Elisha Gray was an American electrical engineer who co-founded the Western Electric Manufacturing Company. Gray is best known for his development of a telephone prototype in 1876 in Highland Park, Illinois. Some recent authors have argued that Gray should be considered the true inventor of the telephone because Alexander Graham Bell allegedly stole the idea of the liquid transmitter from him. Although Gray had been using liquid transmitters in his telephone experiments for more than two years previously, Bell's telephone patent was upheld in numerous court decisions.
Elisha Gray
An early photo of employees of Gray and Barton. Elisha Grey is in the front row, holding his automatic telegraph printer
Elisha Gray's drawing of liquid transmitter made on February 11, 1876
The master telephone patent awarded to Bell, No. 174465, March 7, 1876
The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company that operated from 1869 to 1996. A subsidiary of the AT&T Corporation for most of its lifespan, Western Electric was the primary manufacturer, supplier, and purchasing agent for all telephone equipment the Bell System from 1881 until 1984, when the Bell System was dismantled. Because the Bell System had a near-total monopoly over telephone service in the United States for much of the 20th century, Western Electric's equipment was widespread across the country. The company was responsible for many technological innovations, as well as developments in industrial management.
Gray and Barton building in Chicago about 1870s
Former Western Electric factory on Clinton Street converted to loft apartments
1893 The Western Electric factory. Greenwich and Thames Streets
1969 Western Electric keychain medallion celebrating the 100th anniversary of the company's founding, made from the company's recycled bronze metal of scrapped telephone equipment and issued to employees with an inscribed personal registration number.