Did thomas edison invent the telephone?

Although Edison was awarded the first patent in mid-1877, Hughes had demonstrated his working device in front of many witnesses some years earlier, and most historians credit him with its invention. Thomas Alva Edison took the next step in improving the telephone with his invention in 1878 of the carbon grain "transmitter" (microphone) that provided a strong voice signal on the transmitting circuit that made long-distance calls practical. read more

Edison already knew a bit about sound waves, when in 1876, a man named Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for a device that would turn sound waves into an electric current. This fantastic discovery was the start of the telephone as we know it. Bell had invented it; Edison had developed it. read more

The Carbon Microphone (1877-78)-- Alexander Graham Bell may have invented the telephone, but it was Edison who invented a microphone that turned the telephone from a promising gadget into an indispensible machine with real, practical applications. read more