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Gray's telephone sketch. Drawing made by Elisha Gray of his design for a telephone, comprising a mouthpiece (into which the user is speaking) and a speaker (centre right). Gray made the sketch in 1876, but considered the invention nothing more than a toy. When he finally sent the sketch to the patent office, he found that Alexander Graham Bell's very similar telephone scheme had arrived just hours earlier. For Bell's sketch, see image H402/412. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY)