The telegraph was a revolutionary technology that facilitated and revolutionized long distance communication. The main component of the telegraph system that we decided to further analyze is the Morse Key, which allows messages to be sent via Morse Code. Samuel Morse with the help of his assistant, Alfred Vail created both the telegraph and the Morse code. Morse and Vail were among many individuals across the world in the early 1800’s who were involved in developing an instrument that used an electrical current to send messages across wires or cables. After receiving a $30,000 grant from the United States Congress, Morse constructed an experimental 38-mile telegraph line between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. On May 24, 1844, Morse tapped the message, “What hath God wrought!”
Earliest idea of Samuel Morse for the code was a very complicated system, allocating numbers for each word, and having a codebook to look up each word according to the number which had been sent. Vail had the idea to improve the code and find a more efficient way.
The new code was made up of a set of “dots and dashes” that represented letters and numbers. Vail read thousands of newspapers to see the letter frequency and find out which letters of the English alphabet were used the most. The letter “E” was the most used letter, hence it got the simplest code, a dot, while those letters that were used infrequently, such as the letter “Q”, got a longer code.
The Morse key is important in the context of Morse Code because the entire purpose of the key was to send messages in Morse Code. A code was needed to transmit natural language using only the electrical pulses, and the silence between them so the messages could go across the wires or cables and be successfully received by another telegraph. When an electrical current was received, an electromagnet engaged an armature that pushed a stylus onto the moving paper tape, making an indentation on the tape.
Since the first Morse telegraph systems were introduced, an enormous variety of Morse keys or telegraph keys have been constructed. From Straight keys including the Camelback Morse key, to automatic Morse keys such as the Vibroplex, their development has seen many new innovations, and enormous changes in style. The first Morse keys arrived at the very beginning of the Morse telegraph system in 1844. A few weeks before the demonstration of the first line between Washington and Baltimore in the USA, Vail used a system of opening and closing the circuit using a simple switch.
Before the invention of the telegraph, sending messages over long distances was an extremely arduous, and sometimes impossible task. To send a message over a long distance, they would sometimes use flame beacons or light flashes with a heliograph. Civilians would often only have hand-written letters or word by a messenger to learn about family news.
Perhaps the two largest areas that were dramatically different before the telegraph were war and the news industry. During times of war, countries and communities had to wait long periods of time to get results as to what was going on as well as who had died and survived. Moreover, it was incredibly difficult for different parts of a country’s military to communicate during war which made strategizing all the more difficult. When it came to the news industry, it was difficult to spread news across large regions or countries. The invention of the printing press was a large boon to the news industry and helped create a platform where large amounts of newspapers could be printed and circulated. However, communicating across long distances and spreading news from one state or city to another, or one country to another was still difficult, if not impossible.
The invention of the telegraph had a great impact on the working life, government and business.
The invention of the telegraph revolutionized almost every major industry in the world. When it came to the news industry, news could be spread across continents, states, cities in ways never imagined before. Moreover, news also traveled much faster than ever before. When it came to war, the telegraph was used during both the Civil War in the United States and during World War I. It facilitated communication between troops in the field and commanders or generals at base. Furthermore, it eased communications between the politicians and government officials with military commanders who before waited many months for updates on the war and now only had to wait minutes.
The telegraph not only revolutionized communication around the world, it also largely broke down social and gender barriers. At the outset when the telegraph was still an emerging technology, it was used largely by wealthy individuals, governments and news organizations. This was because originally it was very expensive to send telegrams because it was not a popular technology. However, as it became more and more popular, the cost of sending a telegram became less and less, making this revolutionary technology originally only available to the elite, open to all. Moreover, it broke down gender barriers because the process involved in receiving a telegram by an operator writing down and translating the message was somewhat done by women. The position of receiving telegrams changed with technology into receiving calls at call centers as well as connecting phone calls as switchboard operators.
The telegraph not only revolutionized every major industry, but led to a whole host of new sweeping innovations in ways to communicate. Based off the telegraph, the fax machine, telephone, cell phone and internet all emerged. Though the telegraph has essentially fallen out of use, it opened up communication, social barriers and new inventions that were never sought possible before its creation.
