The 1870´s
BackThe 1870s
The telephone arrives in Finland
Several researchers had managed to present theoretical descriptions of the telephone before the year 1876, but it was Scottish-born Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) and American Elisha Gray (1835-1901), who almost simultaneously constructed the first functioning prototypes of the telephone. Bell and Gray submitted their applications in the New York patent office on the same day, on 14 February 1876, but Gray entered the office two hours later than Bell. In the dispute over the patent, the ruling was in favour of Bell.
The world's first telephone discussion took place on 10 March 1876 in Boston, the United States. Alexander Graham Bell called his assistant, Thomas A. Watson, by telephone: "Mr. Watson. Come here. I want to see you.? One of the most important inventions of our time had started its world conquest.
Already 18 months later, in December 1877, the first telephone line was erected in Helsinki. Factory owner Johan Nissinen built a telephone connection over the courtyard from his shop to the office on the corner of Annankatu and Eerikinkatu. Among the constructors was a young mechanic, Daniel Johannes WadÚn. He manufactured telephones a lß Bell's model in his workshop, and no later than at the end of 1877 he announced that he would also sell to and receive orders from the countryside. WadÚn also established a telephone sales organisation, which, in addition to Helsinki, covered 16 rural towns.