Which company released the first mobile phone? The very first telephones in the world. Invention of cellular communication

The telephone was created during a period that was considered the era of the telegraph. This device was in demand everywhere and was considered the most advanced means of communication. The ability to transmit sound over distances has become a real sensation. In this article, we will remember who invented the first telephone, in what year it happened, and how it was created.

A breakthrough in communications development

The invention of electricity was important stage on the way to creating telephony. It was this discovery that made it possible to transmit information over distances. In 1837, after Morse introduced his telegraph alphabet and broadcasting apparatus to the general public, the electronic telegraph began to be used everywhere. However, at the end of the 19th century it was replaced by a more advanced device.

In what year was the telephone invented?

The telephone owes its appearance, first of all, to the German scientist Philip Rice. It was this man who was able to construct a device that allows one to transfer a person’s voice to long distances using galvanic current. This event occurred in 1861, but before the creation of the first telephone set there were still 15 years left.

Alexander Graham Bell is considered the creator of the telephone, and the year of invention of the telephone is 1876. It was then that the Scottish scientist presented his first device at the World Exhibition, and also applied for a patent for the invention. Bell's telephone worked at a distance of no more than 200 meters and had severe sound distortion, but a year later the scientist improved the device so much that it was used unchanged for the next hundred years.

History of the invention of the telephone

Alexander Bell's discovery was made randomly in the process of experiments to improve the telegraph. The scientist's goal was to obtain a device that would allow the simultaneous transmission of more than 5 telegrams. To do this, he created several pairs of records tuned to different frequency. During the next experiment, a small accident occurred, as a result of which one of the plates got stuck. The scientist’s partner, seeing what happened, began to swear. At this time, Bell himself was working on the receiving device. At some point, he heard faint sounds of disturbance from the transmitter. This is how the story of the invention of the telephone begins.

After Bell demonstrated his device, many scientists began working in the field of telephony. Thousands of patents were issued for inventions that improved the first device. Among the most significant discoveries are:

  • invention of the bell - the device created by A. Bell did not have a bell, and the subscriber was notified using a whistle. In 1878
    T. Watson made the first telephone bell;
  • creation of a microphone - in 1878, the Russian engineer M. Makhalsky designed a carbon microphone;
  • creation of an automatic station - the first station with 10,000 numbers was developed in 1894 by S.M. Apostolov.

The patent Bell received became one of the most profitable not only in the United States, but also in the world. The scientist became extremely rich and world famous. However, in fact, the first person to create the telephone was not Alexander Bell, and in 2002 the US Congress recognized this.

Antonio Meucci: pioneer of telephone communication

In 1860, an inventor and scientist from Italy created a device capable of transmitting sound through wires. When answering the question of what year the telephone was invented, you can safely name this date, since the true discoverer is Antonio Meucci. He called his “brainchild” a telephony. At the time of his discovery, the scientist lived in the United States of America; he was already old and in a very deplorable financial situation. Soon, a large American company, Western Union, became interested in the development of an unknown scientist.

Representatives of the company offered the scientist a substantial sum for all the drawings and developments, and also promised to provide assistance in filing a patent. The difficult financial situation forced the talented inventor to sell all the material from his research. Scientist for a long time I was waiting for help from the company, however, having lost patience, I applied for a patent myself. His request was not granted, and the real blow for him was the message about the great invention of Alexander Bell.

Meucci tried to defend his rights in court, but to combat the large company he lacked funds. The Italian inventor managed to win the right to a patent only in 1887, by the time its validity expired. Meucci was never able to take advantage of the rights to his invention and died in obscurity and poverty. Recognition came to the Italian inventor only in 2002. According to a resolution of the US Congress, he was the person who invented the telephone.

In our century, when science and technology are developing at a rapid pace, many of us cannot imagine life without mobile phones. Of course, phones have become like this a convenient thing, that to refuse them means to fall into the “Prehistoric” era. Now the phone can not only transmit sound over a distance. It most likely looks like a device with more capabilities than what is called a telephone.

And that's why mobile phone so popular among the masses. Each buyer can choose a mobile phone from a wide range model range. The operator's coverage allows communication to be used almost throughout the entire planet.

Idea creating wireless mobile devices began to worry scientists as soon as the usual landline phone. Back in 1947, Bell Laboratories, which belonged to AT&T, proposed create a mobile phone. Even then there were the first attempts: a hybrid of a radio transmitter and a telephone was created. The car housed a radio station that transmitted a signal to the telephone exchange. And in order to connect to a radiotelephone, you had to call the telephone exchange and tell the number of the telephone set installed in the car. To transmit sound, a button was used, which was held down during the conversation. And to hear the answer, she was released. The possibilities for this type of communication were very limited. This type of connection was hampered by various obstacles, which greatly deteriorated the quality of transmitted speech.

