infromation on telegraphs?

Question

american west about 1860's before the railroads

Answer 1

The telegraph used a magnetic coil with a push button lever (called a key), wire and a battery source of power. When the key is pushed down it makes the coil on the sending end energize and send that electricity down the line. A coil on the other end pulls in the receiving key with a distinctive click. The receiver will stay pulled in until the sending key is released. Thus the sender can make a quick tap or a slightly long pause. This gives the difference in the "dot" or the "dash." (dot is also called dit, and dash is also called dah) Samuel Morse made up a code of dots-dashes for each letter/number. The Morse Code is used world wide even today.

So I'm an operator of a telegraph in Maryland and I want to send a message to Pennsylvania. I start by sending an attention code which tells which office on the line who the message is for. If it isn't my office, I ignore the taps. If it is mine I write it down and decode it into a message and then the Telegraph /Messenger/Boy would go deliver the message.

It transmitted messges great distances quickly. It wasn't private since every office on the wire could read your message. The service could be inturupted by cutting the wire. Telegraph messages lasted up until last year when Western Union sent the last telegram. Computers, email and cell phones have put them out of business.

Of note... Some Morse code messages are well known. The WWII sign of Victory that Churchill was fond of displaying was the "V" In Morse code that is dit-dit-dit-dah.
If you say that out loud you might recognize the Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No.5 opening score.

The international sign of distress is S.O.S. (sometimes refered to as Save Our Ship, or Save Our Souls). In Morse code that is:

dit dit dit dah dah dah dit dit dit ...---...

SO, the telegraph was wonderful and made information sharing across the country fast... in minutes or hours where it tooks days or weeks to deliver mail out to the old West.



g-day!

Answer 2

Samuel Morse invented the dots and dashes called the Morse code which was used on the telegraph wires. Also dont forget the Pony Express as a major communication source and Mail delivery service in the Old West