Tech Report: A Walk Down Memory Lane, Forgotten Devices of the Past (Part 3)

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Few people still alive on this planet know anything at all about the mysterious gadget, a relic of the past known as 'the telegraph.'

In fact, it was the great grandpa to telex and fax machines. Used by shipping operators and for military uses, the telegraph required a skilled operator to transmit and receive messages.

But what was it exactly?

Telegraphy (from Greek: τῆλε têle, "at a distance" and γράφειν gráphein, "to write") is the long-distance transmission of textual or symbolic (as opposed to verbal or audio) messages without the physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pigeon post is not.

So if I'm getting this right, it means to write at a distance and to clarify further its to transmit communication over long distances... This aligns with my past knowledge of this gadget which if I remember correctly I had the opportunity to see in a museum in San Francisco when I was younger... But such an abstract concept must surely be explored further right?

So how exactly did it work?

Telegraphy requires that the method used for encoding the message be known to both sender and receiver. Many methods are designed according to the limits of the signalling medium used. The use of smoke signals, beacons, reflected light signals, and flag semaphore signals are early examples.

Through the combination of the Telegraph machine and Morse Code human beings now had an instant way to transmit messages from one side of their country to another! Nowadays we just send a text message or an email but humour me if you will... Imagine being out of touch with your loved ones and suddenly a technology comes along and puts them right at your fingertips! No pigeons, no horseback delivery but an instant message carried through the wires to another operator, a wait and then a reply all in the same day! Magnificent right?

An electrical telegraph was independently developed and patented in the United States in 1837 by Samuel Morse. His assistant, Alfred Vail, developed the Morse code signalling alphabet with Morse. The first telegram in the United States was sent by Morse on 11 January 1838, across two miles (3 km) of wire at Speedwell Ironworks near Morristown, New Jersey, although it was only later, in 1844, that he sent the message "WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT" from the Capitol in Washington to the old Mt. Clare Depot in Baltimore.

From then on, commercial telegraphy took off in America with lines linking all the major metropolitan centres on the East Coast within the next decade. The overland telegraph connected the west coast of the continent to the east coast by 24 October 1861, bringing an end to the Pony Express.

After word got out, lines were put up all across the USA and the rest of the world followed their lead. One thing is for certain, without this device, the technological world as we know it would never have been the same!

Now lets move onto another epic device of the past... For the DJs out there, I'm sure they'd certainly agree there's a big difference between a record player and a turntable!