It was no more a telephone than a wagon is a sleigh, even though it is possible to chain the wheels and make them slide for a foot or two.

Said Judge Lowell, in rendering his famous decision: "A century of Reis would never have produced a speaking telephone by mere improvement of construction.

It was left for Bell to discover that the failure was due not to workmanship but to the principle which was adopted as the basis of what had to be done.

...

Bell discovered a new art--that of transmitting speech by electricity, and his claim is not as broad as his invention....