Misplaced Pages

#779220

119-545: The building housing the Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum was constructed as a two-story duplex that was built using Quartermaster Plan 115. It was constructed by Richard Deutman and Son architects and is one of two remaining structures that was part of Officers’ Row located on the north side of the former parade grounds. The parade ground, central to the entire post, was the site of military drill and ritual. The placement of quarters around

238-492: A Baptist minister and family friend. The Bells soon purchased a farm of 10.5 acres (4.2 ha) at Tutelo Heights (now called Tutela Heights), near Brantford , Ontario. The property consisted of an orchard, large farmhouse, stable, pigsty, hen-house, and a carriage house , which bordered the Grand River . At the homestead, Bell set up a workshop in the converted carriage house near what he called his "dreaming place",

357-513: A limited liability company . In a filing with the South Dakota Secretary of State dated January 30, 2024, the reason given for the merger is that New York state law does not allow AT&T Corp. to be directly converted into an LLC. Although acquired by SBC in 2005, AT&T Corp. has remained a separate entity within the corporate structure of AT&T Inc. The merger, said to create “greater operational efficiencies”, will end

476-453: A long distance subsidiary until its dissolution on May 1, 2024. AT&T started with Bell Patent Association , a legal entity established in 1874 to protect the patent rights of Alexander Graham Bell after he invented the telephone system. Originally a verbal agreement, it was formalized in writing in 1875 as Bell Telephone Company . In 1880 the management of American Bell created what would become AT&T Long Lines . The project

595-541: A patent application for it. Since he had agreed to share U.S. profits with his investors Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders, Bell requested that an associate in Ontario, George Brown , attempt to patent it in Britain, instructing his lawyers to apply for a patent in the U.S. only after they received word from Britain (Britain issued patents only for discoveries not previously patented elsewhere). Meanwhile, Elisha Gray

714-484: A precedent . With a change in administration and charges of conflict of interest (on both sides) arising from the original trial, the U.S. attorney general dropped the lawsuit on November 30, 1897, leaving several issues undecided on the merits . During a deposition filed for the 1887 trial, Italian inventor Antonio Meucci also claimed to have created the first working model of a telephone in Italy in 1834. In 1886, in

833-486: A "talking dog". These initial forays into experimentation with sound led Bell to undertake his first serious work on the transmission of sound, using tuning forks to explore resonance . At age 19, Bell wrote a report on his work and sent it to philologist Alexander Ellis , a colleague of his father. Ellis immediately wrote back indicating that the experiments were similar to existing work in Germany, and also lent Bell

952-527: A 171 conference room inn. The AT&T Learning Center won the commercial property known as Somerset County's Land Development Award that year. In 1992, Basking Ridge location would become a corporate headquarters just before AT&T leased the New York City, 550 Madison Avenue building to Sony in 1993. The corporate statue, known as " Golden Boy " was moved in 1992, from the former New York City headquarters to this current New Jersey headquarters. In 1992,

1071-603: A 3,400-mile wire between New York and San Francisco. Dr. Bell, the veteran inventor of the telephone, was in New York, and Mr. Watson, his former associate, was on the other side of the continent. As is sometimes common in scientific discoveries, simultaneous developments occurred, as evidenced by a number of inventors who were at work on the telephone. Over 18 years, the Bell Telephone Company faced 587 court challenges to its patents, including five that went to

1190-407: A Class 1 licensed private helipad , a two-story cafeteria, a wood-burning fireplace, an indoor waterfall at the entrance lobby, and a seven-acre created lake for flood control. The entire property was 130 acre and cost $ 219 million to construct. Later, across the street from the complex, AT&T purchased additional land and established its Learning Center in 1985, at 300 North Maple Avenue, to become

1309-480: A big success. While working that summer in Brantford, Bell experimented with a " phonautograph ", a pen-like machine that could draw shapes of sound waves on smoked glass by tracing their vibrations. Bell thought it might be possible to generate undulating electrical currents that corresponded to sound waves. He also thought that multiple metal reeds tuned to different frequencies like a harp would be able to convert

SECTION 10

#1732791849780

1428-408: A continent-wide telephone system. On December 30, 1899, the assets of American Bell were transferred into its subsidiary American Telephone and Telegraph Company (formerly AT&T Long Lines ); this was because Massachusetts corporate laws were very restrictive, and limited capitalization to ten million dollars, forestalling American Bell's further growth. With this assets transfer at the very end of

1547-457: A copy of Hermann von Helmholtz 's work, The Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music . Dismayed to find that groundbreaking work had already been undertaken by Helmholtz, who had conveyed vowel sounds by means of a similar tuning fork "contraption", Bell pored over the book. Working from his own erroneous mistranslation of a French edition, Bell fortuitously then made

1666-411: A corporate art consultant approached, artist sculptor, Elyn Zimmerman , to commission a 30-foot diameter project with fountain and seating area for the conference center courtyard gardens. In 1994, the project was completed and had one 34 ton granite boulder centered on top of the other boulders, which flowed water from the fountain designed by fountain engineer, Dr. Gerald Palevsky. AT&T occupancy at

1785-421: A couple of the original claims from the lower court cases were left undecided. By the time the trial had wound its way through nine years of legal battles, the U.S. prosecuting attorney had died and the two Bell patents (No. 174,465, dated March 7, 1876, and No. 186,787, dated January 30, 1877) were no longer in effect, although the presiding judges agreed to continue the proceedings due to the case's importance as

