In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell uttered the words that would inaugurate a new era in human communication: "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you." Bell was speaking through his new invention: the telephone. Though his name is the first to be associated with this now ubiquitous device, Bell was not working in a vacuum or entirely on his own. The second half of the 19th century was a time of great innovation, during which many people were experimenting with various designs for machines to enable human communication over great distances. Bell was simply the first to win a patent.