huinventors1-10, Exercise 3: A claim from your own country

Model answer (Scotland: "Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone"):

1. Kind: a device.
2. Idea, builder, success: Bell patented a working telephone in 1876, but others, such as Elisha Gray, filed at about the same time, and earlier experimenters contributed ideas.
3. Record: the patent and the legal disputes that followed.
4. Other claimants: Gray, and Antonio Meucci, whose earlier work is also cited.
5. "Scottish": Bell was born in Edinburgh and did the work in North America.
6. Who tells it, and why: Scottish and American sources both claim him, for pride and tourism.

Conclusion: the claim is defensible with qualifications: Bell held the winning patent, but the invention had several contributors. Any claim treated with the six questions is acceptable. Details should be checked.