Top Evidence About Alexander Graham Bell: The Father of the Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, as the middle child of Alexander Melville and Eliza Symonds Bell. He began inventing at a young age, and one of his first projects was a device that separated wheat from its husks.
But, as the son of an elocution professor, he was more fascinated by sound and speech. With his father’s encouragement, he even collaborated on the development of a talking machine with his older brother Melville. Of course, Bell went on to invent a talking machine that changed the way we communicate.
Discover more about the man and his brilliant inventions.
# Bell chose his own middle name
Around his 11th birthday, he decided to change his name to Alexander Graham Bell rather than just Alexander Bell.
Perhaps he was sick of being the third Alexander in the family, with his father and grandfather also bearing the name Alexander.
Whatever the reason, Bell was inspired by one of his father’s former students, Alexander Graham, to add “Graham” to the mix.
Bell may have liked the ring of his new name, but his family still called him “Alec” or “Aleck.”
# Bell was not only a gifted inventor, but also a gifted educator
He began his career as an instructor at a boys’ boarding school when he was only 16 years old.
His father had invented “Visible Speech,” a phonetic symbol system. These symbols demonstrated how to physically produce the sounds required to say any word.
Bell was able to use this system to help deaf students learn to speak and improve their diction. Bell also used some of his own techniques.
Bell’s mother had suffered from severe hearing loss as a child as a result of an illness, and he had used various methods to communicate with her.
While working in Boston, Bell rose to prominence as a deaf educator. He worked at the Boston School for Deaf Children and also saw private students.
Bell later worked at the Clark Institution for Deaf Mutes and was appointed professor at Boston University’s School of Oratory. Mabel Hubbard, one of his students, eventually married him.
Her father, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, became one of Bell’s supporters and became one of his benefactors.
Bell created special gloves with alphabet letters on them for another student, allowing them to communicate through spelling words.
Throughout his life, Bell was dedicated to promoting deaf education.
In 1893, he met Helen Keller and assisted the young deaf mute girl in finding a good teacher.
Bell also founded the Association for the Promotion of Teaching Speech to the Deaf the same year.
# Bell won his telephone patent by filing his claim hours before Elisha Gray
On February 14, 1876, Bell applied for a patent for his version of the telephone.
Later that day, a lawyer working for Elisha Gray filed a caveat, a type of announcement of an invention, on his behalf for the telephone.
Bell was aware of his competitor’s efforts and felt enormous pressure to complete his own design, as he wrote to his parents in 1874.
According to Charlotte Gray’s Reluctant Genius: The Life of Charlotte Gray, he observed, “It is a neck and neck race between Mr. Gray and myself who shall complete our apparatus first.” Alexander Graham Bell’s Passion for Invention.
Bell received the telephone patent in March 1876. The following year, he founded the Bell Telephone Company with his father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, his assistant Thomas Watson, and Thomas Sanders.
Competitor Western Union hired other inventors, including Gray, to create their own phone system, resulting in a legal battle between the two companies.
Bell vigorously defended his telephone patent in a number of other lawsuits over the years.
# Following the invention of the telephone, Bell went on to create a slew of other innovations
The photophone, which used light to transmit sound, was invented by Bell. Bell considered it to be one of his most significant inventions. He also used his inventiveness to solve problems.
Following the death of his infant son in 1881, Bell created a metal vacuum jacket to aid in breathing.
In the 1950s, this concept influenced the design of the iron lung device used to help polio patients.
When President James Garfield was assassinated in 1881, Bell was asked to assist the ailing leader.
He devised an electromagnetic machine to detect the location of the bullet in Garfield’s body. It failed at this task (Garfield died later), but it was a forerunner of the modern metal detector.
# Throughout his life, Bell was fascinated by flight and motion
In the 1890s, he began experimenting with kites and even had a special building on his estate, Beinn Bhreagh, to work on these projects.
Bell developed an innovative kite design based on tetrahedrons after much experimentation. With Glenn Curtiss, Thomas Selfridge, Casey Baldwin, and J.A.D. McCurdy, he founded the Aerial Experiment Association in 1907.
The Silver Dart was the most famous of the association’s flying machines. The Silver Dart made the first powered flight in Canada on February 23, 1909.
Bell later collaborated with Baldwin on hydrofoils. In 1919, one of their designs, the HD-4, set a speed record. Their achievement was not forgotten until the 1960s.
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