1904-411: A cup of mercury, not water. He had filed the mercury application at the patent office on February 25, 1875, long before Gray described the water device. In addition, Gray abandoned his caveat, and because he did not contest Bell's priority, the examiner approved Bell's patent on March 3, 1876. Gray had reinvented the variable resistance telephone, but Bell was the first to write down the idea and test it in

2023-538: A deduction that would underpin all his future work on transmitting sound, reporting: "Without knowing much about the subject, it seemed to me that if vowel sounds could be produced by electrical means, so could consonants, so could articulate speech." He also later remarked: "I thought that Helmholtz had done it ... and that my failure was due only to my ignorance of electricity. It was a valuable blunder ... If I had been able to read German in those days, I might never have commenced my experiments!" In 1865, when

2142-637: A deep interest in the emerging science of heredity . His work in this area has been called "the soundest, and most useful study of human heredity proposed in nineteenth-century America... Bell's most notable contribution to basic science, as distinct from invention." Bell was born in Edinburgh , Scotland , on March 3, 1847. The family home was at South Charlotte Street, and has a stone inscription marking it as Bell's birthplace. He had two brothers: Melville James Bell (1845–1870) and Edward Charles Bell (1848–1867), both of whom died of tuberculosis . His father

2261-463: A family friend. To close relatives and friends he remained "Aleck". Bell and his siblings attended a Presbyterian Church in their youth. As a child, Bell displayed a curiosity about his world; he gathered botanical specimens and ran experiments at an early age. His best friend was Ben Herdman, a neighbor whose family operated a flour mill. At the age of 12, Bell built a homemade device that combined rotating paddles with sets of nail brushes, creating

2380-435: A far-reaching decision to concentrate on his experiments in sound. Giving up his lucrative private Boston practice, Bell retained only two students, six-year-old "Georgie" Sanders, deaf from birth, and 15-year-old Mabel Hubbard . Each played an important role in the next developments. Georgie's father, Thomas Sanders, a wealthy businessman, offered Bell a place to stay in nearby Salem with Georgie's grandmother, complete with

2499-555: A headquarters on 195 Broadway (close to what is now the World Trade Center site ). The property originally belonged to Western Union , of which AT&T held a controlling interest until 1913 when AT&T divested its interest as part of the Kingsbury Commitment . Construction of the current building began in 1912. Designed by William Welles Bosworth , who played a significant role in designing Kykuit ,

SECTION 20

#1732791849780

2618-637: A large hollow nestled in trees at the back of the property above the river. Despite his frail condition upon arriving in Canada, Bell found the climate and environs to his liking and rapidly improved. He continued his interest in the study of the human voice, and when he discovered the Six Nations Reserve across the river at Onondaga , learned the Mohawk language and translated its unwritten vocabulary into Visible Speech symbols. For his work, Bell

2737-445: A message could pay a "toll" to AT&T and then air the message publicly. The original studio was the size of a telephone booth. The idea, however, did not take hold, because people would pay to broadcast messages only if they were sure that someone was listening. As a result, WEAF began broadcasting entertainment material, drawing amateur talent found among its employees. Opposition to AT&T's expansion into radio and an agreement with

2856-474: A new building at 550 Madison Avenue . This new AT&T Building was designed by Philip Johnson and quickly became an icon of the new Postmodern architectural style. The building was completed in 1984, the very year of the divestiture of the Bell System. The building proved to be too large for the post-divestiture corporation and in 1993, AT&T leased the building to Sony , who then subsequently owned

2975-402: A non-profit 501(c)(3) telephone company employee service organization, and their families and friends have spent over 66,500 hours in repairing and renovating the building. Jefferson Barracks played a key role in westward movement, training and deploying troops to lead exploration of the west and to protect commerce and settlement along western trails. It was from Jefferson Barracks that many of

3094-539: A patent on an invention, and starting a family, Bell continued as a teacher. In May 1870, Melville died from complications of tuberculosis, causing a family crisis. His father had also experienced a debilitating illness earlier in life and been restored to health by convalescence in Newfoundland . Bell's parents embarked upon a long-planned move when they realized that their remaining son was also sickly. Acting decisively, Alexander Melville Bell asked Bell to arrange for

3213-435: A room to "experiment". Although the offer was made by Georgie's mother and followed the year-long arrangement in 1872 where her son and his nurse had moved to quarters next to Bell's boarding house, it was clear that Mr. Sanders backed the proposal. The arrangement was for teacher and student to continue their work together, with free room and board thrown in. Mabel was a bright, attractive girl ten years Bell's junior who became

3332-631: A sale-leaseback agreement valued at $ 650.3 million on the complex with the address previously known as One Verizon Way. In 2017, the 35 acre hotel/conference center was known as the Dolce Basking Ridge Hotel and sold for $ 30 million. On February 15, 2024, AT&T Inc. filed notice with the Kentucky Public Service Commission that it intends to make an internal structural change and merge AT&T Corp. into AT&T Enterprises, Inc., which will become

3451-561: A simple dehusking machine that was put into operation at the mill and used steadily for a number of years. In return, Ben's father John Herdman gave both boys the run of a small workshop in which to "invent". From his early years, Bell showed a sensitive nature and a talent for art, poetry, and music that his mother encouraged. With no formal training, he mastered the piano and became the family's pianist. Though normally quiet and introspective, he reveled in mimicry and "voice tricks" akin to ventriloquism that entertained family guests. Bell

3570-595: A student in Latin and Greek, he instructed classes himself in return for board and £10 per session. The next year, he attended the University of Edinburgh , joining his brother Melville, who had enrolled there the previous year. In 1868, not long before he departed for Canada with his family, Bell completed his matriculation exams and was accepted for admission to University College London . Bell's father encouraged his interest in speech and, in 1863, took his sons to see

