<P> Elisha Gray, of Highland Park, Illinois (near Chicago) also devised a tone telegraph of this kind about the same time as La Cour . In Gray's tone telegraph, several vibrating steel reeds tuned to different frequencies interrupted the current, which at the other end of the line passed through electromagnets and vibrated matching tuned steel reeds near the electromagnet poles . Gray's' harmonic telegraph,' with vibrating reeds, was used by the Western Union Telegraph Company . Since more than one set of vibration frequencies--that is to say, more than one musical tone--can be sent over the same wire simultaneously, the harmonic telegraph can be utilized as a' multiplex' or many - ply telegraph, conveying several messages through the same wire at the same time . Each message can either be read by an operator by the sound, or from different tones read by different operators, or a permanent record can be made by the marks drawn on a ribbon of travelling paper by a Morse recorder . On July 27, 1875, Gray was granted U.S. patent 166,096 for "Electric Telegraph for Transmitting Musical Tones" (the harmonic) </P> <P> On February 14, 1876, at the US Patent Office, Gray's lawyer filed a patent caveat for a telephone on the very same day that Bell's lawyer filed Bell's patent application for a telephone . The water transmitter described in Gray's caveat was strikingly similar to the experimental telephone transmitter tested by Bell on March 10, 1876, a fact which raised questions about whether Bell (who knew of Gray) was inspired by Gray's design or vice versa . Although Bell did not use Gray's water transmitter in later telephones, evidence suggests that Bell's lawyers may have obtained an unfair advantage over Gray . </P> <P> Alexander Graham Bell is the inventor of the first practical telephone . The classic story of him saying "Watson, come here! I want to see you!" is a well - known part of the history of the telephone . This showed that the telephone worked, but it was a short - range phone . Bell was the first to obtain a patent, in 1876, for an "apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically", after experimenting with many primitive sound transmitters and receivers . Bell was also an astute and articulate businessman with influential and wealthy friends . </P> <P> As Professor of Vocal Physiology at Boston University, Bell was engaged in training teachers in the art of instructing deaf mutes how to speak, and experimented with the Leon Scott phonautograph in recording the vibrations of speech . This apparatus consists essentially of a thin membrane vibrated by the voice and carrying a light - weight stylus, which traces an undulatory line on a plate of smoked glass . The line is a graphic representation of the vibrations of the membrane and the waves of sound in the air . </P>

Who invented the telephone and in what year