bell System was founded in 1876.
Bill Horne
Temporary Moderator
| ![[Telecom] New book on Gray/Bell patent dispute](/images/header.jpg)
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