| 1885 |
 Chronomedia index
Numbers after entries link to the list of references. |
links and notes |
| March 3 |
American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) is incorporated as a subsidiary of the American Bell Company. |
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| May 2 |
First edition of Good Housekeeping magazine is published in the USA. |
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| June 27 |
Chichester Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter apply for a patent (341214, granted 1886 May 4) on a phonograph-type apparatus called the graphophone that improves on Edison’s principles by specifying cardboard discs coated with wax in which a vibrating style cuts a narrow spiral groove. In practice Bell and Tainter decide to use cylinders rather than discs and still employ hill-and-dale inscribing rather than lateral-cut. |
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| November 26/27 |
First photograph of a meteor shower is taken. |
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A long-distance telephone line opens between London and Brighton, the first in the UK. No extra charge is made for trunk calls. |
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The annual subscription for a telephone service is £20 in London (of which £2 is paid in royalties to the Postmaster-General), Ffr 600 (£24) in Paris, $150 (£30) in New York, $120 (£24) in Boston and $125 (£25) in Chicago. In the UK, the United Telephone Company offers domestic connection for £12 a year to anyone with a business subscription; its smaller rival, The London & Globe Telephone & Maintenance Company, offers connection for 10 guineas (£10.50) a year. |
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In the UK, telegrams may be dictated over the telephone. Telephone subscribers must pay a deposit of the estimated cost of one month’s telegram charges and receive a monthly statement
of account. |
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