††††Just two hours after Bell had patented his telephone, Elisha Gray filed a patent for a slightly different telephone. However the United States courts declared that Bell was the inventor of the telephone.
Development, improvement and use of the telephone was rapid.
The first commercial telephone exchange opened in New Haven, Connecticut in the United States in 1878, while a year later the first telephone system in London was opened.
This video footage comes from a 1930's film entitled 'The Fairy of the Phone'. It was produced by the British Post Office to promote the telephone system.
