March 7, 1876 Bell Gets His U.S. Patent For The Telephone

"Hello?" has been a response we've been giving to a ringing phone since the telephone was invented. On this date March 7, back in 1876 Alexander Graham Bell got his U.S. Patent for the telephone or as basically read in the patent, the system to carry a voice.

Quite amazing how far the phone has come. I'm old enough to remember rotary phones and the days before Caller ID and voice mail. We've also adapted the phone lines over the years to carry internet with at first "dial-up" and just a few years later DSL.

One of the biggest changes aside from wireless/cellular is how we call Europe or long distances across land. Used to be that our calls truly went through wires along roads or a cable at the bottom of the ocean to call overseas; now our calls are bouncing off of satellites without interference or operator interruption. The bulk of these upgrades and changes has been achieved in just one generation. The first 100 years after Bell's patent, everything remained relatively the same. Then came the 1980s and everything went all computerized, digital, push button and whatnot.

I still remember communities in Nova Scotia growing up where you only needed the last four digits of the phone number to call someone within the same town. The first three numbers were implied.

Wonder what the "sharks" of Shark Tank would say about Bell's invention if he went on the show back in 1874?