when
Timeline:
1794 - Claude Chappe. invented a non-electric telegraph by depending on sight. invented an alphabet with flag signals
1809 - Samuel Soemmering, invented a crude telegraph. connecting
35 wires in water, and the message was read by the amount of gas created from the electrolysis.
1828, Harrison Dyar, made a telegraph with electrical sparks that
burns a paper tape creating dots and dashes.
1825, William Sturgeon, invented the electromagnet. a large scare
evolution for electronics.
1830, Joseph Henry, created a sense of long distance communication
by sending an electric current that caused a bell to strike.
1835, Samuel Morse, the best invention of a practical and usable telegraph.
1861, Western Union built first transcontinental telegraph line
1900, Fredrick Creed, found a way to convert Morse code to text
1913, Western Union found a way to transmit eight messages simultaneously
1914, automatic transmission could submit 80-90 words a minute
1936, Western Union found a way to let a single wire carry 72 transmissions at a time.
1959, Western Union let subscribers use the teleprinter service to dial
to each other directly
what
who
Telegraph is a device that transmits letters over long distances without sending
physical letters. Messages are sent through electrical wires, which are then interpreted by an operator. These messages are sent as Morse code. Morse code is the
communication of letters through dots and dashes.
This was a very convienient method for communication at a time when it was
not convienient or affordable.
Samuel Morse, born on April 27 1791, was one of the main contributors to the invention in
the telegraph. Samuel Morse went on to Yale College to receive instruction in the subjects of
religious philosophy, mathematics and science of horses. While at Yale, he attended lectures
on electricity from Benjamin Silliman and Jeremiah Day. He supported himself financially by
painting.
In 1825, the city of New York commissioned Morse for $1,000 to paint a portrait of Gilbert du
Motier. In the midst of painting, a horse messenger delivered a letter from his father that read
one line, “Your dear wife is convalescent”. Morse immediately left Washington for his home at
New Haven, leaving the portrait of Lafayette unfinished. By the time he arrived she had already
been buried.[5] Heartbroken in the knowledge that for days he was unaware of his wife’s failing
health and her lonely death, he moved on from painting to pursue a means of rapid long distance communication.[6]
On the sea voyage home in 1832, Morse encountered Charles Thomas Jackson of Boston who
was well schooled in electromagnetism. Witnessing various experiments with Jackson’s electromagnet, Morse developed the concept of a single-wire telegraph. The original Morse telegraph,
submitted with his patent application, is part of the collections of the National Museum of
American History at the Smithsonian Institution.[7] In time the Morse code would become the
primary language of telegraphy in the world, and is still the standard for rhythmic transmission
of data.
In a letter to a friend, Morse describes how vigorously he fought for being called the sole inventor of the electromagnetic telegraph despite the previous inventions.[8] (1848).[9]
Morse encountered the problem of getting a telegraphic signal to carry over more than a few
hundred yards of wire. His breakthrough came from the insights of Professor Leonard Gale,
who taught chemistry at New York University (a personal friend of Joseph Henry). With Gale’s
help, Morse soon was able to send a message through ten miles (16 km) of wire. This was the
great breakthrough Morse had been seeking. Morse and Gale were soon joined by a young enthusiastic man, Alfred Vail, who had excellent skills, insights and money. Morse’s telegraph now
began to be developed very rapidly.
Morse made one last trip to Washington, D.C., in December 1842, stringing “wires between
two committee rooms in the Capitol, and sent messages back and forth” to demonstrate his
telegraph system. Congress appropriated $30,000 in 1843 for construction of an experimental
38-mile (61 km) telegraph line between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland, along the
right-of-way of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.[10] An impressive demonstration occurred
on May 1, 1844, when news of the Whig Party’s nomination of Henry Clay for U.S. President
was telegraphed from the party’s convention in Baltimore to the Capitol Building in Washington.[10] On May 24, 1844, the line was officially opened as Morse sent the famous words “What
hath God wrought” from the B&O’s Mount Clare Station in Baltimore to the Capitol Building
along the wire.[10] Annie Ellsworth chose these words from the Bible (Numbers 23:23); her
father, U.S. Patent Commissioner Henry Leavitt Ellsworth, had championed Morse’s invention
and secured early funding for it.
