The life and work of Antonio Meucci, an Italian immigrant who claimed to have invented the telephone, are reviewed on the basis of sound evidence retrieved by the author in various archives. Of paramount importance toward establishing the historical truth was an affidavit retrieved among the (never-printed) acta of the suit instituted by the U.S. government to annul the two basic patents of Alexander Graham Bell on the telephone. This affidavit contains the telephone notes of Meucci’s laboratory notebook, complete with drawings, translated into English. Both the notes and the drawings reveal advanced telephone techniques, such as inductive loading, antisidetone circuit, call signaling, line structure, and other contrivances that were to be adopted by the Bell Company many years after the affidavit was notarized, thus demonstrating the originality of Meucci’s inventions.
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References
1.
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2.
Affidavit of Angelo Bertolino. (Sworn 1885, September 18). See Note 31, Box 10, Folder 1.
3.
Affidavit of Antonio Meucci. (Sworn 1885, October 9). Reported in Deposition of Antonio Meucci(1886), Defendant’s Exhibit No. 120. (Also available in print in Deposition of Antonio Meucci, New York Public Library, Annex, Part 2, pp. 10-32)
4.
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6.
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8.
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9.
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10.
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11.
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13.
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19.
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26.
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28.
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47.
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48.
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85.
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107.
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110.
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111.
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112.
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114.
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120.
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121.
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122.
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123.
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124.
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125.
Telephone patents—the application to use the name of the United States in a suit against Bell—a promising movement to annul the patent and break the great monopoly—the claim of Antonio Meucci—sketches and illustrations of the inventor’s instruments (Editorial). (1885, November 9). The Chicago Tribune, p. 3.
126.
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127.
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128.
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129.
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