A history of the articulating telephone would be incomplete without a description of the instruments, which I)alfiel I)rawbaugh of Eberle's Mills, Pennsylvania, claims that he invented, constructed, and operated considerably prior to the earliest date of invention claimed by Alexander Graham Bell. I)rawbaugh claims to carry back the date of his invention to some time between 1860 and 1861. He claims to have constructed his first instruments a few years afterwards, and brings witnesses whose credibility and integrity appear unquestioned, to corroborate his testimony. :From these witnesses it appears to be established that at an early date he was working on instruments designed to transmit speech through conducting Wires, by means of electrical currents, and that he actually did construct such instruments, and successfully employ them in connection with some of said witnesses in the transmission of articulate speech. That he was so experimenting appears to be a notorious fact in the neighborhood in which he lived, as more than one hundred witnesses taken fi'om among his neighbors amply testify, some of them pointing out and recognizing the original apparatus used, The direct testimony of so many apparently unprejudiced witnesses, which does not appear to have been successfully controverted, would seem to establish, beyond a reasonable doubt, the claims of Mr. Drawbaugh as one of the prominent followers of Reis in his invention of the speaking telephone.
I)rawbaugh's inventions came prominently before the public during the famous suit between the American Bell Telephone Company and the People's Telephone Company, the latter Compauy being a corporation operating under Mr. Drawbaugh's inventions. This suit, which was noted for the length of time it has been pending, and the voluminous testimony introduced by both sides, was only recently decided against I)rawbaugh in the United States Circuit Court, in the Southern District of ~New York.
It is not our intention, except incidentally, to discuss here the relative claims of Drawbaugh and Bell as to priority of invention of the forms