Other inventions.

Other inventions inspired the telephone and telegraph came at this time. The switch board came around when service lines were being installed throughout cities. The first switchboard was set up in Boston in 1877. On January 17, 1882, Leroy Firman received the first patent for a telephone switchboard. The first telephone company was also started by Bell around this time. Exchanges and Rotary dialing were invented by Almon B. Strowger in 1889, the switch made it possible for one switch to connect the users line with over 100 lines because each subscriber to the telephone had to set up their own line. This switch became known as "The Strowger Switch" and was still in use in some telephone offices well over 100 years later. Almon Strowger was issued a patent on March 11, 1891 for the first automatic telephone exchange. In 1889, the first coin-operated telephone or pay phone was patented William Gray of by Hartford, Connecticut. Gray's pay phone was first installed and used in the Hartford Bank.