THE HISTORY OF THE TELEGRAPH

Early Forms of Long-Distance Communication tem of telegraphs ex-

Before the development of the electric telegraph in the 19th cen- panded across borders and
tury revolutionized how information was transmitted across into Italy, Belgium, and
long distances, ancient civilizations such as those in China, Holland. The true demise
Egypt and Greece used drumbeats or smoke signals to exchange of the technology was not
information between far-flung points. However, such methods until 1856, when it was
were limited by the weather and the need for an uninterrupted replaced by its electric
line of sight between receptor points. These limitations also counterpart.
lessened the effectiveness of the semaphore, a modern precursor The Chappe telegraph
to the electric telegraph. Developed in the early 1790s, the was truly remarkable in
semaphore consisted of a series of hilltop stations that each had allowing for reliable and
large movable arms to signal letters and numbers and two tele- rapid transmission of
scopes with which to see the other stations. This “optical tele- words across long dis-
graph” is now more commonly referred to as the Chappe tele- tances. A message could
graph. travel 500 kilometers in
Its invention is attributed to Frenchman Claude Chappe and Claude Chappe just about two hours, a
his brothers, who unveiled their device on the 3rd of March, remarkable speed in a time
1791 between the towns of Brûlon and Parcé, a total distance of of messengers on horses.
14 kilometers. Claude was only 26 at the time. It wouldn’t be
for another two more years, however, before he and his brothers How did it work?
could perfect their contraption and convince the government The Chappe telegraph is a semaphore not unlike the ones used
that it would be successful The construction of his telegraph at sea by flagmen in order to communicate from ship to ship. In
was approved by the Convention Nationale (the Assembly) on order to send signals over larger distances, however, the Chappe
the 4th of August, 1793. The Paris-Lille line opened a year later, telegraph used a stationary tower upon which stood a wooden
on the 16th of July, 1794. stand approximately 7 meters in height. A 4.6m x 0.35m long
By the mid 19th century, an expansive network of 534 relay black regulator wooden beam was pivoted upon this stand, and
stations connecting 29 major French cities across some 5000 two indicator “wings” were affixed to the ends of this. The dif-
kilometers was in place. Now a communiqué from Paris to ferent positions of the wooden beams would thus communicate
Strasbourg would take ap- a particular signal and were ulti-
proximately two hours. mately controlled by a system of pul-
Napoleon Bonaparte im- leys and ropes developed by the fa-
mediately saw its military po- mous watchmaker Abraham Louis
tential and had the network Breguet. The towers would be posi-
vastly expanded under the ur- tioned approximately 10-15 kilome-
gency of the tense situation ters from each other in order to guar-
during the French Revolution. antee visibility, though fog or night
After its peak success, Bona- would halt communication alto-
parte, then First Consul of gether.
France, decided in 1800 to Although the beams would be kept
reduce the appropriation of completely vertical in the absence of
funds to the construction of the a message to transmit, once a code
telegraphs and, in dispair, signal was displayed by an operator
Claude Chappe committed at a tower, he would wait for the fol-
suicide by throwing himself lowing tower to copy the same sig-
into a well. Interestingly nal. As a result, if a transmission was
enough, however, once Napo- not being recieved correctly a relay
leon was crowned Emperor, he station would continue sending the
made an effort to re-expand same signal, backing up the whole
the network as a means of process to the origin of transmission
A Chappe telegraph seen if full view and a cutaway showing the
keeping control. In fact it was mechanical workings. if something wrong should occur.
during this time that the sys- Ninety-eight unique signals could
be made, of which six were reserved for particular communica-
tions such as “error in transmission” or “priority.” The two sig-
nalmen stationed at each post knew the significance of only
these six, and recorded the 92 others by number only, to be de-
ciphered by superior officers. In order to include more sophisti-
cated messages, each transmission would be divided into two
numbers: the first would indicate a page number for a particular
reference manual that each station had, and the second would
indicate a particular number line on that page. All told this al-
lowed for 92 x 92 signals or 8464 unique words or phrases. For
example, the phrase “I respond to your last dispatch” (Je
réponds à votre dernière dépêche) was located on page 53, line
21.
Like ancient smoke signals, the semaphore was susceptible
to weather and other factors that hindered visibility. A different
method of transmitting information was needed to make regular
and reliable long-distance communication workable. Enter the
electric telegraph.
Alphabetic and numerical equivalents of Chappe signals.