3689-595: A teaching practice and in 1871, he accompanied his father to Montreal, where Melville was offered a position to teach his System of Visible Speech. Bell's father was invited by Sarah Fuller , principal of the Boston School for Deaf Mutes (later to become the public Horace Mann School for the Deaf ) to introduce the Visible Speech System by providing training for Fuller's instructors, but he declined

Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum - Misplaced Pages Continue

3808-572: A telephone. The patent examiner , Zenas Fisk Wilber, later stated in an affidavit that he was an alcoholic who was much in debt to Bell's lawyer, Marcellus Bailey , with whom he had served in the Civil War. He said he had shown Bailey Gray's patent caveat. Wilber also said (after Bell arrived in Washington D.C. from Boston) that he showed Bell Gray's caveat and that Bell paid him $ 100 (equivalent to $ 2,800 in 2023). Bell said they discussed

3927-517: A unique automaton developed by Sir Charles Wheatstone based on the earlier work of Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen . The rudimentary "mechanical man" simulated a human voice. Bell was fascinated by the machine, and after he obtained a copy of von Kempelen's book, published in German, and had laboriously translated it, he and Melville built their own automaton head. Their father, highly interested in their project, offered to pay for any supplies and spurred

4046-474: A working model of his telephone. On August 3, 1876, from the telegraph office in Brantford, Bell sent a telegram to the village of Mount Pleasant four miles (six kilometres) away, indicating that he was ready. He made a telephone call via telegraph wires and faint voices were heard replying. The following night, he amazed guests as well as his family with a call between the Bell Homestead and the office of

4165-631: A young child, Bell, like his brothers, was schooled at home by his father. At an early age, he was enrolled at the Royal High School , Edinburgh; he left at age 15, having completed only the first four forms. His school record was undistinguished, marked by absenteeism and lackluster grades. His main interest remained in the sciences, especially biology, while he treated other school subjects with indifference, to his father's dismay. Upon leaving school, Bell traveled to London to live with his grandfather, Alexander Bell, on Harrington Square . During

4284-619: Is called a "hypostyle hall", with full-bodied Doric columns modeled on the Parthenon, marking out a grid. Bosworth was seeking to coordinate the classical tradition with the requirements of a modern building. Columns were not merely the decorative elements they had become in the hands of other architects but created all the illusion of being real supports. Bosworth also designed the campus of MIT as well as Theodore N. Vail 's mansion in Morristown, New Jersey . In 1978, AT&T commissioned

4403-554: The American Telephone and Telegraph Company , was an American telecommunications company that provided voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agencies. During the Bell System 's long history, AT&T was at times the world's largest telephone company, the world's largest cable television operator, and a regulated monopoly. At its peak in

4522-672: The Boston University School of Oratory. During this period, he alternated between Boston and Brantford, spending summers in his Canadian home. At Boston University, Bell was "swept up" by the excitement engendered by the many scientists and inventors living in the city. He continued his research in sound and endeavored to find a way to transmit musical notes and articulate speech, but although absorbed by his experiments, he found it difficult to devote enough time to experimentation. With days and evenings occupied by his teaching and private classes, Bell began to stay awake late into

4641-505: The National Broadcasting Company to lease long-distance lines for their broadcasts resulted in the sale of the station and its developing network of affiliates to NBC. On April 30, 1907, Theodore Newton Vail became President of AT&T. Vail believed in the superiority of one phone system and AT&T adopted the slogan "One Policy, One System, Universal Service." This would be the company's philosophy for

4760-399: The U.S. Supreme Court , but none was successful in establishing priority over Bell's original patent, and the Bell Telephone Company never lost a case that had proceeded to a final trial stage. Bell's laboratory notes and family letters were the key to establishing a long lineage to his experiments. The Bell company lawyers successfully fought off myriad lawsuits generated initially around

4879-599: The "world's first long-distance call". It proved that the telephone could work over long distances, at least as a one-way call. The first two-way (reciprocal) conversation over a line occurred between Cambridge and Boston (roughly 2.5 miles) on October 9, 1876. During that conversation, Bell was on Kilby Street in Boston and Watson was at the offices of the Walworth Manufacturing Company. Bell and his partners, Hubbard and Sanders, offered to sell

Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum - Misplaced Pages Continue

4998-484: The 1950s and 1960s, it employed one million people and its revenue ranged between US$ 3 billion in 1950 ($ 41.3 billion in present-day terms ) and $ 12 billion in 1966 ($ 117 billion in present-day terms ). In 2005, AT&T was acquired by " Baby Bell " and former subsidiary SBC Communications for more than $ 16 billion ($ 25 billion in present-day terms ). SBC then changed its name to AT&T Inc. , with AT&T Corporation continuing to exist as

5117-441: The 19th century, AT&T became the parent of both American Bell and the Bell System . AT&T was involved mainly in the telephone business and, although it was a partner with RCA , was reluctant to see radio grow because such growth might diminish the demand for wired services. It established station WEAF in New York as what was termed a toll station . AT&T could provide no programming, but anyone who wished to broadcast

5236-552: The Bell family moved to London, Bell returned to Weston House as an assistant master and, in his spare hours, continued experiments on sound using a minimum of laboratory equipment. Bell concentrated on experimenting with electricity to convey sound and later installed a telegraph wire from his room in Somerset College to that of a friend. Throughout late 1867, his health faltered mainly through exhaustion. His brother Edward