For the sake of such pleasure, a device weighing 12 kilograms was placed in the trunk of a car. The control panel and handset were located in the cabin. And the antenna was mounted in the roof. This device has helped users significantly cellular communication, freeing their hands from such weight.



April 3, 1973 head of department mobile communications made the first call in the history of Mankind. While walking along the streets of Manhattan, Martin Cooper decided to call the AT&T Bell Labs office on his mobile phone. He stood near the first cellular antenna, which was installed on one of the nearby skyscrapers. Who do you think Cooper called? He called his competitor named Joel Angel. Passers-by were very surprised, since at that time no one had seen anything like this. The advent of commercial mobile communications was 10 years away.

And so March 6, 1983 was The first commercial cell phone was released. The result of 15 years of development by Motorola was a mobile device called DynaTAC 8000X. For implementation this phone About $100 million was spent. The weight of the phone was 794 grams, dimensions - 33 * 4.4 * 8.9 cm. The battery charge lasted for an hour of calls, and in standby mode for 8 hours. The display was LED. Although the first model of the phone was priced at $3,995, its popularity grew rapidly and thousands of Americans stood in line to purchase the DynaTAC 8000X.

No consumer technology has been around for such a long period of time (37 years). From the beginning of the creation of the first cellular technology to permission for its commercial use.

Motorola began massively produce mobile devices and for many years remained a trendsetter in the field of wireless cellular communications. Popularity new technology was gaining momentum. Companies could not provide mobile communications to everyone. The reason for the slow adoption of new subscribers was insufficient capacity ATS, insufficient number of transmitters and small frequency range.

Bell System, which created her first phone model half a year later than the manufacturer Motorola, had 545 customers in New York in 1978, and another 3.7 thousand future subscribers stood in line for telephones. The waiting period for such luxury could last 5-10 years. The general picture in the USA is 20 thousand customers purchasing Bell System phones.

Every year we are provided with more and more new phone models. And their capabilities are becoming more and more complex and functional. And who knows what awaits us next year. What else will mobile device manufacturers please us with? In our pursuit of new models of mobile phones, we forget their original purpose - voice communication between subscribers. But everything in the World is changing and technologies unfamiliar to us are turning into our assistants. And yet, you must admit, they make our lives more interesting!

Telephone communication has become such a common way of communication today that it is difficult to imagine that people once could do without devices that transmitted sounds over any distance. Modern subscriber rarely thinks about the question - Who invented the telephone? But the history of this device goes back to the distant past.

The official inventor of the telephone, capable of more or less clearly transmitting the sounds of human speech, is considered to be an American of Scottish origin, Alexander Graham Bell. The creation of the first telephone in the world was recorded in 1876; it was then that a patent application was filed for an invention that made a real revolution in the scientific world. Despite the fact that the principle of operation of the telephone was described twenty years before this event in the dissertation of Charles Boursel, only Bell was able to implement, and most importantly, patent in time, the bold idea of ​​sound transmission using electricity.

Today, an idea of ​​what the first telephone was like can only be obtained in a museum or from old photographs. The simplest mechanism was radically different from modern devices in the form to which we are accustomed. All manipulations with the device were carried out through a single tube, which served simultaneously as a transmitter and receiver. The sound quality was terrifying - through numerous noises and interference, the voice of the interlocutor was distinguished with great difficulty. However, both the creator of the phone and his admirers were not at all embarrassed by such inconveniences. The main thing is that the device worked and made it possible to significantly simplify the solution of many problems.

The period when the first telephone was created was deservedly considered the era of the telegraph. This means of telecommunication was considered the most popular and in demand. It seemed that no newfangled devices could displace the telegraph. In addition, the very first telephone transmitted sound over a distance of only a few hundred meters. Further improvements to which the first telephone model underwent significantly improved its quality characteristics.

Thanks to the talented developments of Thomas Edison, the device was eventually equipped with a microphone containing carbon powder. This invention had a significant impact on the development of telephone communications and in subsequent years began to be used everywhere.

Russian scientists also contributed to improving the phone. First domestic phone, the design of which used two tubes, was produced in St. Petersburg at the Siemens and Halske plant in 1877. The following 1878, the year of the creation of the telephone using permanent magnets and capacitors, became the prerequisite for a real telephone boom. Construction of numerous telephone exchanges made it possible to fulfill the aspirations of many enthusiasts - to seamlessly transmit sounds to long distances. And today, in almost everyone’s home you can find a good old telephone set - a dream that has turned into reality.

