Who Invented the Telegraph

Throughout history, human beings have sought the best way to exchange messages, that is, the way to be able to communicate with each other, no matter how far away the two interlocutors were. One of these communication mechanisms are the so-called telegraphs, which have undergone a great evolution over the centuries.

To learn about this invention in this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to talk about who invented the telegraph.

Index

1. Origins of the telegraph
2. Who Invented the Telegraph and Its Evolution - Summary History
3. Other relevant telegraphs in history

To see them origins of the telegraph We must go to the first attempts to find inventions that would allow communication, and although they were not called telegraphs, they had a similar handling. The first messages by signal can be found in the guardians of the Great Wall of China, since in 400 BC. C. large signal towers were used to exchange information through methods such as drums. Over the years, Chinese information methods have improved, especially with the advent of flag signaling, and the subsequent signaling with gunpowder fire.

The evolution in Europe was very different, the Romans being the first to create signage elements. The communication with signals was for military reasons, since it is known that the Roman troops had an enormous number of different forms of messages, although very few have reached our days.

Even so, none of these inventions came close to the concept of a real telegraph, and many centuries passed until research was able to achieve such great feats.

The telegraph is an instrument that allows send electrical signals whose meaning is power send encrypted messages over a long distance. The first telegraphs have nothing to do with the last and, therefore, in this lesson on who invented the telegraph we must talk about the evolution of this instrument.

In 1746, Jean Antoine Nollet did an investigation that had to do with the telegraph, gathering a group of 20 people, whom he connected by joining an iron wire. Nollet realized that after emptying the battery of a few Leyden bottles, the discharge reached everyone at the same time, understanding the speed at which electricity traveled.

20 years after Nollet's experiment, Alessandro Volta created the voltaic pile, which achieved a much more continuous electrical current than the one the French researcher had used. Volta's invention opened up enormous possibilities and one of them was the approach to the telegraph.

In 1809, a German inventor succeeded in creating a electrochemical telegraph, which allowed to send information up to several kilometers, but the manufacturing was somewhat primitive, and that caused the costs to be too high.

Many were later those who tried to create a perfect telegraph but it was not until 1829 what Joseph henry got create the telegraph that we all know, improving the systems of all those who had contributed before him. Henry continued to investigate, and in 1835 he succeeded in greatly increasing the distance at which his invention worked.

To conclude this lesson we must comment on a series of telegraphs with their own name, being very important to understand the importance of the telegraph for so many years.

Schilling Telegraph

In 1833, the German inventor Schilling manufactured a electromagnetic telegraph, which consisted on the part of the emitter in a similar way to that of a piano, and on the part of the receiver of a series of needles whose movement marked the message, based on a table of signals created by the same Schilling. For all this it is considered that this telegraph was one of the first to use a binary signal system.

Schilling sold his idea to Russia, more specifically to Tsar Nicolas I of Russia, since his intention was to communicate the Russian palace with the naval base. The idea was rejected after Schilling's death, and there were still too many problems for it to work properly.

Gauss-Weber and Carl Steinheil telegraph

The importance of this instrument is due to the great importance it had for the investigation of the terrestrial magnetism. Both researchers created a 5-bit system to be able to communicate in any part of the city in which they lived. The main intention of both inventors was to help all the peoples of their country, since at that time communications were very complicated.

Morse Telegraph

Morse created a telegraph that consisted of a pencil and an easel, if the electrical signal did not arrive, the pencil would write a straight line, but when the signal arrived the pencil would draw a zigzag. Morse next to Alfred Vail created a system called Morse, which consisted of the use of the dash, the period and the space to send messages. Morse code would end up being one of the most used in the world, having a vital importance in later centuries.

Hughes Telegraph

Hughes created the first system of telegraphy printing, serving at the beginning as a resource to transcribe musical notes. This telegraph achieved enormous fame in Europe, being bought by Napoleon III himself, because it was faster than Morse's and thus rapidly spreading throughout the continent. Another point in favor of Hughes's system was that his system was capable of write letters and numbers, eliminating the need to translate messages.

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