The History of the Telegraph and Telegraphy
The Beginning of Electronic Communications
In 1825, British inventor William Sturgeon (1783-1850) exhibited a device that
laid the foundations for large-scale electronic communications: the
electromagnet. Sturgeon displayed its power by lifting nine pounds with a
seven-ounce piece of iron wrapped with wires through which the current of a
single cell battery was sent.
In 1830, an American, Joseph Henry (1797-1878), demonstrated the potential of
Sturgeon's device for long distance communication by sending an electronic
current over one mile of wire to activate an electromagnet which caused a bell
to strike. Thus the electric telegraph was born. Samuel F.B. Morse (1791-1872),
whose sketches of a "magnetized magnet" in operation are shown here,
successfully exploited Henry's invention commercially.
While a professor of arts and design at New York University in 1835, Samuel
Morse proved that signals could be transmitted by wire. He used pulses of
current to deflect an electromagnet, which moved a marker to produce written
codes on a strip of paper - the invention of Morse Code. The following year, the
device was modified to emboss the paper with dots and dashes. He gave a public
demonstration in 1838, but it was not until five years later that Congress
(reflecting public apathy) funded $30,000 to construct an experimental telegraph
line from Washington to Baltimore, a distance of 40 miles.
Six years later, members of Congress witnessed the sending and receiving of
messages over part of the telegraph line. Before the line had reached Baltimore,
the Whig party held its national convention there, and on May 1, 1844, nominated
Henry Clay. This news was hand-carried to Annapolis Junction (between Washington
and Baltimore) where Morse's partner, Alfred Vail, wired it to the Capitol. This
was the first news dispatched by electric telegraph.
The message, "What hath God wrought?" sent later by "Morse Code" from the old
Supreme Court chamber in the United States Capitol to his partner in Baltimore,
officially opened the completed line of May 24, 1844. Morse allowed Annie
Ellsworth, the young daughter of a friend, to choose the words of the message,
and she selected a verse from Numbers XXIII, 23: "What hath God wrought?", which
was recorded onto paper tape. Morse's early system produced a paper copy with
raised dots and dashes, which were translated later by an operator.
Samuel Morse and his associates obtained private funds to extend their line to
Philadelphia and New York. Small telegraph companies, meanwhile began
functioning in the East, South, and Midwest. Dispatching trains by telegraph
started in 1851, the same year Western Union began business. Western Union built
its first transcontinental telegraph line in 1861, mainly along railroad
rights-of-way.
In 1881, the Postal Telegraph System entered the field for economic reasons, and
merged with Western Union in 1943.
The original Morse telegraph printed code on tape. However, in the United States
the operation developed into sending by key and receiving by ear. A trained
Morse operator could transmit 40 to 50 words per minute. Automatic transmission,
introduced in 1914, handled more than twice that number.
In 1913 Western Union developed multiplexing, which it made possible to transmit
eight messages simultaneously over a single wire (four in each direction).
Teleprinter machines came into use about 1925. Varioplex, introduced in 1936,
enabled a single wire to carry 72 transmissions at the same time (36 in each
direction). Two years later Western Union introduced the first of its automatic
facsimile devices. In 1959 Western Union inaugurated TELEX, which enables
subscribers to the teleprinter service to dial each other directly.
Until 1877, all rapid long-distance communication depended upon the telegraph.
That year, a rival technology developed that would again change the face of
communication -- the telephone. By 1879, patent litigation between Western Union
and the infant telephone system was ended in an agreement that largely separated
the two services.
Samuel Morse is best known as the inventor of the telegraph, but he is also
esteemed for his contributions to American portraiture. His painting is
characterized by delicate technique and vigorous honesty and insight into the
character of his subjects.
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