The first telegraph office
In May 1845 the Magnetic Telegraph Company was formed in order to radiate telegraph lines
from New York City towards Philadelphia, Boston, Buffalo, New York and the Mississippi.
Samuel Morse received a patent for the telegraph in 1847, at the old Beylerbeyi Palace (the
present Beylerbeyi Palace was built in 1861–1865 on the same location) in Istanbul, which was
issued by Sultan Abdülmecid who personally tested the new invention.[11]
importance
Before the electric telegraph, people had to wait long periods of time to get news from
other states, regions, countries, etc. News was sent from one area to another by one
person travelling to that other area to deliver the news. This slow system of communicating could take days, weeks, or even months depending on how far away the news
was coming from. The telegraph led us into an age of more rapid communication,
where it was not necessary for someone to travel to another city or country to deliver
news. Eventually the telegraph led us into the telephone, which eventually led to the
cell phone, which led us to cell phones that can do everything an anything. Now we
dont think twice about calling our friends and family on the other side of the country.
And though not easily, the telegraph was the first invention that allowed us to do this
The telegraph was an extremely important invention for communication and media.
According to Britannica Enyclopedia the telegraph is any device or system that allows
the transmission of information by coded signal over distance. Many telegraphic systems have been used over the centuries, but the term is most often understood to refer
to the electric telegraph, which was developed in the mid-19th century and for more
than 100 years was the principal means of transmitting printed information by wire or
radio wave.
how we can still
use it
Morse code is most popular among amateur radio operators although it is no
longer required for licensing in most countries, including the US. Pilots and air
traffic controllers are usually familiar with Morse code and require a basic understanding. Aeronautical navigational aids, such as VORs and NDBs, constantly
identify in Morse code.
Until 1999, Morse Code was still the standard for maritime communication.
Another use for Morse Code is with cell phones. Many Nokia phones have an option to been SMS in Morse Code when it receives a text message. Some cell phone
manufacturers are looking into having the vibrating alert feature on phones
to translate SMS messages to Morse code so that you don’t have to pick up the
phone to read the message. You simply feel it and it’s all hands free and silent. In
2004, radiotelegraph operators were still receiving licenses which are still issued
by the FCC. They are used mostly for operators on ships or on the coast, but these
people are very few. Morse code is used mostly for assistive technology. What this
means is that people who have a motion or sensory disabilities can use Morse
code to communicate with the public. Not only can these people use Morse code
to communicate with family and friends but they can even use the Internet and
check e-mail. Even though the telegraph and Morse code has become relatively
obsolete, it has still found a use in modern technology. Whether with some radio
operators, maritime, or individuals with disabilities Morse code is still alive and
well within a small market. Many predict that since Morse code has never really died out, that there is a chance that it could make a comeback in the modern
market.
morse code
how to use it
To send a telegram you may hand deliver or telephone your message to a telegraph office. There, an operator enters the message into a computer, which then
translates it into code and routes it to its destination. And the receiving end, machines translate the encoded message back into words and print it out. The telegraph office may hand deliver or telephone the message to the person receiving it.
At the beginning when the telegraph was first invented people had to communicate in the Morse code manually. The machine had a tapper that a person could
tap. Those taps would then be tranmitted over a wire to another device that would
receieve that tapping code. That tapping code would have to then be interpreted
by another person on that end. Then the message would be successfully sent without a letter.
Soon technology had advanced enough to where the machines intreprets and
decodes the Morse code.
why it became
obsolete
Telegraph became obsolete mostly due to the invention of the telephone. Once
people were able to communicate with voice the telegraph faced a lot of competition. People still used the telegraph to for business arrangements and letters.
It wouldn’t be long after that that the fax machine would make transmitting a message much more simpler. The fax machine could submit a paper by scanning it and
sending that scan to another machine that would print out the information. This
became a much faster and much more convienient method of transmitting messages over long distances. A lot of the information now is wireless, and so messages could be sent anywhere without limit.
Even more efficient than the fax machine would be the internet. The birth of the
internet makes sending emails a very efficient and instantaneous method of communication. The need for a telegraph is out. The internet, and with the addition of
phones that can send text messages also make communicating so easy people don’t
even have to think about it.
resources
http://inventors.about.com/od/tstartinventions/a/telegraph.htm
http://funewmedia.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-is-significance-of-telegraph.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegraphy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code