Gray, Elisha (1835-1901), was an American inventor who—were it not for a few hours—might have become known as the inventor of the telephone. On Feb. 14, 1876, he went to the United States Patent Office (now the Patent and Trademark Office) and filed a caveat—a warning to other inventors—that he was working on a device to transmit speech. However, a few hours earlier, Gardiner G. Hubbard, a partner of the Scottish-born inventor Alexander Graham Bell, had filed a patent application for the telephone on Bell’s behalf.
The Western Union Telegraph Company later bought Gray’s patents and unsuccessfully challenged Bell’s claim. A firm Gray had cofounded, Western Electric Manufacturing Company, made telephone equipment for Western Union. Gray made a fortune from other inventions. He was born on Aug. 2, 1835, in Barnesville, Ohio. He died on Jan. 21, 1901.
