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Tuesday, 24 May 2011 |
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Telegraph can be defined as “a system of sending messages over long distances, either by means of electricity or by radio signals.” These electric signals are translated into a message and written on a tape in codes or text. Before the invention of the telephone the most commonly used communication system was the telegraph. But today since there are many modern technologies to transmit data telegraph has become outdated. It was on a day like today in 1844, Samuel Morse sent the message “What hath God wrought” (a biblical quotation) from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore, Maryland to inaugurate the first telegraph line. Samuel MorseInvention of the electromagnet by William Sturgeon (1783 -1850) had a huge positive influence on electronic communication. As a result three telegraph systems emerged. After experimenting the electromagnet, Samuel Morse (1791- 1872) successfully invented the telegraph system. Morse’s interest to invent the telegraph rose after the death of his first wife at the age of 25. The massage of her death took two weeks to reach him. Though many inventors tried to invent a telegraph system they unfortunately failed at their task. However inventors like Joseph Henry’s and Charles Wheatstone’s failures brought Samuel Morse great success. They couldn’t archive the practical and commercial success which Morse archived. Though Samuel Morse publicly demonstrated his invention in 1838 it took years to get the attention of the Congress to fund it in order to construct an experimental telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore. However on May 24, 1844 the first official message What hath God wrought was sent from United States to Baltimore. DevelopmentThe telegraph line was extended with time and telegraph companies were established and started to function in many areas in New York and all over Europe.
Using Telegraph in Railway system was introduced between 1838 and 1868 in Britain. Due to this technology many rail road accidents were prevented and railway traffic avoided. “Train dispatching” was introduced in 1851 to American railroad system expecting to control the train movements. Fredick Creed in 1900 developed Morse’s telegraph by converting Morse code to text. Due to the development of Multiplexing in 1913 eight messages could be transmitted at once over a single wire. Teleprinter machines were introduced in 1925 and automatic facsimile device came to use after two years. The biggest success was the TELEX in 1959 and this allowed teleprinter service to dial each other directly. With the invention of the telephone in 1876 sudden change occurred in
the mode of communication. However telegraph played a major role in long
distance communication until 1877. At present Morse’s telegraph
instrument is exhibited in the National Museum in Washington. Telegraphic history |
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