The telephone has become an indispensable part of modern life, allowing us to communicate across long distances instantly. But telephones have been around for much longer than most people realize. From simple mechanical acoustic devices in the 17th century to Alexander Graham Bell‘s groundbreaking electrical telephone in 1876, inventors spent centuries coming up with innovative ways to transmit speech before telephones became commonplace in the early 20th century.
Tracing the evolution of early telephones offers a fascinating glimpse into the history of communication technology. Each new iteration built upon previous work, incorporating cutting-edge science of its time. As infrastructure improved in the late 1800s, telephones progressed rapidly from expensive novelties to essential business tools to common household items.
Let‘s explore 10 of the oldest telephones and how they laid the foundation for the convenient, ubiquitous devices we know today.
1. Acoustic tin can telephone (17th century)
The simplest telephone technology uses only sound waves transmitted through a taut string or wire. Though its origins are uncertain, the acoustic tin can telephone may have been invented as early as the 17th century. It connects two tin cans with string so sound waves vibrate along the string from one can to the other.
Simple and inexpensive, acoustic phones made speech transmission available to the average person for the first time. They laid conceptual groundwork for more complex electrical devices in the future. Acoustic technology is still used today for things like two-way radios and air tube communication systems.
A basic acoustic telephone with cans and string (By Donsolo29 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3878460)
2. Speaking tubes (17th century onwards)
Speaking tubes are an early mechanical telephone using rigid tubing rather than string to transmit speech vibrations. First used on ships in the 17th century, a sailor would speak into one end of the tube and another sailor would hear the message through the other end. Speaking tubes connected various areas of ships as an early intercom system.
They were later adopted in buildings like banks, hospitals, and mansions in the late 1800s. Speaking tubes allowed remote communication between rooms before intercoms and telephones. Tube material evolved from wood and leather to metal for durability and sound quality. Though outdated, pneumatic speaking tubes are still used in spaces like bank drive-thrus and MRI operating rooms where other communication technology can interfere.
Speaking tubes on ships and in buildings preceded telephones as early communication systems (By Zaereth at en.wikipedia, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1197982)
3. Reis telephone (1861)
In 1861, German inventor Johann Philipp Reis unveiled an early electrical telephone that could transmit musical tones and simple phrases across a distance. It consisted of a vibrating membrane activated by sound waves, triggering an electrical contact that could transmit the signal to a receiver membrane using a telegraph-like wire. Though able to transmit snippets of human speech, it was unreliable for conversations and not immediately recognized as a breakthrough.
Reis didn‘t have sufficient funding to further develop his "telephon" before his early death. But he pioneered the conversion of acoustic sound waves into variable electrical signals, later perfected by Alexander Graham Bell and others to enable intelligible speech transmission. The Reis telephone represents early experimentation with electricity to replicate the auditory system.
The Reis telephone used electricity to transmit tones and some speech (By Jonee, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=301691)
4. Bell telephone (1876)
Alexander Graham Bell patented the first telephone able to transmit clear two-way speech in 1876. Building on acoustic telephones and Reis‘s electrical work, Bell developed a simple system with a vibrating diaphragm, magnet, and coil that could convert sound waves into variable electrical signals. This allowed continuous analog sound transmission rather than short bursts. The signals were carried over telegraph lines to a receiving telephone that reverse-engineered the signal back into speech through its diaphragm.
Bell‘s groundbreaking patent filing touched off intense legal and corporate battles over telephone technology in the late 1800s. The Bell Telephone Company was eventually established and rapidly expanded phone services, transmission exchanges, infrastructure, and subscribers. The Bell phone made reliable live conversation over long distances possible for the first time.
Alexander Graham Bell‘s first telephone transmission device (By Lyndsay Bird, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42450602)
5. Candlestick telephone (late 1800s)
As telephone infrastructure quickly expanded in the 1880s under the American Bell system, simple handheld phone sets needed for home and office use were developed. The candlestick telephone set combined the earpiece, microphone and ringer in one desk unit for convenience. The tall upright "candlestick" shape housed the ringer bell, which alerted the user to an incoming call.
To use the phone, the user lifted the earpiece off its cradle on the base, similar to picking up a telephone receiver today. The automatic switch hook now opened the line circuit to connect the call when lifted. When placed back down, the user was disconnected. Candlestick models dominated from the 1890s well into the 1930s before upgrade options increased. Up to four candlestick phones could be wired to one phone line in early manual exchanges.
The upright candlestick telephone provided a convenient single-unit desk phone (By Lewis O. Saum, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=301047)
6. Rotary dial desk telephone (1920s)
As automatic telephone exchanges expanded in the early 1900s, telephone sets incorporated rotary dials so callers could directly input the number they wanted to connect to through the exchange. The automatic exchanges used machine switching controlled by the pulses generated by the rotary dial to patch callers to their destination. By the 1920s, rotary desk phones like the A1 mount and oval base models were common.