5355-655: The Bell telephone without having to pay royalties. The establishment of the International Bell Telephone Company in Brussels, Belgium, in 1880, as well as a series of agreements in other countries eventually consolidated a global telephone operation. The strain put on Bell by his constant appearances in court, necessitated by the legal battles, eventually resulted in his resignation from the company. AT%26T Corporation AT&T Corporation , an abbreviation for its former name,

5474-597: The Civil War, the post housed one of the nation’s largest military hospitals, making critical advances in the treatment of wounded sent there from distant battlefields. Among the “firsts” occurring here is the Barracks’ initial mission as the U.S. Army’s first basic training center, the organization of the First Dragoons (forerunners of the American cavalry), the first successful parachute jump from an airplane, and

5593-679: The Deaf (United States) , but in his memoir Memoir upon the Formation of a Deaf Variety of the Human Race , he observed that if deaf people tended to marry other deaf people, this could result in the emergence of a "deaf race". Ultimately, in 1880, the Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf passed a resolution mandating the teaching of oral communication and banning signing in schools. In 1872, Bell became professor of Vocal Physiology and Elocution at

5712-505: The Deaf for a recommendation. Teaching his father's system, in October 1872, Alexander Bell opened his "School of Vocal Physiology and Mechanics of Speech" in Boston, which attracted a large number of deaf pupils, with his first class numbering 30 students. While he was working as a private tutor, one of his pupils was Helen Keller , who came to him as a young child unable to see, hear, or speak. She later said that Bell dedicated his life to

5831-498: The Dominion Telegraph Company in Brantford along an improvised wire strung up along telegraph lines and fences, and laid through a tunnel. This time, guests at the household distinctly heard people in Brantford reading and singing. The third test, on August 10, 1876, was made via the telegraph line between Brantford and Paris, Ontario, eight miles (thirteen kilometres) away. This test is said by many sources to be

5950-530: The Rockefeller mansion north of Tarrytown, New York , it was a modern steel structure clad top to bottom in a Greek-styled exterior, the three-story-high Ionic columns of Vermont granite forming eight registers over a Doric base. The lobby of the AT&;T Building was one of the most unusual ones of the era. Instead of a large double-high space, similar to the nearby Woolworth Building , Bosworth designed what

6069-724: The United States alone. It explains methods to instruct deaf-mutes (as they were then known) to articulate words and read other people's lip movements to decipher meaning. Bell's father taught him and his brothers not only to write Visible Speech but to identify any symbol and its accompanying sound. Bell became so proficient that he became a part of his father's public demonstrations and astounded audiences with his abilities. He could decipher Visible Speech representing virtually every language, including Latin , Scottish Gaelic , and even Sanskrit , accurately reciting written tracts without any prior knowledge of their pronunciation. As

SECTION 50

#1732791849780

6188-689: The United States and Canada through a network of companies called the Bell System . At this time, the company was nicknamed Ma Bell . AT&T had a domestic and global presence in laying the infrastructure of undersea routes for telecommunications. In 1950, the U.S. Navy commissioned a network of undersea surveillance cables for foreign submarine detection. AT&T was probably, according to internal employees, involved in this Sound Surveillance System ( SOSUS ). After completion, AT&T began commercial operations in cable laying for communications in 1955. The implementation of cables assured local and long-distance telephone or data services would provide revenue for

6307-486: The Vietnam War, hundreds of pieces of telephone-related equipment and tools, a telephone pole complete with climbing equipment, hundreds of pieces of telephone-related memorabilia from the 1880s through the 2000s, a large variety of novelty telephones, a special portable switchboard set up when U.S. Presidents Carter, Ford, Nixon and Johnson were visiting St. Louis and a sculpture of Alexander Graham Bell and history of

6426-424: The ability to create a working model of his ideas. But a chance meeting in 1874 between Bell and Thomas A. Watson , an experienced electrical designer and mechanic at the electrical machine shop of Charles Williams, changed that. With financial support from Sanders and Hubbard, Bell hired Watson as his assistant, and the two experimented with acoustic telegraphy . On June 2, 1875, Watson accidentally plucked one of

6545-433: The boys on with the enticement of a "big prize" if they were successful. While his brother constructed the throat and larynx , Bell tackled the more difficult task of recreating a realistic skull. His efforts resulted in a remarkably lifelike head that could "speak", albeit only a few words. The boys would carefully adjust the "lips" and when a bellows forced air through the windpipe , a very recognizable Mama ensued, to

6664-588: The building until it was sold in 2013. In 1969, AT&T began plans to construct an administration corporate complex in the suburbs. In early 1970, AT&T began purchases of land in the suburbs of New Jersey for this office complex and began construction in 1974. The award-winning architect, Vincent Kling , designed a Fordism style, luxurious "Pagoda" campus layout and the construction firms: New York–based Walter Kidde and Newark, New Jersey –based Frank Briscoe, managed this joint venture construction project with Vollers Construction of Branchburg, New Jersey , as

6783-487: The challenges by Elisha Gray and Amos Dolbear . In personal correspondence to Bell, both Gray and Dolbear had acknowledged his prior work, which considerably weakened their later claims. On January 13, 1887, the U.S. government moved to annul the patent issued to Bell on the grounds of fraud and misrepresentation. After a series of decisions and reversals, the Bell company won a decision in the Supreme Court, though

6902-537: The company. AT&T Long Lines was one of the divisions responsible for the cable-laying and maintaining of Long Lines' undersea cables. Western Electric was the manufacturing company responsible for production and supply of undersea coaxial equipment and later, fiber cables. Equipment such as repeaters was manufactured in Clark, New Jersey and coaxial cable was manufactured in Baltimore, Maryland . Also, Bell Labs

