168 FAMOUS LIVING AMERICANS same time that Bell applied for a patent for his invention, Elisha Gray, of Chicago, lUinois, had made the same inven- tion, covering practically the same ground, and also applied for a patent. There was no other way to determine to whom the patent should be awarded except according to the hour of the day the applications were filed. The decision was made in favor of Bell, who obtained the patent and organized a com- pany called The Bell Telephone Company. Bell's telephone, however, was practical only for short lines and could not be used commercially on lines extending over several miles. Mr. Edison, however, realized the wonderful possibilities of the telephone and set to work to perfect it by inventing the carbon telephone transmitter. Bell was' very anxious to make use of this but could not do so without infringing upon Edison's patent. Edison, on the other hand, could make little or no use of his transmitter without infringing upon Bell's inven- tion. After considerable strife between the two rival inter- ests a compromise was arranged by which Edison turned over his transmitter in exchange for certain benefits he received from Bell. Edison's transmitter did away with the noise and buzzing of Bell's telephone by means of the simple device of using the lamp black button. By applying the induction coil to the transmission of speech, Mr. Edison made the telephone the useful instrument which it is now universally considered to be. Mr. Edison has done much other work along the line of perfecting various systems for the transmission of speedi, such as the water telephone, the condenser telephone, the mer- cury telephone, the musical transmitter, the megaphone and the aerophone. From this time on Mr. Edison came to be called the ** Wizard of Menlo Park" and became famous the world over. The most fantastic ideas regarding the man were now accepted Some even thought that he would overthrow all the established laws of nature and would revolutionize our scientific ideas, upsetting all nature. Though world-famous, Mr. Edison was still a young man, being only thirty years of age when he per- fected the telephone. Another field of experimentation in which Mr. Edison now
