The first telephone brought to England by Lord Kelvin in 1876 was a very crude instrument, useful only for experimental purposes and of interest only as a forecast of later development. In the following year two Post Office officials introduced some machines which had been presented to them by the American inventor Bell, and although not very efficient, they were of some commercial use. The Post Office made arrangements with the agents of the inventor for the purpose of supplying its private wire renters with these machines if they should wish to make use of them. With the invention of the microphone in 1878, and its application to the telephone, a thoroughly practical method of transmitting speech was at last introduced. In the same year a company was formed to acquire and work the Bell patents. They endeavoured to come to an agreement with the Post Office by which the latter might obtain telephones at cost price, and would in return facilitate the operations of the company, but the negotiations came to nothing. There was then no suggestion of an exchange system, and the company proposed merely to supply telephones and wires to private individuals. In 1879, the Edison Telephone Company of London was established, an announcement having been made in the autumn of 1878 that it was proposed to establish exchanges. An attempt was made to amend the Telegraph Act so as to confer specifically upon the department monopolistic control over telephonic communication, but the amendment failed to receive the sanction of the House of Commons. The Postmaster-General then filed information against both companies, on the ground that the transmission of messages by telephone was an infringement of the telegraphic monopoly. In the summer of 1880 the two companies amalgamated as the United Telephone Company, and in December judgment was given by the High Court of Justice in favour of the Post Office.[826] [826] _Rep. Com._, 1895, xiii, 350, pp. 1-6; _Law Reports, Queen's Bench Division_, vi, p. 244; _Parl. Deb._, 3d ser., cclxxxviii, col. 1053.