Tech Directions- October 2008

technology’s past Dennis Karwatka d.karwat@morehead-st.edu Elisha Gray and the Telephone Patent Controversy The 1876 telephone patent is tion. He also remained a consultant the most valuable patent in history. to Western Union. Alexander Graham Like Bell and Bell (1847–1922) others, Gray had received that patent thought about transand used it to build mitting voice, but a telephone empire. he spent most of his But its issuance was time with telegraphic not without controdevices. He develversy. Bell arrived oped a metal diaat the Patent Ofﬁce phragm to transmit only a few hours tones but saw little before Elisha Gray, commercial value in who also had prothe telephone. Gray duced a potentially heard of Bell’s work workable telephone but did not accelerdesign. ate his efforts with Gray was born voice transmission. into a farming family Opportunity knocked Elisha Gray in Barnesville, OH, at his door, but Gray in 1835. He had heard about early did not hear it. telegraph lines when he was 10 and Bell applied for his telephone had tried to make his own. He often patent on February 14, 1876. As luck tinkered with homemade batteries would have it, and electromagnets. After his father Gray ﬁled a fordied in 1847, Gray worked as a blackmal caveat with smith’s apprentice for several years. the Patent OfHe then tried boat building and deﬁce a few hours veloped carpentry skills that he used later that day. It to work his way through two years stated that he inat Oberlin College, where he studied tended to invent electrical engineering. a telephone Gray’s mother-in-law encouraged based on cerhim to try inventing and it proved tain principles. excellent advice. Gray’s work focused Gray was an Drawings from on the telegraph industry. In 1867, American citizen Elisha Gray’s he received his ﬁrst patent for a new and could ﬁle a formal caveat electrical relay. caveat. Bell was His inventions were so successstill a British ful that he established the Western citizen and did not have that right. Electric Company in Chicago in 1870. So he applied for a full patent on an Gray used the investment capital invention with which he had already of others to build a company that experimented. The Patent Ofﬁce manufactured electrical components. ended caveats in 1909. One of his major customers was the When the immense importance of Western Union Telegraph Company, the Bell patent dawned on Western the largest telegraph organization Union, the company contested it in in the world. Gray’s company proscourt on Gray’s behalf. The legal batpered and he sold his shares in 1875 tle inspired charges that Patent Ofto devote himself to full-time invenﬁce employees had cheated Gray. But Rendering by Tim Harmon Bell’s priority was well documented. After countless hours of testimony, Western Union gave up in 1879. In hundreds of court cases, other defendants attempted to revive Gray’s claim in order to attack the validity of Bell’s telephone patent. In every case, including one argued before the United States Supreme Court, Bell’s patent was upheld. Gray continued to be a successful and well-regarded professional. He received several honorary degrees, wrote at least four books, and worked on the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. He never retired and accumulated over 50 patents, most for electrical communication. One was for the telautograph, an early fax machine that transmitted facsimiles of handwritten letters and documents. The Telautograph Corp. manufactured them for over a century. Gray was working on a type of underwater sonar at the time of his death. Some historians have estimated he earned more money from his inventions than Bell did. But Gray never forgot his near miss with history. He referred to it in a book he ﬁnished the year before he died in 1901. References Day, Lance, & McNeil, Ian. (1996). Biographical dictionary of the history of technology. Routledge. Evenson, A. Edward. (2000). The telephone patent conspiracy of 1876. McFarland. Dennis Karwatka is professor emeritus, Department of Industrial and Engineering Technology, Morehead (KY) State University. 10 techdirections ◆ OCTOBER 2008

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