Alexander Graham Bell makes the first telephone call between New York and Chicago, USA, 1892. Scottish-born American inventor Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) produced the first intelligible telephone transmission on 5 June 1875. He patented the device as the telephone in 1876, beating rival inventor Elisha Gray, who had invented his own version, to the US patent office by just 2 hours. Bell embarked on a series of public demonstrations of his invention to introduce it to the scientific community and the general public.