Elisha Gray (1835-1901), American inventor, born in Barnesville, Ohio, and educated at Oberlin College. He invented and patented many electrical devices. In 1876, a few hours after the American physicist Alexander Graham Bell had registered for his final patent for the telephone, Gray filed a claim for its invention and prevented the issuance of the patent pending a legal hearing. Bell's right to the patent was sustained by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1888 Gray patented a facsimile telegraph system; he also organized a company that became the Western Electric Company.