The very first telephone in the world was invented more than a century ago. Many of us are very accustomed to modern smartphones, and communicating at a distance is now commonplace. You can call anywhere on the planet by pressing just a couple of buttons. But in the last century, in order to contact each other, people wrote letters and waited for a response for a long time.

The first telephone and its design

The basis for the design of the first apparatus for receiving and transmitting sound was control devices that create a magnetic field when passing electric current through them, membranes. And this discovery was made in 1875 in Boston by scientists Alexander Bell and Thomas John Watson.

Means of communication existed even in the most ancient times. Signal fires were used as devices for transmitting information. conventional signs, drums and even imitated the sounds that animals make. Therefore, the idea of ​​​​creating an object that would allow communication at a distance has long been present in society.

In Pskov in the Middle Ages, buildings had narrow tunnels in the walls, with the help of which people transmitted messages. And in the times of Great Rome, Gallic screamers, standing in a chain, could transmit a message at a speed of up to 100 km/h, thanks to which villagers learned long ago that the enemy was approaching.

In 1789, French mechanic Claude Chappe put forward the idea of ​​​​using a chain system for transmitting warnings using special bars and signal lights. For this purpose, towers located throughout the country were used, the devices on which were visible from long distance. The worker watched the nearest tower and changed the position of the bar accordingly, thus transmitting the signal further.

American Page was the first to decide to use electricity as a means of transmitting information. This idea was later developed by the scientist from Friedrichsdorf, Phillip Reis, and the American inventor of Scottish origin, Alexander Bell, and his student Thomas Watson.

Bell patents the telephone in the United States on February 14, 1876, and on March 10, the first transmission of information takes place through it.

Invention of the first electric telephone

Principle of operation electric telephone mechanical engineer Charles Bourcel outlined in his qualifying work for the award of an academic degree and master's qualification; it was he who first used the term “telephone”. His work on the idea of ​​transmitting information was based on the properties of electricity, but the scientist was never lucky enough to bring his discovery to life.

In 1860, in the USA, the Italian inventor-engineer Antonio Meucci, based on his research, created a device with which signals could be transmitted through wires, calling it a telectrophon. Western Union took advantage of the poverty of a little-known Italian. Having promised to help in filing a patent, the company bought all the drawings of the device. But after the transaction was completed, the company happily left the inventor “without his nose.” Meucci's telephony patent was denied.

Bell Graham declared himself the creator of the telephone and in 1876 issued a document certifying exclusive authorship. After a year of court hearings, Meucci was awarded primacy in creating the device. However, by that time his patent application was no longer valid. Western Union continued to produce telephones, and Meucci died without getting rich.

In the telephone, which was patented by the American scientist Bell, there was no bell, and communication was established using a whistle. Bell also believed that using the telephone one could establish contact with the afterlife.

The first mobile phone model

First portable phone invented in 1973. It was heavy, big and very different from modern models. Opening hours in offline mode It didn’t last long because the phone only ran on one battery. And the price for such phones was prohibitively high, and they could afford this device Not everyone.

Martin Cooper - inventor of the cell phone

Despite the fact that all leading companies were simultaneously working on the creation of a mobile phone, Martin Cooper was the first to release this invention to the masses. Externally, the device looked more like a portable payphone. The phone was in the backpack, behind the back, and consisted of a power source, handset and wire.

The first phones

Since the release of the phone, which was created by Martin Cooper, a dozen have been released worldwide different types and models, but they were still bulky and inconvenient. The first model familiar to us was assembled by MOTOROLA. Its weight was approximately 1 kilogram, and its working time was more than 8 hours in total.

DynaTAC8000x is the first commercial mobile device for transmitting and receiving sound at a distance. MOTOROLA's costs for the development of this device amounted to more than one hundred million US dollars. This model cost 4 thousand dollars and weighed about 800 grams, in addition, the phone could remember up to 30 different numbers other phones. However, it took up to 10 hours to charge, and the battery only lasted for 60 minutes of talk time.

Next Motorola model Micro TAC, released in 1989, already cost 3 thousand dollars, and was the smallest phone in the world. Three years later, the company also released a miniature device, the size of which did not exceed the size of a palm. A little later, the Finnish company NOKIA released the first mass-produced model GSM phone– NOKIA 1011.

