Antonio Meucci

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Antonio Meucci.

Antonio Santi Giuseppe Meucci (born April 13, 1808 in the Florentine district of San Frediano, † October 18, 1889 in New York ) was an Italian inventor . Meucci's most important invention was the telephone .

Live and act

Antonio Meucci attended the Academy of Fine Arts and then studied chemistry and mechanics . At the same time he did his military service as a city guard. Around 1833 he became the chief stage technician at the Teatro della Pergola , where he installed an acoustic tube telephone that has been preserved to this day . Due to his sympathy with the revolutionaries for the liberation of Italy, he was under surveillance, ended up in prison for a few months and left Italy in 1835 for Cuba , where a lucrative offer had been made to him. Shortly before leaving, he married Esther Mochi.

In Havana he was again the chief stage technician. In addition, he devoted himself to his inventions, including a chemical process for processing wastewater. At the same time he founded an electroplating factory that mainly worked for the military. In doing so, he earned a fortune that allowed him to finance the revolution in Italy. After his contract expired in 1850, he moved to New York .

He settled in Clifton / New York and pursued his ideas there. This led to the establishment of the first stearin candle factory in 1851 , the establishment of the Clifton Brewery for lager beer in 1856 and the world's first paraffin candle factory in 1860. In the meantime, his wife's rheumatic ailment was so great that she could not leave the room. For this reason, Meucci developed the first telephone connection in 1854 .

The inventor first demonstrated his telephone set in 1860. However, doing business with windy speculators resulted in the loss of all his wealth and economic independence. In 1866, Meucci burned himself so badly when a steam boiler exploded that he could not work for three months. He was fired and his wife was forced to sell his work models, including the telephone. But Meucci didn't give up and improved his phone. In 1871 he wanted to apply for a patent . Since he could not raise the amount for the final application, the provisional patent expired in 1873. Even contacting the Western Union Telegraph Company , to which he gave his equipment and documents for inspection, was of no use. When he asked for these things back in 1874, he was told that they had been lost.

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell , then employed by Western Union, applied for a patent for his telephone. Despite decades of disputes, Antonio Meucci failed to obtain the patent or at least financial compensation from Bell. He died an impoverished man.

On June 11, 2002, the American House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring Antonio Meucci's invention and his work in introducing the telephone.

literature

See also

Web links

Commons : Antonio Meucci  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ German Telephone Museum. Retrieved May 25, 2019 .
  2. ^ Thomas Görne: Sound engineering . Hanser Verlag, 2008, ISBN 3-446-41591-2 , p. 201 .
  3. ^ Spiegel online: The rude methods of the famous Mr. Bell
  4. ^ Resolution of the American Congress of June 11, 2002
personal data
SURNAME Meucci, Antonio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Meucci, Antonio Santi Giuseppe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian-American inventor
DATE OF BIRTH April 13, 1808
PLACE OF BIRTH San Fredino near Florence
DATE OF DEATH October 18, 1889
Place of death New York City