CANADA collectors' stamps block of 4 The Telephone Centenary issued in 1974

The Telephone, 1874-1974 - 8 cents 1974 - Canadian stamp The Telephone, 1874-1974 1974 - Canadian stamp Specifications Quantity: 28 470 000 Issue date: July 26, 1974 Printer: Ashton-Potter Limited Canada. Post Office Department. [Postage Stamp Press Release - excerpt], 1974: At Brantford, one hundred years ago this July, Alexander Graham Bell, spent a few weeks of leisurely contemplation and invented the telephone. This occurred while he was trying to perfect a device which would send several telegraphic messages at once along the same wire. The people of Brantford, of course, are proud of what he achieved in their city and have spared no effort to refute claims that his greatest idea was conceived elsewhere. Luckily, Bell settled any possible controversies when he stated that "...it certainly is the case that the telephone was invented in Canada ... Brantford has an indisputable claim to this distinction and is rightfully named 'The Telephone City'." That such disputes should arise is not surprising since Bell and his partners had to fight approximately six hundred lawsuits to prove the originality of his work. In 1874, all the basic principles embodied in the telephone had been known for at least forty years. Bell's contribution and the mark of his genius was to reveal a "hitherto unappreciated" relationship between these principles, which were to be found in the seemingly unrelated fields of physiology, electricity and acoustics...