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Which came first, the hamburger or the telephone?

Which came first, the hamburger or the telephone?
the telephone
1876 — 24 years before the hamburger

the telephone came first, by 24 years. Bell was granted US patent 174,465.

Side by side

the hamburger the telephone
Year 1900 1876
Date — 1876-03-07
Category food invention
What happened Competing American claims put the first burger between 1885 and 1904. Bell was granted US patent 174,465.

the hamburger

At least four places claim it. Charlie Nagreen said he flattened a meatball between bread at the Seymour Fair in Wisconsin in 1885; the Menches brothers claimed the same year at the Erie County Fair; Louis' Lunch in New Haven claims 1900; and Fletcher Davis of Athens, Texas is credited with introducing it at the 1904 St Louis World's Fair. No contemporary document settles it. What is documented is the Hamburg steak — chopped beef, no bun — on American menus from the 1870s.

the telephone

Bell's patent was granted on 7 March 1876 and he made the famous call to Watson three days later. Elisha Gray filed a caveat for a similar device on the same day in February that Bell filed his application, and the priority dispute has never entirely gone away. Antonio Meucci had demonstrated a working voice telegraph in New York in 1860 but could not afford to renew his caveat.

Common questions

Which came first, the hamburger or the telephone?
the telephone, by 24 years — 1876 against 1900.
When did the hamburger start?
1900. Competing American claims put the first burger between 1885 and 1904.
When did the telephone start?
1876. Bell was granted US patent 174,465.

Related pages

Sources

  1. Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place
  2. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — Smithsonian Institution

How these figures are compiled and checked