The Electric Telegraph

Developed in the 1830s and 1840s by Samuel Morse (1791-
1872) and other inventors, the electric telegraph revolutionized
long-distance communication. It worked by transmitting elec-
trical signals over a wire laid between stations.
In the early 19th century, two developments in the field of
electricity opened the door to the production of the electric tele-
graph. First, in 1800, the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta
(1745-1827) invented the battery, which reliably stored an elec-
tric current and allowed the current to be used in a controlled
environment. Second, in 1820, the Danish physicist Hans
Christian Oersted (1777-1851) demonstrated the connection
between electricity and magnetism by deflecting a magnetic
needle with an electric current. While scientists and inventors
across the world began experimenting with batteries and the
principles of electromagnetism to develop some kind of com-
munication system, the credit for inventing the telegraph gener-
ally falls to two sets of researchers: Sir William Cooke (1806-
79) and Sir Charles Wheatstone (1802-75) in England, and
Samuel Morse, Leonard Gale (1800-83) and Alfred Vail (1807-
59) in the U.S.
In the 1830s, the British team of Cooke and Wheatstone
developed a telegraph system with five magnetic needles that
could be pointed around a panel of letters and numbers by using
an electric current. Their system was soon being used for rail-
road signaling in Britain. During this time period, the
Massachusetts-born, Yale-educated Morse (who began his ca-
reer as a painter), worked to develop an electric telegraph of his tually produced a single-circuit telegraph that worked by push-
own. He reportedly had become intrigued with the idea after ing the operator key down to complete the electric circuit of the
hearing a conversation about electromagnetism while sailing battery. This action sent the electric signal across a wire to a
from Europe to America in the early 1830s, and later learned receiver at the other end. All the system needed was a key, a
more about the topic from American physicist Joseph Henry battery, wire and a line of poles between stations for the wire
(1797-1878). In collaboration with Gale and Vail, Morse even- and a receiver.
Morse Code
To transmit messages across telegraph wires, in the 1930s
Morse and Vail created what came to be known as Morse code.
The code assigned letters in the alphabet and numbers a set of
dots (short marks) and dashes (long marks) based on the fre-
quency of use; letters used often (such as “E”) got a simple
code, while those used infrequently (such as “Q”) got a longer
and more complex code. Initially, the code, when transmitted
over the telegraph system, was rendered as marks on a piece of
paper that the telegraph operator would then translate back into
English. Rather quickly, however, it became apparent that the
operators were able to hear and understand the code just by lis-
tening to the clicking of the receiver, so the paper was replaced
by a receiver that created more pronounced beeping sounds.
Samuel Morse sending the first telegraph message, “What
Rise and Decline of the Telegraph System hath God wrought?”
In 1843, Morse and Vail received funding from the U.S. Con-
gress to set up and test their telegraph system between Wash-
ington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. On May 24, 1844, Europe by the later part of the 19th century, and by 1866 the
Morse sent Vail the historic first message: “What hath God first permanent telegraph cable had been successfully laid
wrought!” The telegraph system subsequently spread across across the Atlantic Ocean; there were 40 such telegraph lines
America and the world, aided by further innovations. Among across the Atlantic by 1940.
these improvements was the invention of good insulation for The electric telegraph transformed how wars were fought
telegraph wires. The man behind this innovation was Ezra Cor- and won and how journalists and newspapers conducted busi-
nell (1807-74), one of the founders of the university in New ness. Rather than taking weeks to be delivered by horse-and-
York that bears his name. Another improvement, by the famed carriage mail carts, pieces of news could be exchanged between
inventor Thomas Alva Edison (1847- telegraph stations almost instantly. The telegraph also had a
1931) in 1874, was the Quadruplex profound economic effect, allowing
system, which allowed for four money to be “wired” across great dis-
messages to be transmitted simulta- tances.
neously using the same wire. Even by the end of the 19th century,
Use of the telegraph was however, new technologies began to
quickly accepted by people eager emerge, many of them based on the same
for a faster and easier way of send- principles first developed for the tele-
ing and receiving information. graph system. In time, these new tech-
However, widespread and success- nologies would overshadow the tele-
ful use of the device required a uni- graph, which would fall out of regular
fied system of telegraph stations widespread usage. Although the telegraph
among which information could be has since been replaced by the even more
transmitted. The Western Union convenient telephone, fax machine and
Telegraphy Company, founded in Internet, its invention stands as a turning
part by Cornell, was at first only point in world history.
one of many such companies that Samuel Morse died in New York City at
developed around the new medium the age of 80 on April 2, 1872.
during the 1850s. By 1861, how-
ever, Western Union had laid the Source:
first transcontinental telegraph line, Morse Code & the Telegraph,
making it the first nationwide tele- History.com
graph company. Telegraph systems
spread across the world, as well. Samuel Morse sending his last telegraph
Extensive systems appeared across message upon retirement.