# The evolution of telephones

By

Chenda Ngak

September 26, 2011 / 12:32 PM EDT
/ CBS News

Liquid Transmitter - 1876 

Cyber Telephone Museum/Ron Christianson

Alexander Graham Bell spoke the words "Mr. Watson, come here. I want you," into a phone similar to this one.

## Top box - 1879

Top Box - 1879 

Cyber Telephone Museum/Ron Christianson

This 1879 top box wall set was made with mahogany wood and Viaduct Manufacturing Co. hardware.

## Gower-Bell telephone - 1880

Gower Bell Telephone - 1880 

Cyber Telephone Museum/Ron Christianson

The Gower-Bell telephone was the first type of phone that was used in countries like Spain, Japan and England.

## Western Electric folding cabinet - 1892

Western Electric folding cabinet - 1892 

Cyber Telephone Museum/Ron Christianson

The Western Electric folding cabinet was used in hotels, telephone booths and private homes.

## Strowger 10 Digit Automatic Wall Telephone - 1899

Strowger 10 Digit Automatic Wall Telephone - 1899  

Cyber Telephone Museum/Ron Christianson

The Strowger Automatic Telephone Exchange Company's 10 digit automatic wall telephone was the first to use an automatic rotary motion dialer.

## Wood cradle desk telephone - 1885

Wood cradle desk telephone - 1885 

Cyber Telephone Museum/Ron Christianson

Not much is known about the manufacturer of this unique wooden cradle desk telephone dated around 1885.

## Stromberg-Carlson tapered shaft desk set - 1900

Stromberg Carlson Tapered Shaft Desk Set - 1900 

Cyber Telephone Museum/Ron Christianson

Made by the Stromberg-Carlson Telephone Mfg. Co., these types of upright desk sets were nicknamed "oil cans" by antique telephone collectors because of its unique shape.

## Kellogg corner vanity - 1902

Kellogg Corner Vanity - 1902 

Cyber Telephone Museum/Ron Christianson

This corner vanity's elegant frame made by American Hardwood Telephone Cabinet Mfg. Co. The telephone hardware was made by Kellogg Hardware.

## Chicago upright desk set - 1905

Chicago Upright Desk Set - 1905  

Cyber Telephone Museum/Ron Christianson

This upright desk set made by the Chicago Telephone Supply Company is often called "potbelly" because of its curvy shape."

## Strowger 11 digit desk telephone -1905

Strowger 11 digit desk telephone -1905  

Cyber Telephone Museum/Ron Christianson

Legend has it that Almon Brown Strowger was a mortician that believed his local operator was directing all business calls to his competitor, who happened to be her husband. Strowger felt that subscribers should have control over calls rather than operators. He patented the automatic telephone exchange a.k.a. dial service in 1891, eliminating the need for an operator to direct calls.

## S.H. Couch & Co. inter-phone - 1910

S.H. Couch & Co. Inter-Phone - 1910 

Cyber Telephone Museum/Ron Christianson

These S.H. Couch Company desk sets were typically used to interoffice communications.

## Magnavox anti-noise desk set - 1920s

Magnavox anti-noise desk set - 1920s 

Cyber Telephone Museum/Ron Christianson

The Magnavox anti-noise desk set is an early example of noise-cancellation technology. The phone began to make gain popularity in the military in the 1920s.

## De Veau Desk Set - 1915

De Veau Desk Set - 1915  

Cyber Telephone Museum/Ron Christianson

This sleek desk top was made by the De Veau Telephone Manufacturing Company.

## Frankfurt "Bauhaus" Telephone - 1925

Frankfurt "Bauhaus" Telephone - 1925 

Wikimedia Commons

The Frankfurt "Bauhaus" Telephone was made by the Fuld & Co. in Frankfurt, Germany.

## Hungarian Telephone Factory - 1937

Hungarian Telephone Factory - 1937 

Wikimedia Commons

This rotary phone was made by the Hungarian Telephone Factory in Budapest, Hungary.

## Rotary phone - 1940s

A typical 1940s rotary phone 

Wikimedia Commons

A typical 1940s rotary phone.

## Rotary phone - 1950s

A typical 1950s rotary phone 

Wikimedia Commons

A typical 1950s rotary phone.