7021-497: The conflict, including Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. Post commanders of later periods, Guy V. Henry, Walter Krueger and Walter C. Short took leading roles in the Spanish–American War and World War II. Besides its extensive collection of telephones manufactured from the 1900s through the 2000s, the Jefferson Barracks Telephone Museum also contains a working Central Office Step Switch, military telephones from WWII through

7140-578: The corporate logo designed by Saul Bass in 1983 and originally used by AT&T Information Systems , was created because part of the United States v. AT&T settlement required AT&T to relinquish all claims to the use of Bell System trademarks. It has been nicknamed the " Death Star " in reference to the Death Star space station in Star Wars which the logo resembles. In 1999 it

7259-462: The country’s significant western forts were established and supplied. Architecturally, the district contains buildings dating from three major military building periods including 1850s era munitions buildings, the nationwide military post redevelopment campaign of the 1880s and 1890s using standardized quartermaster plans and buildings associated with military build-up in World War I and II. During

SECTION 60

#1732791849780

7378-530: The deaf could be taught to read lips and speak (known as oralism ), enabling their integration with wider society. Members of the Deaf community have criticized Bell for supporting ideas that could cause the closure of dozens of deaf schools, and what some consider eugenicist ideas. Bell did not support a ban on deaf people marrying each other, an idea articulated by the National Association of

7497-558: The degree examinations, devoting his spare time to studying. Helping his father in Visible Speech demonstrations and lectures brought Bell to Susanna E. Hull's private school for the deaf in South Kensington , London. His first two pupils were deaf-mute girls who made remarkable progress under his tutelage. While Melville seemed to achieve success on many fronts, including opening his own elocution school, applying for

7616-538: The delight of neighbors who came to see the invention. Intrigued by the results of the automaton, Bell continued to experiment with a live subject, the family's Skye Terrier , Trouve. After he taught it to growl continuously, Bell would reach into its mouth and manipulate the dog's lips and vocal cords to produce a crude-sounding "Ow ah oo ga ma ma". With little convincing, visitors believed his dog could articulate "How are you, grandmama?" Indicative of his playful nature, his experiments convinced onlookers that they saw

7735-454: The device to Queen Victoria , placing calls to Cowes, Southampton, and London. These were the first publicly witnessed long-distance telephone calls in the UK . The queen found the process "quite extraordinary" although the sound was "rather faint". She later asked to buy the equipment that was used, but Bell offered to make "a set of telephones" specifically for her. The Bell Telephone Company

7854-509: The director of the Smithsonian Institution , to ask his advice on the electrical multi-reed apparatus that Bell hoped would transmit the human voice by telegraph. Henry said Bell had "the germ of a great invention". When Bell said that he lacked the necessary knowledge, Henry replied, "Get it!" That declaration greatly encouraged Bell to keep trying, even though he had neither the equipment needed to continue his experiments nor

7973-506: The electromagnetic telephone and never used Gray's liquid transmitter in public demonstrations or commercial use. The examiner raised the question of priority for the variable resistance feature of the telephone before approving Bell's patent application. He told Bell that his claim for the variable resistance feature was also described in Gray's caveat. Bell pointed to a variable resistance device in his previous application in which he described

8092-641: The existence of the nearly 140-year-old entity. The internal merger took effect on May 1, 2024. AT&T, prior to its merger with SBC Communications , had three core companies: AT&T Alascom sold service in Alaska. AT&T Communications was renamed AT&T Communications – East, Inc. and sold long-distance telephone service and operated as a CLEC outside of the borders of the Bell Operating Companies that AT&T owned. It has now been absorbed into AT&T Corp. and all but 4 of

8211-600: The first U.S. patent for the telephone, on March 7, 1876. Bell considered his invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study. Many other inventions marked Bell's later life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications , hydrofoils , and aeronautics . Bell also had a strong influence on the National Geographic Society and its magazine while serving as its second president from 1898 to 1903. Beyond his work in engineering, Bell had

8330-454: The first of three cases in which he was involved, Meucci took the stand as a witness in hope of establishing his invention's priority. Meucci's testimony was disputed due to lack of material evidence for his inventions, as his working models were purportedly lost at the laboratory of American District Telegraph (ADT) of New York, which was incorporated as a subsidiary of Western Union in 1901. Meucci's work, like that of many other inventors of

8449-446: The following Monday, November 21 as " the new AT&T " and began trading under the "T" symbol on December 1. Present-day AT&T Inc. claims AT&T Corp.'s history as its own, but retains SBC's pre-2005 stock price history and corporate structure. As well, all SEC filings before 2005 are under SBC, not AT&T. From 1885 to 1910, AT&T was headquartered at 125 Milk Street in Boston. With its expansion it moved to New York City, to

8568-512: The former complex, excluding the hotel/conference room building, from Pfizer for Verizon Wireless Headquarters and consolidation of employees from Manhattan as well as other nearby New Jersey building locations. In 2007, Pfizer placed the North Maple Inn for sale. At the time, it was a four-diamond, certified hotel and conference center under IACC ("International Association of Conference Centers") designation. In 2015, Verizon performed

8687-480: The former parent company's main business was now AT&T Communications Inc. , which focused on long-distance services, and with other non-RBOC activities. AT&T acquired NCR Corporation in 1991. AT&T announced in 1995 that it would split into three companies: a manufacturing/R&D company, a computer company, and a services company. NCR , Bell Labs and AT&T Technologies were to be spun off by 1997. In preparation for its spin-off, AT&T Technologies

