Talk:History of the telephone
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We need a proper article at History of telephone.-- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus | talk 18:40, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
I like your disambiguation page History of the telephone but I think it would be a mistake to turn it into a full sized article because that would result in a call for a merger in a few weeks. Better to keep it small with a sentence or two for each reference saying: If you want recent history go here, if you want the early history of the Bell companies and their conflicts with rival companies go here, if you want the early history of telephone technology go here, etc. Greensburger 19:44, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
- Well, this should be the main article for the 'history of the telephone'. Timeline is something different, invention may deserve its own subarticle, but this should be a full-fledget article linked from articles like telephone, with subsections like 'invention' or 'history of mobile phones'. This is a standard way - see History_of_communication#Distance_communication.-- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus | talk 19:48, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
[edit] List of sources
Just some book out of copyright that may help with information. J. D. Redding 19:46, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
Philipp Reis: Inventor of the Telephone By Silvanus Phillips Thompson Published 1883 http://books.google.com/books?id=YkHu_MiyFSkC
Bell's Electric Speaking Telephone: Its Invention, Construction, Application, Modification, and ... By George Bartlett Prescott Published 1884 http://books.google.com/books?id=WsMgAAAAMAAJ
The History of the Telephone, By Casson, Herbert Newton, Published 1910 http://books.google.com/books?id=cw4LAAAAIAAJ
A Dictionary of Electrical Words, Terms and Phrases By Edwin James Houston Published 1903 http://books.google.com/books?id=T6YJAAAAIAAJ
Cyclopedia of Applied Electricity: Practical Guide for Electricians, Mechanics, Engineers ... By American School of Correspondence Published 1905 http://books.google.com/books?id=kjIKAAAAIAAJ
[edit] Must the inventor build the invention for it to be called inventing?
In the 1800s, the US Patent Office required working models to prove they would work when built. After a Patent Office fire that destroyed their collection of models, the rules were changed to permit "constructive reduction to practice" which meant a published written description with drawings in sufficient detail that a person of ordinary skill in the art would be able to build one that worked, without having to reinvent it. Examiners do not require working models for mechanical or electrical inventions unless they suspect the proposed invention would violate some physical law. For example perpetual motion machines. The water transmitter of Elisha Gray was clearly described in his patent caveat which constructively reduced it to practice. But it was not published. Bell was able to get a patent with broad claims, because both Meucci's caveat and Gray's caveat were abandoned before publication. Greensburger (talk) 19:40, 25 April 2008 (UTC)
