Daniel Drawbaugh

Daniel Drawbaugh, born July 14^th, 1827 in the town of Eberly’s Mills, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, is perhaps equally known for his brilliance and his greatest defeat. An inventor, he successfully designed hundreds of innovative contraptions throughout his lifetime, including a coin sorting machine, a pneumatic drill, and a fully-functioning electro-magnetic clock he dubbed the "Earth Battery" (only two of which still exist; one is housed in the Cumberland County Historical Society museum).

In early 1880, in response to a lawsuit filed by Alexander Graham Bell against the People’s Telephone Company, Drawbaugh argued that he, not Bell, had in fact been the first to invent the telephone. He claimed that though the invention was indeed his, he had been without sufficient funds to apply for a patent for his device. People’s Telephone Company, after having purchased Drawbaugh’s designs, mustered a legal defense against Bell’s suit, consisting of 300 to 400 witnesses and over 1,200 pages of testimony.

Witnesses described Drawbaugh as an honest, hardworking American inventor who tinkered constantly, repairing clocks and various tools or coming up with ideas for new inventions. They recalled many occasions on which Drawbaugh’s early telephones could be heard receiving muffled vocal transmissions from the floor above. According to the witnesses, no one had ever advised Drawbaugh to seek a patent for his invention, and his family had repeatedly told him that he was wasting his time. Drawbaugh nonetheless carried on, unfazed by the doubt surrounding him.

Bell’s legal team did their best to portray Drawbaugh as a fraud who lacked any proof behind his claims. They presented strong evidence against Drawbaugh’s credibility, maintaining that he had, in fact, been sufficiently wealthy to obtain a patent; he simply failed to file in a timely manner. They also demonstrated that Drawbaugh’s inventions were virtually identical to other designs of the time. Drawbaugh also made an unfortunate admission while under oath: he had been aware of Bell’s designs when he attended the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in 1876, but had neglected to mention that he had made a similar invention years earlier.

The case continued for 7 years, eventually concluding with a Supreme Court ruling of 4-3 in favor of Bell. People’s Telephone Company went out of business shortly thereafter, but Drawbaugh remained steadfast in his claims against Bell. He was eventually able to acquire a patent for improvements to the telephone design in 1894, in which he cited his initial attempt at a patent for the overall design:

"In an application already pending for a patent for the telephone, filed July 26, 1880, Serial No. 14,040, I have shown and described precisely the same instrumentalities herein shown and described." –Daniel Drawbaugh, “Telephone,” 1894

A slightly barbed tone can be detected in Drawbaugh’s writing, as he states,

"The object of the present application is to secure by a division of the said application of July 26, 1880, a separate patent for the invention hereinafter claimed." –Daniel Drawbaugh, "Telephone," 1894

Drawbaugh still strongly believed his original invention to be entirely legitimate, and by this time had become frustrated with the need to reiterate that point.  

Bell Telephone Company eventually offered Drawbaugh a settlement, finally putting an end to his litigation. Shortly thereafter, on November 2^nd, 1911, Drawbaugh suffered a heart attack and passed away at the age of 84, while working in his laboratory on a wireless burglar alarm.

Though Drawbaugh never received the acclaim that many thought he deserved, he left behind a legacy of one who refused to give up his convictions, even in the face of defeat. A seemingly imperishable spirit, Drawbaugh never allowed his failed business attempts, exhausting legal battles, or his peers’ misgivings discourage him from creating.