**TODAY ONLY**

January 6

Morse Demonstrates Electromagnetic Telegraph
On this day in 1838, Samuel F. B. Morse demonstrated his electromagnetic telegraph, sending a signal over a two-mile wire in Morristown, New Jersey. Faster! During a trip to Europe in 1830, Morse observed the French semaphore system for sending messages. It was far faster than the slow mail in America. Morse believed an electric spark could send messages even faster than the French semaphores. Telegraphs Before Morse. The telegraph was first conceived in 1753 and first built in 1774. But up until 1833, the machines were wildly impractical; they required 26 wires, one for each letter of the alphabet. In 1833 a five-wire model was invented. Morse's Plan? Reduce the wires to one. Morse's Secret Signals. With Morse's telegraph, when the signal arrived at the other end of the wire, the electro-magnetic signal caused a pencil to move up and down on a strip of paper, recording a series of dots and dashes. Secret Code. These had to be de-coded into letters and numbers using a dictionary composed by Morse. All this assumed that the pencil wrote clearly, which did not always happen. Wiring the Country. By 1842, Morse had convinced Congress to underwrite his plan to "wire" the United States.	Building on the Good Ideas of Others. Morse also found a number of American and European telegraphy experts: Joseph Henry of Princeton, who had invented a working telegraph in 1831 and Louis Breguet of Paris, from whose long-distance telegraph Morse actually stole an essential component. Most of the mechanical development of Morse's telegraph and its code was done by his assistants, especially Alfred Vail and William Baxter. Patent Time. In 1844, Morse filed for a patent, which was granted in 1849. He had proved that his device worked over short distances; and the Federal funds allowed him to string a wire from Baltimore to Washington. Bigger and Better Demonstrations. In 1844, Morse sent the first inter-city message. Next came the first public demonstration, in which he sent a message from the chamber of the Supreme Court to the Mount Clair train depot in Baltimore. A Message To Remember. The telegraphed message was borrowed from the Bible: "What hath God wrought?" All Across the Nation. The telegraph spread across the US more quickly than the railroads, whose routes the wires often followed. How Many Miles? By 1854, there were 23,000 miles of telegraph wire in operation. In 1851, Western Union was founded, and in 1868, the first successful trans-Atlantic cable link was established. What Samuel Morse Did Not Invent: The telegraph. Samuel Morse is known as the father of the American commercial telegraph, but he would not have succeeded without Alfred Vail as his partner. Although he did not invent the telegraph, and probably did not invent Morse Code, Morse was responsible for acceptance and use of the telegraph throughout the world. In his lifetime, Morse was better known as a painter than as a scientist.	Samuel F. B. Morse conceived of an electromagnetic telegraph in 1832 and constructed an experimental version in 1835. He did not construct a truly practical system until 1844, when he built a line from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. Albert Einstein Explains the Telegraph. "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates in exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat." Link for More. Morse & Morse Code. See Samuel Morse's telegraph.

TODAY ONLY

January 6

Morse Demonstrates Electromagnetic Telegraph

On this day in 1838, Samuel F. B. Morse demonstrated his electromagnetic telegraph, sending a signal over a two-mile wire in Morristown, New Jersey.

Faster! During a trip to Europe in 1830, Morse observed the French semaphore system for sending messages. It was far faster than the slow mail in America. Morse believed an electric spark could send messages even faster than the French semaphores.

Telegraphs Before Morse. The telegraph was first conceived in 1753 and first built in 1774. But up until 1833, the machines were wildly impractical; they required 26 wires, one for each letter of the alphabet. In 1833 a five-wire model was invented.

Morse's Plan? Reduce the wires to one.

Morse's Secret Signals. With Morse's telegraph, when the signal arrived at the other end of the wire, the electro-magnetic signal caused a pencil to move up and down on a strip of paper, recording a series of dots and dashes.

Secret Code. These had to be de-coded into letters and numbers using a dictionary composed by Morse. All this assumed that the pencil wrote clearly, which did not always happen.

Wiring the Country. By 1842, Morse had convinced Congress to underwrite his plan to "wire" the United States.

Building on the Good Ideas of Others. Morse also found a number of American and European telegraphy experts: Joseph Henry of Princeton, who had invented a working telegraph in 1831 and Louis Breguet of Paris, from whose long-distance telegraph Morse actually stole an essential component. Most of the mechanical development of Morse's telegraph and its code was done by his assistants, especially Alfred Vail and William Baxter.

Patent Time. In 1844, Morse filed for a patent, which was granted in 1849. He had proved that his device worked over short distances; and the Federal funds allowed him to string a wire from Baltimore to Washington.

Bigger and Better Demonstrations. In 1844, Morse sent the first inter-city message. Next came the first public demonstration, in which he sent a message from the chamber of the Supreme Court to the Mount Clair train depot in Baltimore.

A Message To Remember. The telegraphed message was borrowed from the Bible: "What hath God wrought?"

All Across the Nation. The telegraph spread across the US more quickly than the railroads, whose routes the wires often followed.

How Many Miles? By 1854, there were 23,000 miles of telegraph wire in operation. In 1851, Western Union was founded, and in 1868, the first successful trans-Atlantic cable link was established.

What Samuel Morse Did Not Invent: The telegraph. Samuel Morse is known as the father of the American commercial telegraph, but he would not have succeeded without Alfred Vail as his partner. Although he did not invent the telegraph, and probably did not invent Morse Code, Morse was responsible for acceptance and use of the telegraph throughout the world. In his lifetime, Morse was better known as a painter than as a scientist.

Samuel F. B. Morse conceived of an electromagnetic telegraph in 1832 and constructed an experimental version in 1835. He did not construct a truly practical system until 1844, when he built a line from Baltimore to Washington, D.C.

Albert Einstein Explains the Telegraph. "You see, wire telegraph is a kind of very, very long cat. You pull his tail in New York and his head is meowing in Los Angeles. Do you understand this? And radio operates in exactly the same way: you send signals here, they receive them there. The only difference is that there is no cat."

Link for More.

Morse & Morse Code.

See Samuel Morse's telegraph.