Editing Alexander Graham Bell (section)

===The race to the patent office===
{{Main|Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell telephone controversy}}
In 1875, Bell developed an [[Acoustic Telegraph|acoustic telegraph]] and drew up a [[patent application]] for it. Since he had agreed to share U.S. profits with his investors Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders, Bell requested that an associate in Ontario, [[George Brown (Canadian politician)|George Brown]], attempt to patent it in Britain, instructing his lawyers to apply for a patent in the U.S. only after they received word from Britain (Britain issued patents only for discoveries not previously patented elsewhere).{{sfn|Bruce|1990|pp=158–159}}

<!--not in the right article- belongs in the Gray and Bell controversy---NPOV involved--[[File:Bell-gray-smoking-gun.png|thumb|Excerpts from Elisha Gray's patent caveat of February 14 and Alexander Graham Bell's lab notebook entry of March 8, note their similarity]]--->
[[File:TelephonePatentDrawingBell.jpg|thumb|Alexander Graham Bell's telephone patent<ref>{{Patent|US|174465|Alexander Graham Bell: "Improvement in Telegraphy" filed on February 14, 1876, granted on March 7, 1876.}}</ref> drawing, March 7, 1876]]

Meanwhile, [[Elisha Gray]] was also experimenting with acoustic telegraphy and thought of a way to transmit speech using a water transmitter. On February 14, 1876, Gray filed a [[Patent caveat|caveat]] with the U.S. Patent Office for a telephone design that used a water transmitter. That same morning, Bell's lawyer filed Bell's application with the patent office. There is considerable debate about who arrived first and Gray later challenged the primacy of Bell's patent. Bell was in Boston on February 14 and did not arrive in Washington until February 26.

On March 7, 1876, the [[United States Patent and Trademark Office|U.S. Patent Office]] issued Bell patent 174,465. It covered "the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically ... by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sound"{{Sfn|MacLeod|1999|pp=12–13}}{{refn|A copy of a draft of the patent application is shown, described as "probably the most valuable patent ever."|group=N}} Bell returned to Boston that day and the next day resumed work, drawing in his notebook a diagram similar to that in Gray's patent caveat.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}

On March 10, Bell succeeded in getting his telephone to work, using a liquid transmitter similar to Gray's design. Vibration of the diaphragm caused a needle to vibrate in the water, varying the [[electrical resistance]] in the circuit. When Bell spoke the sentence "Mr. Watson—Come here—I want to see you" into the liquid transmitter,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://quotegrab.com/telephones/mr-watson-come-here |title=Alexander Graham Bell – Lab notebook pp. 40–41 (image 22) |website=Quotegrab |publisher=IAP Quotegrab |access-date=September 17, 2019 |date=August 2, 2019 |archive-date=May 14, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514084103/https://quotegrab.com/telephones/mr-watson-come-here/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Watson, listening at the receiving end in an adjoining room, heard the words clearly.{{Sfn|MacLeod|1999|p=12}}

Although Bell was, and still is, accused of stealing the telephone from Gray,{{sfn|Shulman|2008|p=211}} Bell used Gray's water transmitter design only after Bell's patent had been granted, and only as a [[proof of concept]] scientific experiment,{{sfn|Evenson|2000|p=99}} to prove to his own satisfaction that intelligible "articulate speech" (Bell's words) could be electrically transmitted.{{sfn|Evenson|2000|p=98}} After March 1876, Bell focused on improving the electromagnetic telephone and never used Gray's liquid transmitter in public demonstrations or commercial use.{{sfn|Evenson|2000|p=100}}

The examiner raised the question of priority for the variable resistance feature of the telephone before approving Bell's patent application. He told Bell that his claim for the variable resistance feature was also described in Gray's caveat. Bell pointed to a variable resistance device in his previous application in which he described a cup of mercury, not water. He had filed the mercury application at the patent office on February 25, 1875, long before Gray described the water device. In addition, Gray abandoned his caveat, and because he did not contest Bell's priority, the examiner approved Bell's patent on March 3, 1876. Gray had reinvented the variable resistance telephone, but Bell was the first to write down the idea and test it in a telephone.{{sfn|Evenson|2000|pp=81–82}}

The [[Patent clerk|patent examiner]], Zenas Fisk Wilber, later stated in an [[affidavit]] that he was an alcoholic who was much in debt to Bell's lawyer, [[Marcellus Bailey]], with whom he had served in the Civil War. He said he had shown Bailey Gray's patent caveat. Wilber also said (after Bell arrived in Washington D.C. from Boston) that he showed Bell Gray's caveat and that Bell paid him $100 ({{Inflation|US|100|1875|r=-2|fmt=eq}}). Bell said they discussed the patent only in general terms, although in a letter to Gray, Bell admitted that he learned some of the technical details. Bell denied in an affidavit that he ever gave Wilber any money.<ref>{{cite news | newspaper=The Washington Post |title=Mr. Wilbur "confesses"|date= May 22, 1886|page=1|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Mr._Wilber_Confesses}}</ref>