Two elements had to be perfected before an electric telegraph could work: a means of sending the signal (generating and storing electricity) and receiving the signal (recording the breaks in the current).
#Who invented telegram code#
For instance, the code for SOS (… - …) is a well-known call for help. The Morse code, named after Samuel Morse, is still used today. Breaking the current in a particular pattern denotes letters or phrases. The basic science of the electric telegraph is to send an electric current through a wire. Technological Advancesĭue to technological difficulties, the electric telegraph could not at first compete with the visual telegraph. The position of the arms was interpreted using a codebook with over 8,000 entries. Chappe refined and expanded his network, and by 1799 his telegraph consisted of a network of towers with mechanical arms spread across France. He called his invention the télégraphe, or far writer. In 1791 the Frenchman Claude Chappe used a visual network (which consisted of a telescope, a clock, a codebook, and black and white panels) to send a message ten miles. The first extensive telegraph network was the visual telegraph. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem recounting Paul Revere’s ride (“One if by land, two if by sea, and I on the opposite shore will be”) gives an example of a simple system. In order for these systems to work, both parties (the sender and the receiver) needed a method of interpreting the signals. Webster’s definition of a telegraph is “an apparatus for communicating at a distance by coded signals.” The earliest telegraph systems consisted of smoke signals, drums, and mirrors used to reflect sunlight. This section is broken into four parts, each reviewing an era of telegraphy: precursors to the electric telegraph, early industrial organization of the industry, Western Union’s dominance, and the decline of the industry. Like most radical new technologies, the telecommunications revolution of the mid-1800s was not a revolution at all, but rather consisted of many inventions and innovations in both technology and industrial organization. It replaced an existing technology, dramatically reduced costs, was monopolized by a single firm, and ultimately was displaced by a newer technology. The telegraph was similar to many other inventions of the nineteenth century. This entry focuses on the industrial organization of the telegraph industry from its inception through its demise and the industry’s impact on the American economy.
By transmitting information quickly over long distances, the telegraph facilitated the growth in the railroads, consolidated financial and commodity markets, and reduced information costs within and between firms. Its immediate predecessors were homing pigeons, visual networks, the Pony Express, and railroads.
The electric telegraph was one of the first telecommunications technologies of the industrial age. Tomas Nonnenmacher, Allegheny College Introduction
0 kommentar(er)
