Elisha Gray. Engraving of the American inventor Elisha Gray (1835-1901). Gray is best known for being the 'second' man to patent the telephone in 1876. Alexander Graham Bell registered his patent two hours before Gray, and in 1888 the US supreme court gave Bell the right to hold the patent. Gray was born and educated in Ohio, USA. During his lifetime he filed 60 patents including a multiplex telegraph. He organised the company that became known as the Western Electric Company.