- 
  
  Innocenzo Manzetti first creates the idea of an electric "speaking telegraph", or telephone.
 - 
  
  Anotonio Meucci demonstrates an electric voice-operated device.
 - 
  
  Johann Philipp Reis manages to transfer voice electrically over a distance of 340 feet with his Reis telephone.
 - 
  
  Alexander Graham Bell first conceives the theoretical concept for the telephone.
 - 
  
  Bell's lawyer brings his patent for the telephone to the patent office.
 - 
  
  Bell's U.S. Patent for the telephone is granted.
 - 
  
  The first words are clearly spoken over the first telephone.