Morse Telegraph

Morse TelegraphIn 1832 Samuel Finley Breese Morse was on his way back from Europe to the U.S. and as he was talking to his companion he learned about the telegraph. He was that much impressed by this information that when he came home, he immediately started his experiments in telegraphy. Morse did not have the necessary knowledge to implement his ideas and was forced to seek professional assistance. He brought Joseph Henry to participate in his research. Henry was an outstanding scientist, a pioneer in the field of electromagnetism. The unit of inductance was named after him. By the end of 1830 a new, really great system of telegraphy was created. It was astonishingly simple. The previous system had a number of telegraph wires, complicated and inconvenient devices. The new one consisted of a single wire (the second was replaced by the earth)/ It had an automatic receiver to record the signal and a simple and convenient transmitter used as a key for opening and closing an electrical circuit. Signals were transmitted using a special code, where combinations of dots and dashes stood for the letters. Current pulses of definite duration forced fluctuations of an electromagnetic stylus of a receiver, reproducing dots and dashes on the tape. Moreover, code signals could be gradually perceived just by hearing a relatively long or short sound. Soon telegraph operators improved their skills and could receive and transmit signals with incredible speed at which a common person heard only a continuous sound. After years of fruitless attempts to sell his invention, and unsuccessful trips for this purpose to Europe Morse succeeded at last in 1842. He received 30 thousand dollars from the American Congress to build a telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore. And two years later, May 24, 1844 the first telegram was officially sent. Four years later, telegraph lines were already used in most of the states. We should note that an important merit of Morse is the introduction of electromagnetic relays. It provided an opportunity to transmit signals over long distances without limit. It was a simple device, where a weak current, coming to the end of the telegraph line was used only for contact closure, which was used as a second key code. When they closed, they gave a new current flow to the subsequent circuit part, from a different battery, etc. Thus a prototype amplifier (repeater) was created.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• communication
• history of technics
• invention
• telegraph