A telephone is a device that transmits sounds remotely using electrical signals.

It was
invented in 1871 by Antonio Meucci, although the first to patent it was Alexander
Graham Bell, in 1876.
The non-portable device that is linked to another telephone or to a central unit through
metallic conductors is known as a fixed telephone. In contrast, a cell phone or mobile
is an electronic wireless device that accesses a telephone network thanks to radio
waves.
In general, a telephone consists of two circuits: a conversation circuit that handles the
voice and a dialing circuit, linked to dialing and calls.
Both the signals that depart from the telephone to the central office and those that go
from the central office to the telephone are transmitted through the same line of just
two threads. The device responsible for combining and separating both signals is the
hybrid coil or hybrid transformer, which functions as a power coupler.

WHO CREATED THE PHONE?

For a long time Alexander Graham Bell was considered the inventor of the telephone,
along with Elisha Gray. However Bell was not the inventor of this device, but only the
first to patent it. This happened in 1876. On June 11, 2002, the United States
Congress passed Resolution 269, which recognized that the inventor of the telephone
had been Antonio Meucci, who called it telephophone, and not Alexander Graham Bell.
In 1871 Meucci could only, due to financial difficulties, present a brief description of his
invention, but not formalize the patent before the United States Patent Office.

SOME FEATURES
Since its original conception, successive improvements have been introduced, both in
the telephone apparatus itself and in the methods and systems of operation of the
network. As regards the telephone device itself, several things can be pointed out: The
introduction of the carbon microphone, which significantly increased the power
emitted, and therefore the maximum range of communication.
The Luink antilocal device, to avoid disturbance in hearing caused by the ambient noise
of the room where the telephone is installed.
Pulse dialing through the so-called dialing disk.
Touchtone dialing.
The introduction of the electret or electret microphone, condenser microphone,
practically used in all modern devices, which considerably improves the quality of the
sound.
As regards the methods and systems for operating the telephone network, the
following can be pointed out:

Fixed or conventional telephony, which is the one that refers to lines and equipment
that are responsible for communication between non-portable telephone terminals, and
generally linked to each other or to the central by means of metallic conductors. The
manual switching telephone exchange for the interconnection through the intervention
of an operator of different telephones (Harlond), thus creating a first network model.
The introduction of automatic switching telephone exchanges, constituted by
electromechanical devices, of which there have been, and in some cases still exist,
various systems (rotary switching system, crossbar switch and other more complex).
Electromechanical automatic switching centers, but controlled by computer. The digital
automatic switching centers totally electronic and controlled by computer, practically
all of the current ones, which allow a multitude of complementary services to the own
establishment of the communication (the so-called value-added services). The
introduction of the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) and DSL or broadband
techniques (ADSL, HDSL, etc.), which allow the transmission of data at a higher speed.
The mobile or cellular telephony, which enables the wireless transmission of voice and
data, these being able to be at high speed in the new third generation equipment.
There are specific cases, in fixed telephony, in which the connection to the central is
made by radioelectric means, as is the case of rural telephony through cellular access,
in which part of the mobile telephony infrastructure is used to provide telephone
service to areas of difficult access for conventional copper wire lines. However, these
lines for all purposes are considered fixed telephony.

THE FIRST TELEPHONE COMPANIES

With this invention, different telephone companies were created such as the Bell
Telephone Company; in 1878 the American Speaking Telephone Company was formed,
a subsidiary of the Western Union Telegraph Company; years later the Western Union
TelegraphCompany. In Spain, mobile telephony was born in 1976, its creator was the
National Telephone Company of Spain (CTNE) and was created exclusively for Madrid
and Barcelona. The first automatic cellular mobile phone system in Spain was created
in 1982, it was created as a more advanced service based on the NMT standard and
called TMA-450. Later, in 1990, the new TMA-900 cell phone, better known as
Moviline, was launched.

THE FIRST CELLULAR

The first cell phone in history was the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X that first appeared in
1983. It weighed almost a kilo and measured 33 "x 9" x 4.5cm. "It was analog, and
had a small LED display. It lasted very little and the sound was bad but in spite of all
that, there were people who paid the USD $ 3,995 it cost, this made it become a
luxury item and only affordable to certain sectors as businessmen, and high-powered
personnel In 1984, the company sold 900,000 phones. The mobile in its beginnings
used the analogical system, but as of 1995 this system began to be replaced by the
digital one. Exclusively the analogue people used that, by necessity they should have a
greater space of coverage, as it can be in rural areas. This was possible thanks to the
TRAC system. Until 2008, and despite the closure for Moviline users, the analog
system continued to be used even though it was believed that its closure would be 4
years earlier.
THE DIFFERENT GENERATIONS

One can speak of the existence of three generations of mobile telephony:

The first generation is called the generation of "the brick" that had an analog system
and that goes from the appearance of the first mobile phone until the late 80's.
The second generation appears in the 90s in the hands of digital technology. In this
stage the battery lasts much longer than before, they are safer and the sound is better
heard. The great novelty is the sending of messages of testo (sms) that in the
following years will give place to a boom of the mobile telephones producing great
competitions between companies.
The third generation is characterized by the massification of cell phones.

