Telephone Line Insulator Used by Alexander Graham Bell, Brantford, Canada, circa 1876

In August 1876, Alexander Graham Bell conducted additional experiments on voice transmission over wire -- he had successfully patented his telephone a few months earlier. While in Brantford, Ontario, Bell strung a wire from a nearby telegraph line along a fence to his father's home. This telephone insulator was part of that connection, recovered years later, and donated to The Henry Ford.