1-158-455 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish born American inventor, c1880. Bell (1847-1922) produced the first intelligible telephone transmission on 5 June 1875. He patented the device as the telephone in 1876, beating rival inventor Elisha Gray, who had invented his own version, to the US patent office by just 2 hours. Bell, who became a naturalised American in 1874, also invented the phonograph (1880) and the gramophone (1887). From Les Nouvelles Conquetes de la Science by Louis Figuier. (Paris, 1883).