8806-465: The government reached an agreement that allowed AT&T to continue operating as a telephone monopoly, subject to certain conditions, including divesting its interest in Western Union. While AT&T periodically faced scrutiny from regulators, this state of affairs continued until the company's breakup in 1984. Throughout most of the 20th century, AT&T held a semi-monopoly on phone service in

8925-419: The great cost of constructing new lines. When Bell mentioned to Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders that he was working on a method of sending multiple tones on a telegraph wire using a multi-reed device, the two began to financially support Bell's experiments. Patent matters were handled by Hubbard's patent attorney , Anthony Pollok . In March 1875, Bell and Pollok visited the scientist Joseph Henry , then

9044-404: The invention of the telephone. The self-guided, accessible museum has many hands-on, how-things-work displays. The displays were created to inspire an interest in engineering and history. Boy Scouts can utilize the museum to meet one of their Inventing and Engineering merit badge requirements. Guided tours are available for groups of 10 or more and should be scheduled at least two weeks before

9163-518: The laying or repair of cabling under the subsidiary, Transoceanic Cable Ship Company. After the break-up, AT&T operated their ships under a subsidiary called AT&T Submarine Systems Inc, based in Morristown, New Jersey, until they sold six ships to Tyco International Ltd in 1997 for $ 850 million. AT&T continued to maintain their communication building facilities. Here is a list of the cable laying-ship fleet: Between 1951 and 2000, AT&T

9282-500: The liquid transmitter, Watson, listening at the receiving end in an adjoining room, heard the words clearly. Although Bell was, and still is, accused of stealing the telephone from Gray, Bell used Gray's water transmitter design only after Bell's patent had been granted, and only as a proof of concept scientific experiment, to prove to his own satisfaction that intelligible "articulate speech" (Bell's words) could be electrically transmitted. After March 1876, Bell focused on improving

9401-601: The location peaked to 6,000 employees in its heyday before AT&T experienced competition and downsizing. In October 2001, the Basking Ridge property was 140 acre with 2.6 million square feet and was placed for sale. Basking Ridge employee occupancy, prior to the sale were approximately 3,200 employees. In April 2002, Pharmacia Corporation purchased the complex for $ 210 million for their corporate headquarters from existing Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey headquarters. A short time afterwards, in 2005, Verizon purchased

9520-479: The next 70 years. Under Vail, AT&T began buying up many of the smaller telephone companies including Western Union telegraph . These actions brought unwanted attention from antitrust regulators. Anxious to avoid action from government antitrust suits, AT&T and the federal government entered into an agreement known as the Kingsbury Commitment . In the Kingsbury Commitment, AT&T and

9639-414: The next day resumed work, drawing in his notebook a diagram similar to that in Gray's patent caveat. On March 10, Bell succeeded in getting his telephone to work, using a liquid transmitter similar to Gray's design. Vibration of the diaphragm caused a needle to vibrate in the water, varying the electrical resistance in the circuit. When Bell spoke the sentence "Mr. Watson—Come here—I want to see you" into

9758-433: The night, running experiment after experiment in rented facilities at his boarding house. Keeping "night owl" hours, he worried that his work would be discovered and took great pains to lock up his notebooks and laboratory equipment. Bell had a specially made table where he could place his notes and equipment inside a locking cover. His health deteriorated as he had severe headaches. Returning to Boston in fall 1873, Bell made

9877-481: The object of his affection. Having lost her hearing after a near-fatal bout of scarlet fever close to her fifth birthday, she had learned to read lips but her father, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Bell's benefactor and personal friend, wanted her to work directly with her teacher. By 1874, Bell's initial work on the harmonic telegraph had entered a formative stage, with progress made both at his new Boston "laboratory" (a rented facility) and at his family home in Canada

9996-530: The operation of the first Army Air Corps Technical Training School. The Barracks provided the first military escort to merchant trains on the Santa Fe Trail, sent exploratory and protective troops out on the Oregon Trail and served as a central depot sending both men and supplies to a major network of western forts active during the various Indian Wars. Countless American military heroes served at

10115-410: The original 22 subsidiaries that formed AT&T Communications continue to exist. AT&T Laboratories has been integrated into AT&T Labs , formerly named SBC Laboratories . AT&T was also known as "Ma Bell" and affectionately called "Mother" by phone phreaks . During some strikes by its employees, picketers would wear T-shirts reading, "Ma Bell is a real mother." Before the break-up, there

10234-484: The parade ground was a clear delineation of military rank, with officers on the northern perimeter. In 1909, electricity was added to the duplexes and bathrooms were installed in 1925. Sunrooms were added on the second floor and the first floor areas beneath each of the new rooms were enlarged in 1938. The officers and their families moved out the duplexes in the mid-1940s. Members of the Telecom Pioneers ,

10353-466: The patent only in general terms, although in a letter to Gray, Bell admitted that he learned some of the technical details. Bell denied in an affidavit that he ever gave Wilber any money. On March 10, 1876, Bell used "the instrument" in Boston to call Thomas Watson who was in another room but out of earshot. He said, "Mr. Watson, come here – I want to see you" and Watson soon appeared at his side. Continuing his experiments in Brantford, Bell brought home

10472-424: The patent outright to Western Union for $ 100,000, equal to $ 2,861,250 today, but it did not work (according to an apocryphal story, the president of Western Union balked, countering that the telephone was nothing but a toy ). Two years later, he told colleagues that if he could get the patent for $ 25 million (equal to $ 789,310,345 today), he would consider it a bargain. By then, the Bell company no longer wanted to sell

