# US Congress acknowledged Meucci’s role in telephone invention

2026-08-08T22:45:51+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk

Corroboration: 1 independent outlet

In 2002, the US House of Representatives formally recognised Antonio Meucci's contribution to the invention of the telephone, 113 years after his death. The resolution stated that Meucci, an Italian-born inventor, had built a voice-transmission device called the Telettrofono as early as 1856, connecting his Staten Island laboratory to his home to communicate with his bedridden wife. Unable to afford a full patent, he filed a cheaper caveat in 1871, but lost his working models and could not renew it after 1874. Had he renewed, the resolution said, no patent could have been issued to Alexander Graham Bell, who patented the telephone in 1876. Bell's patent was later challenged in court but the case never reached a verdict. Meucci died in 1889.

## Coverage

- timesofindia.indiatimes.com <https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/science/in-1876-alexander-graham-bell-patented-the-telephone-but-an-italian-inventor-had-already-built-the-telettrofono-years-earlier/articleshow/133054271.cms>

Tags: Alexander Graham Bell, Antonio Meucci, patent history, telephone invention, US Congress
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