All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

i5o All About Inventions gaged for so many years—the harmonic telegraph. When news of Bell’s patent reached him, Edison at once subjected the instrument, which he had con- trived some time before, to the telephone test, and to his surprise he discovered that he could also transmit the human voice by electrical means over the wire. The surprise is that Edison had never made such an experiment earlier, because if he had done so he certainly would have anticipated the Scottish experimenter’s achievement. Nevertheless, Edison has always ungrudgingly extended the merit of inventing the telephone to Bell, because the latter definitely established the ability to talk by wire. The other inventor in the field was Elisha Gray, of Chicago, who was also a great authority upon sound. He devised an instrument which was cap- able of transmitting the human voice over the wire, and, strange to say, he lodged his patent with the United States Government on the same day as Bell. In this manner a situation, which it is difficult to parallel in the realm of invention, was precipitated. Examination of the two applications revealed the astonishing circumstance of two men advancing the selfsame claims and covering virtually the selfsame ground, although they had been working indepen- dently and unknown to each other a round thousand miles apart. Now, since it was absolutely impossible to grant two patents to two inventors for the self- same discovery, one of the two had to be given priority and extended the patent protection of the Government. This issue could only be determined by ascertaining the precise time at which each had deposited his application. The inquiry in this direc-