10591-481: The patent. Bell's investors became millionaires while he fared well from residuals and at one point had assets of nearly $ 1 million. Bell began a series of public demonstrations and lectures to introduce the new invention to the scientific community as well as the general public. A short time later, his demonstration of an early telephone prototype at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia brought

10710-510: The penetration of that "inhuman silence which separates and estranges". In 1893, Keller performed the sod-breaking ceremony for the construction of Bell's new Volta Bureau , dedicated to "the increase and diffusion of knowledge relating to the deaf". Throughout his life, Bell sought to assimilate the deaf and hard of hearing with the hearing world. He encouraged speech therapy and lipreading over sign language. He outlined this in an 1898 paper detailing his belief that, with resources and effort,

10829-400: The period, was based on earlier acoustic principles and, despite evidence of earlier experiments, the final case involving Meucci was eventually dropped upon Meucci's death. But due to the efforts of Congressman Vito Fossella , on June 11, 2002, the U.S. House of Representatives stated that Meucci's "work in the invention of the telephone should be acknowledged". This did not put an end to

10948-748: The post in favor of his son. Traveling to Boston in April 1871, Bell proved successful in training the school's instructors. He was asked to repeat the program at the American Asylum for Deaf-mutes in Hartford, Connecticut , and the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts . Returning home to Brantford after six months abroad, Bell continued his experiments with his "harmonic telegraph". The basic concept behind his device

11067-455: The post over the years. Early leaders Thomas Atkinson, Henry Leavenworth and Henry Dodge had already won fame in the War of 1812 before coming to Jefferson Barracks. The post’s size and military importance in the mid-19th century meant that most rising young West Pointers saw service there. This provided a pool of experienced leadership from which came hundreds of Civil War generals on both sides of

11186-452: The primacy of Bell's patent. Bell was in Boston on February 14 and did not arrive in Washington until February 26. On March 7, 1876, the U.S. Patent Office issued Bell patent 174,465. It covered "the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically ... by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sound" Bell returned to Boston that day and

11305-507: The receiving telephone. Pedro II of Brazil was the first person to buy stock in the Bell Telephone Company. One of the first telephones in a private residence was installed in his palace in Petrópolis , his summer retreat forty miles (sixty-four kilometres) from Rio de Janeiro . In January 1915, Bell made the first ceremonial transcontinental telephone call . Calling from the AT&T head office at 15 Dey Street in New York City, Bell

11424-410: The reeds and Bell, at the receiving end of the wire, heard the reed's overtones that would be necessary for transmitting speech. That demonstrated to Bell that only one reed or armature was necessary, not multiple reeds. This led to the "gallows" sound-powered telephone , which could transmit indistinct, voice-like sounds, but not clear speech. In 1875, Bell developed an acoustic telegraph and drew up

11543-508: The sale of all the family property, conclude all his brother's affairs (Bell took on his last student, curing a pronounced lisp), and join his father and mother in setting out for the " New World ". Reluctantly, Bell also had to conclude a relationship with Marie Eccleston, who, as he had surmised, was not prepared to leave England with him. In 1870, 23-year-old Bell traveled with his parents and his brother's widow, Caroline Margaret Ottaway, to Paris, Ontario , to stay with Thomas Henderson,

11662-659: The specification and inspection of non Bell System cable for networks such as the TAT-2 . By the continuous undersea network installations, AT&T was a globally technology leader with the 1970 installed TAT-5 and the 1975 installed TAT-6 , achieving 720 channels and then 4000 channels for transmitting voice or data. Prior to 1963, AT&T had to charter oceanic ships, such as the CS Monarch (1945) for installations. AT&T purchased CS Long Lines in 1961 and operated it with several cable laying ships that would provide, either

11781-468: The still contentious issue. Some modern scholars do not agree that Bell's work on the telephone was influenced by Meucci's inventions. The value of Bell's patent was acknowledged throughout the world, and patent applications were made in most major countries. When Bell delayed the German patent application, the electrical firm Siemens & Halske set up a rival manufacturer of Bell telephones under its own patent. Siemens produced near-identical copies of

11900-535: The subcontractor. The 295 North Maple Avenue and Interstate 287 location of Basking Ridge in Bernards Township , New Jersey was completed in 1975 for the AT&T General Department offices. Employees began moving, in November 1975, to the seven inter-connected building complex using 28 acre of the property. The property had a 15-acre underground parking garage with spaces for 3,900 vehicles, and included

12019-521: The telephone to international attention. Influential visitors to the exhibition included Emperor Pedro II of Brazil . One of the judges at the Exhibition, Sir William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin), a renowned Scottish scientist, described the telephone as "the greatest by far of all the marvels of the electric telegraph". On January 14, 1878, at Osborne House , on the Isle of Wight , Bell demonstrated

12138-711: The tour. Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell ( / ˈ ɡ r eɪ . ə m / , born Alexander Bell ; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born Canadian-American inventor, scientist, and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone . He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885. Bell's father , grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell's life's work. His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices, which eventually culminated in his being awarded

12257-436: The undulating currents back into sound. But he had no working model to demonstrate the feasibility of these ideas. In 1874, telegraph message traffic was rapidly expanding and, in the words of Western Union President William Orton , had become "the nervous system of commerce". Orton had contracted with inventors Thomas Edison and Elisha Gray to find a way to send multiple telegraph messages on each telegraph line to avoid

12376-486: The year he spent with his grandfather, a love of learning was born, with long hours spent in serious discussion and study. The elder Bell took great efforts to have his young pupil learn to speak clearly and with conviction, attributes he would need to become a teacher himself. At age 16, Bell secured a position as a "pupil-teacher" of elocution and music at Weston House Academy in Elgin, Moray , Scotland. Although enrolled as

