From 1854, maritime telegraph cables enabled the first fast communication between continents. [5] Electric telegraph networks allowed people and commerce to transmit messages almost instantly across continents and oceans, with far-reaching social and economic implications. With the invention of the teletypewriter, telegraphic coding was fully automated. Early teletypewriters used the ITA-1 Baudot code, a five-bit code. This resulted in only thirty-two codes, so it was overdefined into two “teams,” “letters,” and “numbers.” An explicit, non-shared layer code preceded each set of letters and numbers. In 1901, Baudot`s code was modified by Donald Murray. However, as the economic catastrophe known as the Panic of 1837 swept the country and caused a long depression, Morse was forced to wait for better times. Meanwhile, Morse again visited Europe and tried not only to obtain patent protection abroad, but also to investigate competing telegraph systems in England. After meeting Charles Wheatstone, the inventor of such an electric telegraph system, Morse realized that although his main competitor had built an ingenious mechanism, his own system was much simpler, more efficient and easier to use. Bonikowsky, L. N. (2013, March 4). The first telegraph in Canada.
The Canadian Encyclopedia. For a short time, beginning with the New York-Boston line in 1848, some telegraph networks began employing sound engineers trained to understand Morse code acoustically. Gradually, the use of sound operators eliminated the need to include telegraph receivers, registers and tapes. Instead, the receiving instrument was developed into a “sonar,” an electromagnet that was excited by a current and tightened a small iron lever. When the sounding button was opened or closed, the sonar lever struck an anvil. The Morse operator distinguished a period and a dash through the short or long interval between the two clicks. The message was then handwritten. [62] Bell`s great success, achieved on March 10, 1876, marked not only the birth of the telephone, but also the death of the multiple telegraph.
The communication potential contained in his demonstration of being able to “talk to electricity” far outweighed anything that might involve a simple increase in the performance of a point-and-dash system. In 1843, Morse and Vail received funding from the U.S. Congress to build their telegraph system between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland. On May 24, 1844, Morse Vail sent the first historic message: “What has God done!” The telegraph system then spread throughout America and the world, supported by other innovations. Telegraph machines send messages, called telegrams, over long distances. The word “telegraph” comes from two Greek words. “Tele” means “at a distance” and “gramma” means “letter”. When people talk about telegraphs, they usually mean electric telegraphs.
However, messages can also be sent over long distances by other means. For example, they can be sent with semaphore flags. In 1843, the country began to recover economically, and Morse again asked Congress for the $30,000 to build a telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore, forty miles away. The House of Representatives finally passed the bill that included the Morse permit, and the Senate approved it in the final hours of the last session of this Congress. With President Tyler`s signature, Morse received the money he needed and began executing plans for an underground telegraph line. Because telegrams were traditionally loaded with the word, messages were often abbreviated to wrap information in as few words as possible, which was called “telegram style.” The use of the telegraph was quickly accepted by people looking for a faster and easier way to send and receive information. However, widespread and successful use of the device required a unified system of telegraph stations between which information could be transmitted. Other industries with high inventory turnover also benefited from the telegraph. Industries where the product was perishable were of particular importance. These industries included meat packaging and fruit and vegetable distribution.
The growth of these two industries was facilitated by the introduction of the refrigerated truck in 1874. The telegraph was necessary for the precise control of emissions. For example, refrigeration and telegraph allowed cattle to be slaughtered and butchered in the vast cattle yards of Chicago, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Omaha. The beef would then be shipped east at 50% of the cost of shipping live cattle. The centralization of storage sites also created huge amounts of by-products that could be made into glue, tallow, dye, fertilizer, food, brushes, false teeth, gelatin, oleomargarine and many other useful products. The heliograph is a telegraph system that uses reflected sunlight for signaling. It was mainly used in areas where the electric telegraph was not installed and usually used the same code. The most extensive heliographic network was established during the Apache Wars in Arizona and New Mexico. The heliograph was still a standard military device during World War II.
Wireless telegraphy, developed in the early 20th century, became important for maritime use and was a competitor to the electric telegraph with maritime telegraph cables in international communications. At first, Gauss and Weber used the telegraph to coordinate time, but soon they developed other signals and eventually their own alphabet. The alphabet was encoded in binary code transmitted by positive or negative voltage pulses generated by moving an induction coil up and down on a permanent magnet and connecting the coil to the transmission wires using the switch. The page of Gauss`s laboratory notebook, which contains both his code and the first message sent, as well as a replica of the telegraph made in the 1850s under Weber`s direction, are preserved at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Göttingen. Although the telegraph was not at the centre of disputes around 1878, the companies affected by the effects of the battle were the main telegraphic powers at the time. Western Union believed that the 1878 agreement would consolidate telegraphy as the long-distance communication of choice. However, due to underestimating the future of the Telegraph and poor contracts, Western Union was in decline. [100] AT&T acquired control of Western Union`s labor in 1909, but relinquished it in 1914 under threat of antitrust action. AT&T bought Western Union`s e-mail and telex business in 1990. In 1851, a conference in Vienna of the countries of the German-Austrian Telegraph Association (to which many Central European countries belonged) adopted the Morse telegraph as a system of international communication. [49] The presumed international Morse code was significantly modified from the original American Morse code and was based on a code used on the Hamburg Railway (Gerke, 1848).
[50] A common code was a necessary step to enable a direct telegraph link between countries. With different codes, additional operators were needed to translate and retransmit the message.
