[GreenKeys] Western Union vs. Telephone 1877

[Steve Hilsz]

Regarding the Western Union memo: 

This "telephone" has too many shortcomings to be
seriously considered as a means of communication.
The device is inherently of no value to us.
                         -Western Union memo, 1877

I have a prototype telephone instrument made in 1878 at the Western Electric Shops of Western Union, marked “American Speaking Telephone Company” and employing an Edison carbon transmitter and an induction coil, with a telegraph sounder mounted on top of it  as a means of signaling incoming calls. I also have another American Speaking Telephone Company instrument from the same era that is marked “Edison’s Telephone” (I guess he wanted full credit). The accompanying receiver on this instrument is marked “Elisha Gray,” the fellow whose patent was literally stolen by Bell in 1876. So, by 1878 Western Union had a change of heart. But by 1879 the courts had ruled in favor of Bell and most all the Western Union instruments had either been destroyed or re-branded “Bell Telephone Company. So much for short-sightedness.

Steve Hilsz

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