The Telephone Patent Conspiracy of 1876: The Elisha Gray-Alexander Bell Controversy and Its Many Players (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"give[s] the reader a most interesting insight into the controversy surrounding Bells invention of the telephone. ...entertaining"--TCI Singing Wires

Product Details

• Paperback: 259 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (February 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786408839
• ISBN-13: 978-0786408832
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,464,944 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Technology History Revisited, December 4, 2001

By A Customer

To appreciate the history of technological invention it's important to understand society and the scientific community at the time the inventors lived, as well as the political and industrial forces.

The Telephone Patent Conspiracy of 1876 is a good introduction to understanding science and society at the time Thomas Alva Edison, Alexander Graham Bell and a lot of their contemporary inventors, engineers and scientists changed the world by introducing electric lighting and telecommunicatins to the homes and offices.

The book may appear somewhat biased against Bell and focus mainly on the battle between Bell and Gray. People like Emile Berliner and Edison get only cursory treatment, and Antonio meucci is hardly mentioned. At times the author treats information from newspaper clippings with the same authority as official records. Readers are adviced to check the footnotes.

Still, the book is recommended reading for anyone interested in the history of technology.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A quick read for those in the patent field., November 28, 2003

By	Tom Brody (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book will be a quick read for those in the patent field. After one or two sittings, you'll discover that you've effortlessly reached page one hundred. Although the author does not reveal his credentials or experience, it is clear that he does have some writing experience, as the journey through the pages is a smooth one. The book focuses on details, but also frequently steps back to show you the big picture. For example, there is periodic commentary on the many telegraphic and telephonic machines produced by other inventors around the world, at the time of Bell. Although the footnotes to the first chapter are not inspiring (they include an encyclopedia; scholars would never cite a watered-down tertiary source like an encyclopedia), the sources cited for later chapters are better, e.g., legal depositions. If there could be any improvement in the book, it would be to include step-by-step instructions on how to assemble one or two of the early devices described in the text, e.g., the acidic water device shown on page 96. The author acknowledges Stephen Mican as a helper. Mr. Mican is an experienced patent attorney, having worked on about 40 patents for companies in Milwaukee, Rockford, Chicago, and Rockville, MD, and for the U.S. Navy. Mr. Mican is also an inventor, being listed as the sole inventor of U.S. Pat. No. 5,315,393. One wonders if the book would have been substantially different if it had been written by a historian or by a patent attorney. Readers familiar with patent law will find this book to be filled with intrigue and insights into the history of the USPTO, but other people would probably rather be doing other things with their time.