In 1836, Samuel F. B. Morse invented the electric telegraph system, which long before telephones were developed, could send communications across long distances. It employed pulses of electricity to signal the electrical telegraph in order to make marks on a moving paper tape.
Later, in 1887, Granville Tailer Woods (1856 – 910) followed Morse´s work to develop the multiplex telegraph, which allowed communicating by voice over telegraph wires. This device was used to transmit messages between train stations and moving trains assuring a safer public transportation system in the United States.
But is Alexander Graham Bell (1847 – 1922) who is recognized with developing and patenting the first practical telephone, since got the very first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876 and later founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1885. Alexander Graham Bell's success with the telephone was a direct result of his attempts to improve the telegraph.
