Samuel F. B. Morse: The History And History Of The Telegraph

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The telegraph was invented in 1832 by an artist named Samuel F.B. Morse. Before Morse sent his famous message there were signaling systems that made so people could communicate over long distances. Most systems were using flags or lights to signal things. most signals were semaphore. Morse thought that sending a message over a wire might be possible by using codes. The telegraph was called and electromechanical telegraph which Morse called it the recording telegraph. The way they would talk over the telegraph was have codes that Morse would make by pressing the buttons on the morse code and holding down the buttons for longer and shorter periods of time. There were two people that helped Morse were Vail, and Leonard Gale. Then in 1838 Morse had a code for sending and receiving messages.
In 1843 the congress asked Morse if he could do a demonstration between Washington and Baltimore. Unfortunately, after Morse tried to lay some underground cables down and it did not work, then he tried using the telephone poles like we have today and it was successful. Then on May 24 1844 Morse sent the first message to one of his partners Vail who was in Baltimore and what Morse said was “What hath God Wrought!”. Soon Morse had to buy some postmasters to put in posts for people who were buying the telegraph from Morse. The postmasters subscribed $15,000 and then formed a company called “Magnetic Telegraph”. Soon many people were forming companies for putting up telegraph poles. Morse sold many licences wherever he could.
In the spring of 1846 the first telegraph that was commercial was a line that was completed between DC, Washington, and New York city by the magnetic telegraph company. Shortly after that another line was put between New York city...

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... this line west, judge Selden called his friends and most of the people in Rochester. Eventually in 1851 the organization of a company and the filling in Albany of the articles of association for the New York and Mississippi valley printing telegraph company. (NYMVPTC)
In 1854 there were two systems consisted of 13 separate companies. In 1856 the company was named the “Western Union Telegraph Company”. Soon there were a lot of telegraph companies everywhere. One of the most important take-over was carried out by Sibley when he negotiated the purchase of the Morse patent rights for the Midwest for $50,000 from Jeptha H. Wade and john J. Speed, company (EMTC). Sibly switched to the superior Morse system. He also hired Wade, a very capable manager, who became his protege and later his successor. After a struggle Wade and Morse obtained the EMTC from Cornell in 1855.

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