William Gray, A Polisher And Inventor From Hartford, Connecticut, Received United States Patent Number 408,709 On August 13, 1889, For A Coin-Controlled Apparatus For Telephones. The Patent Application Had Been Filed On August 13, 1888. The Patent Was Granted Exactly One Year Later, Formally Establishing The Legal Foundation For The Coin-Operated Telephone.
The Patent Document Described A Device Designed To Prevent A User From Sending A Call Without Inserting A Coin. The Device Included A Movable Guard Over The Button Or Crank, A Tumbler Mechanism Which Would Slide The Cover When A Coin Fell Into A Coin-Channel, And A Lever System Linked To The Magneto-Bell To Control Access To The Telephone Button Or Crank. The Invention Allowed Reception Of Calls Without Payment But Required Coin Deposit To Initiate A Call.
This Device Marked A Departure From Earlier Public Telephones, Which Required An Attendant To Take Payment. Those Booths Or Stations Operated On A “Pay Station” Model Rather Than A Mechanically Enforced Coin Payment System. Gray’s Invention Removed The Need For An Attendant, Introducing A New Model For Public Telephone Access.
The First Coin-Operated Public Telephone Was Installed At A Bank In Hartford, Connecticut. It Operated On A “Post-Pay” Basis, Meaning The User Made The Call First And The Operator Requested Payment Afterwards. This “Post-Pay” System Represented The First Mechanically Supported Public Pay Telephone, Even Though It Deferred Payment Until After The Call.
William Gray Had Earlier Invented An Inflatable Chest Protector For Baseball Catchers. This Invention Gave Him Some Recognition And Financial Means Before He Turned Attention To The Telephone Problem. The Payphone Invention Was Inspired By A Personal Emergency In 1888 When Gray’s Wife Fell Ill And He Was Initially Refused Use Of A Telephone At A Nearby Factory Because He Was Not A Subscriber. Though He Eventually Used The Phone And His Wife Recovered, The Experience Led Him To Conceive A Public Coin-Operated Telephone.
In 1891 Gray Founded The Gray Telephone Pay Station Company To Manufacture And Distribute His Invention. He Secured More Than Twenty Patents Related To Payphone Technology, Including A “Signal Device For Telephone Pay-Stations” (Patent No. 454,470, Issued June 23, 1891) Which Rang A Bell When A Coin Was Deposited.
By The Early 20th Century, Payphones Based On Gray’s Inventions Were Installed In Many Public Locations, Including Posts, Booths, Bank Lobbies, And Railway Stations. By 1902, Tens Of Thousands Of Payphones Existed Across The United States. The Model 50A Payphone, Introduced Around 1911 And Developed In Collaboration With Western Electric, Included A Coin Return Mechanism And Became Widespread, With 25,000 Units In New York City Alone Within A Year Of Introduction.
Gray’s Coin-Operated Telephone Had Durable Impact On American Society. It Expanded Public Access To Communication, Made Emergency Calls Possible Without Subscription, And Changed Urban Infrastructure. The Innovation Became An American Fixture For More Than A Century.
References / More Knowledge:
William Gray, Coin-Controlled Apparatus For Telephones, United States Patent No. 408,709, Patented August 13, 1889. https://patents.google.com/patent/US408709A/en
William Gray (Inventor) Biography, Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gray_%28inventor%29
“The Pay Phone’s Journey From Patent To Urban Relic,” Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/first-and-last-pay-phone-180952727/
“Now You Know: Where Was The First Public Telephone Booth?” Time Magazine. https://time.com/4425102/public-telephone-booth-history/
Payphone Entry, Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payphone
“Hartford’s Chest Protector And Payphone Inventor,” GHTBL (Greater Hartford Historical Blog). https://ghtbl.org/gray
“Gray’s Anatomy Of A Payphone,” The IET Engineering X Blog. https://engx.theiet.org/b/blogs/posts/gray-s-anatomy-of-a-payphone
“Site Of World’s First Pay Phone,” CTMQ. https://www.ctmq.org/site-of-worlds-first-pay-phone/