12495-407: Was Alexander Melville Bell , a phonetician , and his mother was Eliza Grace Bell ( née Symonds). Born as just "Alexander Bell", at age 10 he made a plea to his father to have a middle name like his two brothers. For his 11th birthday, his father acquiesced and allowed him to adopt the name "Graham", chosen out of respect for Alexander Graham, a Canadian being treated by his father who had become

12614-494: Was also deeply affected by his mother's gradual deafness (she began to lose her hearing when he was 12), and learned a manual finger language so he could sit at her side and tap out silently the conversations swirling around the family parlor. He also developed a technique of speaking in clear, modulated tones directly into his mother's forehead, whereby she would hear him with reasonable clarity. Bell's preoccupation with his mother's deafness led him to study acoustics . His family

12733-401: Was also experimenting with acoustic telegraphy and thought of a way to transmit speech using a water transmitter. On February 14, 1876, Gray filed a caveat with the U.S. Patent Office for a telephone design that used a water transmitter. That same morning, Bell's lawyer filed Bell's application with the patent office. There is considerable debate about who arrived first and Gray later challenged

12852-434: Was awarded the title of Honorary Chief and participated in a ceremony where he donned a Mohawk headdress and danced traditional dances. After setting up his workshop, Bell continued experiments based on Helmholtz's work with electricity and sound. He also modified a melodeon (a type of pump organ) to transmit its music electrically over a distance. Once the family was settled, Bell and his father made plans to establish

12971-427: Was created in 1877, and by 1886, more than 150,000 people in the U.S. owned telephones. Bell Company engineers made numerous other improvements to the telephone, which emerged as one of the most successful products ever. In 1879, the company acquired Edison's patents for the carbon microphone from Western Union. This made the telephone practical for longer distances, and it was no longer necessary to shout to be heard at

13090-516: Was greater consumer recognition of the "Bell System" name, in comparison to the name AT&T. This prompted the company to launch an advertising campaign after the break-up to increase its name recognition. Spinoffs like the Regional Bell Operating Companies or RBOC s were often called "Baby Bells". Ironically, "Ma Bell" was acquired by one of its "Baby Bells", SBC Communications , in 2005. The AT&T Globe Symbol,

13209-465: Was heard by Thomas Watson at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco. The New York Times reported: On October 9, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson talked by telephone to each other over a two-mile wire stretched between Cambridge and Boston. It was the first wire conversation ever held. Yesterday afternoon [on January 25, 1915], the same two men talked by telephone to each other over

13328-457: Was listed 73 times in cable laying operations for specific routes deployed. The Cable Ship Long Lines had 23 cable runs from 1963 to 1992, with the first deep-sea trial of optical fiber cable in 1982 leading to the consortium of countries and locations for the TAT-8 fiber cable implementation of 1988. The United States Justice Department opened the case United States v. AT&T in 1974. This

13447-607: Was long associated with the teaching of elocution: his grandfather, Alexander Bell, in London, his uncle in Dublin , and his father, in Edinburgh, were all elocutionists. His father published a variety of works on the subject, several of which are still well known, especially The Standard Elocutionist (1860), which appeared in Edinburgh in 1868. The Standard Elocutionist appeared in 168 British editions and sold over 250,000 copies in

13566-400: Was prompted by suspicion that AT&T was using monopoly profits from its Western Electric subsidiary to subsidize the cost of its network, a violation of antitrust law. A settlement to this case was finalized in 1982, leading to the division of the company on January 1, 1984, into seven Regional Bell Operating Companies , commonly known as Baby Bells. These companies were: Post-breakup,

13685-491: Was renamed Lucent Technologies . Lucent was completely spun off from AT&T in 1996. On January 31, 2005, the " Baby Bell " company SBC Communications announced its plans to acquire " Ma Bell " AT&T Corp. for $ 16 billion. SBC announced in October 2005 that it would shed the "SBC" brand and take the more recognizable AT&T brand, along with the old AT&T's "T" NYSE ticker symbol. Merger approval concluded on November 18, 2005; SBC Communications began rebranding

13804-543: Was responsible for the innovations of products or technologies in cabling in transmission by undersea systems. In 1955, the first trans-Atlantic telephone undersea cable, TAT-1 , from North America to Europe was installed by AT&T. This installation allowed 48 telephone circuits to be used for long-distance calling. When partnering with other global Telecommunications companies, such as the French Cables de Lyon and German Felten & Guilleaume , Bell Labs provided

13923-474: Was similarly affected by tuberculosis . While Bell recovered (by then referring to himself in correspondence as "A. G. Bell") and served the next year as an instructor at Somerset College, Bath , England, his brother's condition deteriorated. Edward never recovered. Upon his brother's death, Bell returned home in 1867. Melville had married and moved out. With aspirations to obtain a degree at University College London , Bell considered his next years preparation for

14042-483: Was that messages could be sent through a single wire if each was transmitted at a different pitch, but work on both the transmitter and receiver was needed. Unsure of his future, he contemplated returning to London to complete his studies, but decided to return to Boston as a teacher. His father helped him set up his private practice by contacting Gardiner Greene Hubbard , the president of the Clarke School for

14161-466: Was the first of its kind to create a nationwide long-distance network with a commercially viable cost-structure. The project was formally incorporated in New York as a separate company named American Telephone and Telegraph Company on March 3, 1885. Originating in New York City, its long-distance telephone network reached Chicago, Illinois , in 1892, with its multitudes of local exchanges continuing to stretch further and further yearly, eventually creating

#779220