## German Fe TAp 615

German Fe TAp 615 

Wikimedia Commons

A common phone in the 1960s through 1980s.

## Videophone - 1960s

A videophone in the 1960s 

Wikimedia Commons

An example of a videophone in the 1960s.

## Princess phones - 1970s and 80s

Princess phones 

Wikimedia Commons

These princess phones were popular from the 1970s through the 1980s.

## Dutch phone - 1975

A typical Dutch phone in 1975 

Wikimedia Commons

A typical Dutch phone in 1975.

## AT&T Picturephone (Mod II) - 1970s

AT&T Picturephone (Mod II) - 1970s 

Wikimedia Commons

One of the first videophones by AT&T.

## AEG telecar CD - 1980s

AEG telecar CD - 1980s 

Wikimedia Commons

This is how mobile phones looked in the 1980s. It was backbreaking work to to utter the words "can you hear me now?"

## Motorola DynaTAC 8000X - 1983

Motorola DynaTAC 8000X- 1983 

Wikimedia Commons

Behold the first commercial line of mobile phones launched in 1983.

## Touch-tone phone - 1980s

A typical touch tone phone in the 1980s  

Wikimedia Commons

If you were a teenager in the 1980s, this touch-tone was your best friend.

## Touch-tone phone - 1980s

Touch-tone phone - 1980s  

Wikimedia Commons

A typical table-top phone in the 1980s.

## Motorola MicroTAC 9800x - 1989

Motorola MicroTAC 9800x - 1989 

Wikimedia Commons

Only really important people and early adopters had one of these cell phones.

## Cordless phone - 1990s

Cordless phone - 1990s 

Wikimedia Commons

A typical cordless phone in the 1990s.

## Seimens AG GSM phone - 1991

Seimens AG GSM phone - 1991 

Wikimedia Commons

The first GSM phones were not sleek or sexy.

## IBM Simon - 1994

IBM Simon - 1994 

Wikimedia Commons

The IBM Simon is widely considered the first smart phone.

## Nokia 8210 - 1999

Nokia 8210 - 1999 

Wikimedia Commons

Nokia dominated the wireless market with cell phones like this one.

## Motorola StarTAC - 1996

Motorola StarTAC - 1996 

Wikimedia Commons

The flip phone craze started with this Motorola cell phone.

## Sharp J-SH04 - 2000

Sharp J-SH04 - 2000 

Wikimedia Commons

Available in Japan, the Sharp J-SH04 was the first camera phone.

## BlackBerry 5810 - 2002

BlackBerry 5810 - 2002 

RIM

The first introduction to the "CrackBerry."

## BlackBerry 7210 - 2003

BlackBerry 7210 - 2003 

RIM

The first BlackBerry with a color screen.

## Palm Treo 600 - 2003

Palm Treo 600 - 2003 

Palm

The Palm Treo was an addictive PDA and phone combination.

## T-Mobile G1

T-Mobile G1  

Wikimedia Commons

The T-Mobile G1, also known as the HTC Dream, was the first mobile phone to use Google's Android operating system.

## Motorola Razr v3 - 2004

Motorola Razr v3 - 2004 

Motorola

Flip phones were at their peak when the Motorola Razr v3 hit the market.

## BlackBerry Storm - 2008

BlackBerry Storm - 2008 

RIM

The highly anticipated Storm was the first BlackBerry with a touchscreen.

## iPhone - 2007

iPhone - 2007 

Apple

The smartphone that arguably changed our lives forever. The iPhone's operating system allowed users to browse full webpages, triangulate positioning with Google maps and easily download apps.

## Nokia Lumia 800

6430139241_863d105f3e_z.jpg 

Flickr/danielbuechele

This Windows 7 smartphone introduced Microsoft's "metro" user interface.

## iPhone 6

455678756.jpg 

Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images

An employee of Softbank mobile phone shop displays Apple's new iPhone 6 (R) and iPhone 6 Plus (L) at the company's Omotesando shop in Tokyo, Sept. 19, 2014. Over 200 customers queued up for Apple's new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus before opening the shop.

Chenda Ngak is the science and technology editor at CBSNews.com.

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The evolution of telephones - CBS News