The telephone photographed here at the Villa du Temps Retrouvé in Cabourg is one of the major technical, technological, and industrial inventions put in place during the Belle Epoque that have succeeded in establishing themselves in today's society. Its development at the end of the 19th century resulted from the meeting of research carried out by the Americans Graham Bell and Elisha Gray, the English Robert Hooke, the French Charles Bourseul, the German Philipp Reiss, or the Italian Antonio Meucci. The latter would have filed his first cavéat patent (notice of intention to file a patent) in 1871, i.e five years before the filing of the official patent by Bell, who is generally credited with the paternity of the telephone.