Writing Assignment 3 Final Draft

By Samuel Burgess

CIS270WX History of Information Technology

Instructor: Major Sook Ha

Date: 02/10/2016

 

 

History of Information Technology Writing Assignment 3:

The Evolution of the Wired Telephone in America and its Impact through Information Technology

 

The introduction of the telephone in the United States was a revolutionary concept in the history of information technology, and a notion that has become foundational in everyday functionality through business and social connectivity. The telephone was used initially by Americans as a method of instantaneous messaging over distance through vibrating sound waves, and has evolved into smart phones, which can (among other things) allow you to video conference face-to-face with someone across the globe. The telephone, as a byproduct of American innovation, was adapted to the American economic system of capitalism, which almost immediately involved patents and corporate monopolization and proliferation upon its introduction. Lastly, throughout American history, the telephone has evolved to become a shining example of the effects of information technology. To explain further, the numerous innovations and adaptations that the telephone has undergone since 1876 have been the resulted from the need for efficiency, ease of use, faster and wider ranging coverage, etc., in the American public sphere. Since its inception in 1876, the technology of the telephone has been continually adapted and has rapidly evolved into the current American idea of a telephone, which is, predominately, the smart phone. In the early 1870’s a young Scottish man named Alexander Graham Bell moved to Boston, Massachusetts with his father, Melville Bell, who himself coincidentally was an inventor (1). Perhaps the innovative gene ran in the family, as Alexander Graham’s father claims the honor of having invented a written system that was utilized in teaching speech to the deaf (1). In Boston, Alexander Bell was a teacher, and at the early age of 29, Bell came up with an adaptation of Samuel Morse’s telegraph technology, which had been introduced earlier in the decade (1). While Bell’s idea seemed to merely be an adaptation of Morse’s founding telegraph technology, Bell’s idea, of a “harmonic telegraph,” became revolutionary (1). Bell’s innovation looked create a device that “combined aspects of the telegraph and record player to allow individuals to speak to each other from a distance” (1). Consequently, Alexander Bell envisioned the creation of his “harmonic telegraph” as a more efficient fix to an existing problem, building on the capabilities of America’s information technology, as opposed to designing a device separate from the precedent set by Morse. The first telephone, designed by Bell and with the help of Thomas Watson, used sound waves, “caused by an electrical current to vary in intensity and frequency, causing a thin, soft iron plate–called the diaphragm–to vibrate” (1). Then, these vibrations would travel through another wire, which would be attached to a diaphragm in another instrument, through magnetics (1). Finally, the vibrations through the diaphragm in the second device would transmit the original sound, thus creating a telephone line (1). After the creation of the telephone’s concept and the initial prototype, the first test produced the famous verse often heard, in which Bell spoke to his assistant over the phone, stating “Mr. Watson, come here, I need you” (1). This marked the beginning of the wired telephone device’s existence in American society and the world. And while this paper will focus on the earlier history of the telephone, specifically in how it existed when wired, it is interesting to note how far we have come in telephone technology. In the last few decades alone, we have progressed from satellite phones, to wireless cellular phones, to the current market of smartphones. We have evolved in information technology at an alarming rate, continually improving technology to meet the demands of American society, who demands faster connections, smaller and bigger screen sizes, larger memory capacities, and so on.The telephone, as a byproduct of American innovation, was adapted to the American economic system of capitalism, which almost immediately involved patents and corporate monopolization and proliferation upon its introduction. During the same era Alexander Graham Bell invented and patented the wired telephone, there was an inventor with a similar idea by the name of Elisha Gray (1). In fact, Edison’s filed patent of the wired telephone was only claimed about two hours ahead of Gray’s similar patent filing (1). Thus, both inventors recognized the burgeoning telecommunications market that was blossoming. Consequently, in an effort to stake their claim in the new market, Gray and another inventor, Thomas A. Edison, were hired by the Western Union Telegraph Company in order to create their own telephone technologies (1). Thus, we see an immediate proliferation of telecommunications technologies out of the economically capitalistic market of competition. Upon learning of others attempting similar technological ideas, Alexander Graham Bell and the Bell Company sued the Western Union Telegraph Company, which ended up all the way into the Supreme Court, the decision favoring Bell’s right to his patent (1). Following this legal battle, the Bell Company took on and defeated many more challenges from rival companies who questioned their patent (1). Eventually, the Bell Company became the humongous corporation we know today, the American Telephone and Telegraph company, or AT&T (1). You can aptly say that Alexander Graham Bell’s idea, which became a patent, then the Bell Company, and finally AT&T, shows how telephony technology was adapted and molded by the capitalist economy of the United States. You would be scarce to find another country in which both an idea (through a patent) is so fundamentally protected as a right, and in which companies compete and change in order to fit the needs of the consumer. It is through its capitalistic roots that the AT&T Company has adapted and survived since its creation at Bell’s hand, and through which it continues to do so today.

I believe that the adaption of telephonic technologies to the ever-changing markets of the American capitalist economy really highlights the lessons of information technology. Ever since the first patent by Alexander Graham Bell, the competition of the market has driven advancements within the realm of telephone technologies, as we have seen through the example of  the Western Union Telegraph Company hiring Elisha Gray and Thomas Edison to compete with the Bell Company. Consequently, telephony technologies have adapted and continue to compete and refine today with companies such as AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile, who continuously look to improve technologies and services in order to appeal to the consumer, which follows the tenants of a capitalist market. In conclusion, Alexander Graham Bell introduced a revolutionary concept to America, one that has forever changed information technology, and one that has become foundational in everyday functionality through business and social connectivity. Additionally, once Bell’s concept was forged with the American notion of capitalism, the technology evolved and has not stopped improving since.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

• “Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone.” The History Channel. Simon & Schuster Publishing, 03 Mar. 2009. Web. 09 Apr. 2016.