Early automatic exchanges still involved manual operators for some functions, but direct dialing sped up connections. Common nationwide numbering systems were implemented. Rotary dials would remain dominant on telephones for decades until the touch tone keypad emerged in the 1960s. They enabled customers to directly control more of the call process for faster connections.
Rotary dial telephones like this model streamlined call connections through automatic exchanges (By Bengt Oberger, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1134230)
7. Princess telephone (1959)
As telephone technology became more affordable and accessible by the 1950s, designers created special models aimed at female teenagers for their private spaces. The Princess telephone incorporated sleek European styling with lightweight construction and a smaller footprint. Pastel colors like pink, turquoise, yellow and white matched young girls‘ bedrooms.
The Princess was Western Electric‘s first telephone aimed specifically at the residential consumer market. Much lighter than the hefty black rotary models, it could be conveniently carried around the home. Though initially targeting teen girls, its versatility and range of colors actually attracted wider demographic appeal. By the time production ceased around 1989, over 15 million Princess phones had been sold.
With its feminine colors, the Princess telephone brought lightweight residential phone design into the modern era (By © Nevit Dilmen, CC-BY-SA-3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10427310)
8. Trimline telephone (1965)
Western Electric‘s Trimline telephone model represented a dramatic leap forward in sleek, modern telephone aesthetics in the 1960s. Designed by Donald Genaro for Henry Dreyfuss Associates, it dispensed with the traditional dial face and finger stop. The dial was smoothly integrated into the handset instead. This allowed dramatic shrinkage to a compact, low profile footprint on a desk.
Ushering in the modern residential phone era, the Trimline delivered enhanced portability around the home. Its slim handset also permitted some early wheelchair access. With quality design and ergonomics, the Trimline style became commonplace on telephones by the 1970s as old rotary models were retired. Its streamlined, molded appearance and push-button dial tone ringer resonated with 1960s/1970s interior design trends favoring glossy minimalism over ornate adornment.
With its integrated slim dial and low profile, the Western Electric Trimline telephone brought modern aesthetics to 1960s homes (By ©2005 by James Vaughan. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=998999)
9. Touch tone telephone (1963)
After decades of using rotary dials requiring pulse signals, Bell System introduced the touch tone phone in 1963. Developed at Bell Labs, it had a compact array of 12 buttons generating specific audible dual-tone multiple frequency (DTMF) signals when pressed. This tone sequence was decoded automatically at the exchange to register the number or command pressed.
The first experimental touch tone phone had been developed in the 1950s but took time to phase into telephone exchanges. Customers initially perceived the different push button tones as harsh or foreign. But improved components providing smoother tones enabled widespread conversion to touch tone by the 1970s. Touch tone phones offered several advantages over rotary, especially speedier dialing. Most non-rotary phones today now have a touch tone keypad.
The touch tone keypad phone provided faster dialing and network signaling (By Daderot, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36743327)
10. Mobile cellular telephone (1973)
AT&T engineer Martin Cooper made the first public call on a truly mobile cellular phone on a New York City street in 1973. Though vehicle-based cellular car phones had been tested as early as 1946, Cooper created the first completely portable handheld model. Weighing 2.5 pounds, the phone had about 20 minutes of battery life.
Cooper considered the mobile phone primarily a business productivity tool rather than personal device when developing the early prototype. But after a decade of infrastructure development, cellular networks spread rapidly in the 1980s. More compact and affordable mobile phone models like Motorola‘s 1983 DynaTAC soon emerged. With nationwide coverage and roaming by the 1990s, mobile phones leapt into the consumer mass market and became a ubiquitous personal accessory.
Martin Cooper‘s 1973 prototype mobile phone was the first portable, handheld cell phone model (By Rico Shen, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4626138)
Early Telephones Set the Stage for Today‘s Communications
The path from primitive acoustic device to today‘s powerful multimedia smartphone was paved by centuries of discovery and invention. Each early telephone broke new ground in transmitting speech electrically, converting it to signals carried farther and clearer than before. Innovations like amplification, multiplexing, frequency modulation, switching systems, computerization and wireless transmission followed the pioneering breakthroughs of these earliest telephone creators.
Bell considered his telephone an improvement on the telegraph. Similarly, each new telephone technology improved on previous shortcomings like sound quality, distance, reliability or physical accessibility. As cellular networks now span the globe, the early vision of reliable long distance speech communication is fully realized in our palms daily. Understanding the painstaking progress behind even the earliest telephones increases our appreciation for how effortlessly we connect today.
