This paper investigates both the role of fine-grained historical cases in developing computational models of techno-scientific thinking and the impact of such models for supporting information search and further inventions and discoveries. In particular, we investigate Alexander Graham Bell’s invention of the telephone and we propose a computational model to explain its essential aspects. We further derive lessons about how such model can be used to build human-computer interaction systems that augment the intelligence of users involved in information search. We conclude that historical data can be used to advance cognitive and computational theories of techno-scientific thinking and to build better human-information systems.