The Phonograph

Tom had a very big year in 1877. He was working on many inventions at once. Alexander Graham Bell had invented and patented the first telephone. But it didn't work very well and Tom came up with a way to make it work better. Tom was also working on ways to make the telegraph better. Tom found a way to record the sound of a human voice. No one ever done that before. A few months later,Tom was already to apply for a patent for his new invention. He called it the phonograph. Tom went to the White House to show the president Rutherford B. Hayes his invention. Next Tom showed the senators. One of the senators thought Tom was playing a trick.