English: Circuit diagram of experimental wireless telephone patented by Prof. Amos Dolbear in 1883, from an 1886 article in Scientific American. The transmitter (A) consisted of an electrostatic microphone (T) and battery in the primary circuit of an induction coil (G). One side of the high voltage secondary winding is earthed (C) the other side connected to an elevated metal sheet capacitance (H¹). The receiver (B) consists of a battery, earphone (R) and capacitor (H) connected in series between an elevated capacitive plate (H²) and earth (D).

It was compared to the first true radio communication system invented by Guglielmo Marconi in 1884, but Dolbear's system worked by electrostatic induction, not radio waves, and he couldn't communicate further than about a quarter mile. Later Dolbear replaced the capacitors with kite-suspended wire antennas and probably transmitted radio waves, achieving longer distances. In 1899 a New England telephone company bought Dolbear's 1883 patent and sued Marconi (who had patented his system a year later) for infringement, but the suit was dismissed in 1901.