Already in these years all or almost all phones have a SIM card, the prices are cheaper,
the batteries smaller and longer, clear and colorful screens. They also have other types
of functions such as games, MP3 music player, emails, instant messaging, PDA
agenda, video call, television, internet, digital photography and video, pager, etc.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE TELEPHONE

The application of electricity to the field of communications - the first experiments in
this direction go back to the final stage of the eighteenth century - was a decisive step
forward. If the telegraph had managed to associate electrical impulses and letters, a
system that, after an adequate decoding procedure, allowed the transmission of
messages over long distances, the next step would come with the union of the
electrical signal and the human voice. However, in the case of the telephone, an
intermediate element was needed that translated sound waves into electrical signals
and vice versa, a second device capable of converting the electrical signal into a sound
wave. (photo: first device designed by Graham Bell) In 1857, Antonio Meucci (1808-
89) (photo) had invented a machine whose essential component was a vibrating
element attached to a magnet; It was the first telephone device: Although Meucci
patented his find in 1871, the scant interest shown by the company he offered him and
the economic difficulties made him abandon the project. For this reason, it would be
Graham Bell (1847-1922) who, finally, after patenting such an apparatus in 1876,
would go down in history as the true father of the telephone, and this despite the
immediate legal dispute that did not end until 1886 and with favorable result for
Meucci. From then on, the most marked advances derived from the incorporation of
coils (1913) and various techniques that made it possible to maintain more than one
connection on the same line (1916). The names of Thomas A. Edison, Elisha Gray or
Edward Hughes are closely related to the development of the telephone. At a later
stage, in the thirties, coaxial cables were applied and, already in the second half of the
century, the first communications between continents were verified and satellite
transmissions began.

Phone operation
In a telephone system, the transmission is based on the passage, through a circuit, of
a current flow whose variations in intensity are marked by the resistance variations of
said circuit. The apparatus in charge of modifying the resistance of this, and, therefore,
the intensity of the current, is the microphone.
The microphone incorporates a device of cylindrical shape, with small grains of carbon
- the carbon alters its degree of conductivity of electricity as a function of the pressure
factor.
At one end, the microphone has a small mobile membrane that, as if it were a
tympanic membrane, varies its pressure on the carbon grains, due to the effect of
sound waves. The variation of the sound waves generates pressure variations in the
membrane, from which, in turn, variations of intensity in the current flowing through
the circuit are derived. The intensity changes, therefore, to the time that the sound
waves do.
In the operation of the telephone, the principle of the electromagnet also comes into
play - let us remember that it is a sweet iron core to which the passage of an electric
current confers magnetic properties.
The arrangement of a vibrating metal sheet next to the electromagnet of the emitting
circuit -where, as indicated, the intensity of the electric current is determined by the
variations of the sound waves in the microphone-, allows the latter to move freely,
depending of the current and, therefore, of the sound waves responsible for said
alteration. The metallic foil acts as a vibrating sound emitting body, the same one that
registers the microphone.
In the telephone exchange there is a generator in charge of supplying the low voltage
electric current that reaches the microphone, connected in series within the line.
On the other hand, the receiver is connected in local circuit; the current comes from
the transformer that feeds the telephone line itself. When joining two devices through
the control panel, a line circuit is constituted, where the two interposed microphones
appear, not the receivers, which are activated by the variations created by them.

Telephone connections
The first public telephone connection was verified in the United States in 1878, thanks
to the installation of a manually operated switchboard, which made it possible to
distribute calls among the users of the network. From the manual control unit -system
that, in certain areas of Spain, remained in use until barely twenty years ago-, the
connection was established through a network of plugs that were inserted in their
corresponding sockets. The automatic commutation began to popularize in the nineties
of the nineteenth century, with the introduction of the marker disk, replaced in recent
times by the so-called "pulse generators". Initially, the interconnection of telephones
was carried out exclusively through the laying of cables; Today, this system is
maintained at the local level. However, radio or artificial satellites are currently used
for long-distance communications. In the case of cables, experimentation with new
technologies is aimed at replacing traditional electric wires with other fiber optic
cables; in them, the signal is not a consequence of the electric current, but is
generated from a light wave, which translates into an increase in the speed and quality
of the impulse transmission. These advantages in terms of speed and quality are
complemented by the development of digital devices, which work from signals that are
generated and represented by sequences of zeros and ones. The transformation of any
signal into a series of zeros and ones greatly expands the possibilities of transmission
over telephone networks; it is only necessary that specific devices exist to encode and
decode the initial and final information
Long-distance communications In long-distance communications, the electrical signal is
transformed into the switching center in ultra-short radio waves, which can be sent
and picked up by satellite dishes for their new coding in electrical signals, these
already destined to the receiving apparatus. The signals travel, like light, in a straight
line.

Electromagnetic telephony
The main evolution in recent times in the field of telephony is closely related to the
creation of autonomous devices, equipped with batteries that can emit
electromagnetic, non-electrical signals. Popularly, they are known as mobile phones,
laptops or cell phones. To cope with the spectacular proliferation of mobile phones
produced in recent times, a complex network of relay antennas has been launched,
logically located in high places. The improvement of the process of capturing and re-
sending electromagnetic signals marks, without a doubt, the path of future advances.
In this sense, the placement of antennas in artificial satellites in orbit around the Earth
offers multiple possibilities.