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Antonio Meucci, an Italian inventor living in New York, worked on devices that carried the human voice by wire and in 1871 filed a caveat, a temporary notice of a planned patent. It lapsed in 1874, and Alexander Graham Bell received his telephone patent in 1876. In 2002 the U.S. House of Representatives formally recognised Meucci's work.

U.S. House Resolution 269 (2002)

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Meucci was born in Florence in 1808, worked as a stage technician at a theatre in Havana, Cuba, and in 1850 settled on Staten Island, New York, where he ran a candle factory. A caveat was not a patent, only a renewable notice of intent, and after 1874 he could not afford the $10 renewal fee. The 2002 House resolution said that had he paid it, no patent could have been issued to Bell. It did not settle the rival claims, and historians still debate what his devices could do. Meucci died poor on Staten Island in 1889.

Türkçe oku
New York'ta yaşayan İtalyan mucit Antonio Meucci, insan sesini telle ileten aygıtlar üzerinde çalıştı ve 1871'de bir patent ön bildirimi (caveat) yaptı. Bildirim 1874'te düştü; Alexander Graham Bell ise telefon patentini 1876'da aldı. ABD Temsilciler Meclisi 2002'de Meucci'nin çalışmalarını resmen tanıdı.

Meucci 1808'de Floransa'da doğdu, Küba'nın başkenti Havana'da bir tiyatroda sahne teknisyeni olarak çalıştı ve 1850'de New York'taki Staten Island'a yerleşip bir mum fabrikası işletti. Ön bildirim bir patent değildi; yalnızca patent başvurusu yapma niyetini kayda geçiren ve yenilenmesi gereken bir belgeydi. Meucci 1874'ten sonra 10 dolarlık yenileme ücretini ödeyemedi. Temsilciler Meclisi'nin 2002 kararına göre bu ücreti ödeyebilseydi Bell'e patent verilemezdi. Karar rakip iddiaları çözmedi; tarihçiler Meucci'nin aygıtlarının neler yapabildiğini hâlâ tartışıyor. Meucci 1889'da Staten Island'da yoksulluk içinde öldü.

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