I ran across a documentary regarding Walter Shaw that I just had to share. I had read a little bit about Walter Shaw and his history with AT&T, but I had no idea just how much he really changed the industry. If you like documentaries about technology as much as I do your going to want to check this out. This is a real eye opener.
Walter Shaw
Telecommunications Patents
- Call Forwarding
- Touch Tone Dialing
- Conference Calling
- The Speakerphone
- Voice Recognition
- White House Alert System
- The Answering Machine
Unfortunately his work never earned him any great fortune or respect. While employed by AT&T / Bell Labs the largest Telecommunications monopoly in the US at the time literately forced him out which eventually stopped him from realizing his dream and making AT&T even more powerful. During his lifetime Walter Shaw filed for 39 patents which many of them advanced cutting edge solutions in Telecommunications industry which we now use today.
US Patent # 2.575.844
- Feedback Neutralization for Telephone Systems
US Patent # 2.844.659
- Two Way Communication Unit or Speakerphone
US Patent # 3.389.224
- Conference Calling
US Patent # 3.406.261
- Telephone Switchboard Call Transfer
US Patent # 3.535.373
- Conference Calling with Call Forwarding
US Patent # 2.591.727
- Call Forwarding without conferencing
