Graham Bell: The inventor of the telephone and other revolutionary 19th-century inventions that we still use today

“Mr Watson, come here, I need you.” This is the famous opening line from the historic first voice transmission, which took place on 10 March 1876. It was not uttered by the famous detective Sherlock Holmes, as one might expect, but by Alexander Graham Bell (3 March 1847, Edinburgh, Scotland – 2 August 1922, Baddeck, Canada). Less than a month earlier, at the age of twenty-nine, he had filed a patent for the invention of the telephone. This invention brought with it some interesting paradoxes: one of them was that Bell’s work was originally intended to lead to the creation of a device for transmitting multiple messages at once, that is, a so-called multiple telegraph, and not a device for transmitting sounds. Another paradox was that just a few hours after Bell, another inventor, Elisha Gray, filed the same patent; moreover, there was also the Italian scientist and inventor Antonio Meucci, who had constructed a device for transmitting voice several years earlier. Although he was the first, he did not speak English well, so he never applied for an American patent.

1817: the bicycle

In 1817, German inventor Karl Drais presented the first bicycle to a fascinated public. This draisine still had many shortcomings; the original prototype resembled today’s children’s balance bikes, lacking pedals and brakes. These features, as well as rubber tyres and mass production, did not appear until almost fifty years later. Today, cycling activities such as bike rides, bike parks and cycle paths are part of our everyday lives. Furthermore, the Czech Republic has become a major manufacturer and exporter of modern bicycles, mountain bikes and e-bikes from a variety of interesting brands.

1821: the railway

The steam engine does not belong here, as it was invented as early as the 18th century, but many other revolutionary inventions were linked to it. One of these, which transformed transport, was the railway. The first steam locomotive was unveiled as early as 1804 by Richard Trevithick. In 1821, the first horse-drawn railway began operating between the British towns of Stockton-on-Tees and Darlington, and by 1825 it was already in operation with a steam engine. The first railway in public operation on the European mainland, and the longest railway of its time, was a horse-drawn railway that connected České Budějovice with Linz from 1832.

1827: the lawnmower

Before the arrival of the first lawnmower, people had to cut lawns using scythes, sickles or garden shears. The first lawnmower for mowing sports fields and large gardens was designed in 1827 by Edwin Beard Budding, an engineer from Stroud in the English county of Gloucestershire. This machine was, in fact, merely an enlarged version of a tool used in weaving mills to finish fabrics. He obtained a patent for it in 1830. It was only a short step from small mowers to larger horse-drawn machines. By the end of the 19th century, the first steam-powered and motorised mowers had already appeared. The first electric mower was not invented until 1926, almost a century after the first invention.

1832: the tram

The first horse-drawn tram appeared on the streets of New York in 1832. During the 19th century, other major cities adopted this form of transport: in Europe, the first horse-drawn tram was in Vienna, followed by Paris, and in August 1869 the first horse-drawn tram began operating in Brno. Prague joined the ranks of cities with tram transport in September 1875, when the first route was opened, running from the National Theatre (then under construction) via Příkopy and Poříčí to the Invalids’ Home in Karlín. The first electric tram line was opened on 16 May 1881 in Berlin, and the first electric tramway on Czech territory was built by the inventor František Křižík for the Jubilee Provincial Exhibition in Prague in 1891. This line ran from Letná to the upper entrance to Stromovka Park, but due to low demand, operations ceased as early as 1902.

1843: sugar cubes

If you want to sweeten a cup of tea or coffee, you have to fetch a lump of sugar and break off the required amount with an axe or a scraper, which is not only inefficient but also dangerous. Mrs Juliana Radová once injured herself, and her husband, the director of the sugar factory in Dačice in South Bohemia, produced the first sugar cubes as a result of this incident. There is a monument to the first sugar cube in Dačice, and the town museum is dedicated to this invention within the Dačice Castle.

1843: Chocolate bars

Are you a chocolate lover? Cocoa beans were brought to Europe as early as 1527 by the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés. This delicacy gradually made its way from members of royal families to wealthy nobles and townspeople. Even as late as the 18th century, chocolate was considered a drink intended solely for adults. In 1828, the Dutch chemist Coenraad van Houten patented a cocoa press, and in 1847 the first chocolate bar was reportedly created. It was produced by the English chocolate manufacturer Joseph Fry & Sons by mixing cocoa powder, cocoa butter and sugar.

1876: the telephone

Bell publicly unveiled his invention on 25 June 1876 in Philadelphia, where the telephone became the centrepiece of the Centennial Exhibition, an event organised to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Every August, we also commemorate not only the death of the Scottish-American scientist and inventor, but also the day on which the public telephone service began in Prague. This took place on 11 August 1882, when the tariff network initially had just 11 users and the telephone exchange was located in Richter’s House on Malé náměstí.

1885: the motorcycle

If we disregard the steam-powered motorcycle from 1869, the true predecessor of today’s petrol-powered motorcycles was the machine built in 1885 by Gottlieb Daimler. He merely wanted to test his engine, so this machine was not considered anything significant. It had two small auxiliary wheels for stability, which is why many people consider it to be the first car. Mass production of motorised two-wheelers began in 1894 by the German company Hildebrand & Wolfmüller, and just five years later, in 1899, Laurin & Klement presented the first Czech motorcycle to the public in Mladá Boleslav. In 1905, they produced the great-grandmother of today’s Škodas, the L&K Voiturette A, at their factory, and thus the Škoda brand was born.

1886: the automobile

An invention that truly changed the world appeared on 29 January 1886. On that day, Karl Benz filed a patent for his vehicle, which was called the ‘Motorwagen’. It was a three-wheeler with an internal combustion engine. The forerunner of today’s cars looked more like a carriage, travelled at a speed of 15 kilometres per hour, and although it lacked many other functions, it consumed more fuel than today’s larger cars: 10 litres of petrol per 100 kilometres. The first passenger car in Austria-Hungary, called the NW Präsident, was built between 1897 and 1898 by Leopold Sviták (1856–1931), a native of Frenštát pod Radhoštěm.

1886: the dishwasher

In the same year, the American Josephine Cochran patented her invention, which was the first automatic dishwasher. Invention was in her blood, as her grandfather was the inventor of the steamboat, John Fitch. She never washed the dishes herself, as she had a large household staff, but she was bothered by the way her expensive tableware was being handled. That is why she devised a machine that could wash dishes better than human hands. Her reward for the invention was not only the top prize at the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893, but also a successful company, which she ran until she was 73.

1893: the toaster

One of the experiments in the field of electricity was also the toaster, invented in 1893 by Alan MacMasters, a native of Edinburgh. He had this appliance patented, but faced many technical problems, and moreover, electricity was not commonly available in homes at that time. Toasters, which are indispensable for many of us during leisurely weekend breakfasts, had to wait until the 20th century and the year 1905 for their moment of glory, when the American Albert Marsh invented an alloy of nickel and chromium that solved the problem of heating elements overheating. The first mass-produced and successful toaster from General Electric came onto the market in 1909.