In 1993, BellSouth/IBM released the first communicator phone that allowed you to interact with a computer. And in 1996, MOTOROLA released a clamshell phone, it was the first model of this type, which was later nicknamed the “frog”.

IN this moment The phones are very different from the first models. Nowadays, phones are not only high-tech devices, but also fashion accessories. Famous telephone Apple The iPhone 4 DiamondRoseEdition costs about $8 million. However, there are phones that cost more than $10 million.

The ability to contact loved ones and friends at any moment seems natural to us today, like breathing, but this was not always the case.

Even mobile phones became widespread no more than 15-20 years ago, and wired telephones appeared a little over a hundred years ago. Do you know who invented the telephone and in what year it happened?

Almost all modern textbooks and encyclopedias name the American Alexander Bell as the inventor of the telephone. However, this is not entirely true: Bell turned out to be just the person who was the first to patent the telephone, and this happened in 1876.

The real inventor is Antonio Meucci, born in Florence, Italy, who later moved overseas and settled in the United States. He founded the world's first factory producing paraffin candles, but later became interested in the idea of ​​transmitting sounds over long distances. His work progressed successfully, and already in 1860 the inventor showed the public a device that he called a telectrophon. It used the principle of converting sound vibrations into electromagnetic waves and vice versa, which subsequently formed the basis of all telephone sets.

Unfortunately, soon after the demonstration of the new invention, an accident occurred, and the designer took to bed for a long time. During this time, his factory went bankrupt, and in order to somehow survive, his wife had to sell some of the devices made by Meucci, including the telephony. Later he was able to restore his invention and in 1871 tried to obtain a patent for it. However, due to extreme poverty, Meucci was unable to pay for the services of the patent office, and soon died in poverty and obscurity. Only in 2002 was justice restored, and the US Congress recognized Italian emigrant Antonio Meucci as the inventor of the telephone.

Few people know that the first mobile phone was created in the USSR in 1957. It consisted of the telephone itself and a base station, which was connected to a regular city telephone network. The telephone weighed about 3 kg, and its inventor was Leonid Kupriyanovich. The designer continued to work on his development, and by 1961 the weight of the telephone handset was reduced to only 70 grams. The distance between the handset and the base station reached 80 kilometers on flat ground. In 1957, the inventor received patent number 115494 for his development.


The disadvantage of Kupriyanovich's device was a small amount of phones that could connect to one base station. Their number was limited by the number allocated for the station frequency channels. According to the inventor, in order to cover the entire area of ​​Moscow, it would be necessary to install no more than a dozen base stations. Subsequently, based on Kupriyanovich’s development, since 1965, the Bulgarian enterprise Radioelectronics has produced mobile mini-PBXs for 15 subscribers. They were used mainly on large construction sites as departmental communications.

The inventor of the world's first cell phone is Motorola employee Martin Cooper. He manufactured the first copy of a mobile phone operating on cellular principle, in 1973. The device weighed more than a kilogram and was later named Motorola DynaTAC. There were only 12 buttons on the handset, of which 10 were digital, and the remaining two were used to make a call and to end a call.

The first cell phone did not have a display, and the battery did not provide more than an hour conversation, but charged for 10 hours straight. Total until 1983 Motorola company released five different DynaTAC phone prototypes. First Cell Phones went on sale in 1983 under the name DynaTAC 8000x. They sold for $3,995, which was quite a lot for that time. a large sum, but the queues to purchase them reached several thousand people.

The first phone equipped touch screen, was manufactured in 1993 by employees of the famous computer corporation IBM. It was called IBM Simon, and its black and white screen was controlled by a stylus, although some operations could be performed with your fingers. The phone weighed about 0.5 kg.

The battery charge was enough for only an hour of talk time or 8-10 hours of standby. Although the new product aroused the interest of buyers, it was too high price And frequent breakdowns the gadget quickly reduced it to nothing. IBM Simon was soon discontinued.

As you know, iPhones are produced by the American corporation Apple, which has gained popularity thanks to its non-standard and high-tech solutions. The main generator of ideas at Apple from its very founding was the legendary computer scientist and entrepreneur Steve Jobs, creator. In 1999, Jobs came up with the idea that the company, in addition to computers, should also produce the world's best mobile phones. He came up with the concept of the iPhone, but the idea was realized only in 2005 together with Motorola specialists.


First apple phone called Purple-1, it was a symbiosis of a telephone and an audio player. It did not receive the expected popularity, but the Apple team continued to work, and in 2007, the iPhone, which later became a cult phone, was first presented to the public in San Francisco. Today, millions of people in all countries of the world are happy owners of iPhones.