A telephone, or phone, is a telecommunications
device that permits two or more users to conduct a
conversation when they are too far
apart to be heard directly. A telephone converts sound , typically and most efficiently the human voice, into electronic signals that are transmitted via cables and other
communication channels to
another telephone which reproduces the sound to the receiving user.
In 1876, Scottish emigrant
Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be granted a United States patent for a
device that produced clearly intelligible replication of the human voice. This instrument was further developed by many others. The telephone was the first
device in history that enabled people to talk directly with each other across large distances. Telephones rapidly became indispensable to businesses, government , and households, and are today some of the most widely used small appliances.
The essential
elements of a telephone are a microphone (transmitter) to speak into and an
earphone (receiver) which reproduces the voice in a distant location. In
addition, most telephones contain a ringer which produces a sound to announce an incoming telephone call , and a dial or keypad used to
enter a telephone number when initiating a call to
another telephone. Until approximately the
1970s most telephones used a rotary dial, which was superseded by the modern DTMF push-
button dial, first introduced to the public by AT&T in 1963. The receiver and transmitter are usually built into a handset which is held up to the ear and mouth
during conversation .
