Leaving the idea of expansion into Europe, Western Union took up the expansion of services in the U.S. market. Another invention of Western Union - time synchronization. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. In 1879 Western Union left the telephone business after losing a lawsuit against Alexander Graham Bell - the patent holder on the phone. Western Union made so that the time in all of American civil services was the same.