Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1858-06-28
E,,,orv oc,ns Telegraph.

. T.
a brief sun mary Of the history of the tele-
graph, that upon the progress made and the
results obtained in the few years since It's
+ discovery, We may found our anuclpations
! for the future OF the telegraph. -. .-=
| 10 the year 1854, DR.. llOoke invented a
plan for an aerial telegraph which was ioI-
lowed by the experiments OF VI. Amuntons
/ for the same end However, neither OF these
! plans were carried into effect; and Il was not
until 1874 thai the semaphOre was actually
used. la that year an aerial telegraph, the
Invention of NJ Claude Cbappe, was eu-
ployed for the transmission OF intelligence
between Paris and Lille; the conveyance OF q
signal frOm one OF these places to the other
occupying only two minutes. Semaphores
were soon in use throughout Europe-ln
England n 1875; Denmark 10 1902; India
IN 1923; Prussia and Austria about 1888:
and Russia 10 1889.
The cost of working the aerial telegraph
was very great The line above mentioned
cost about 81 800 per annum, and similar
! line between London aud Portsmouth cost
about SlU 500 per annum. These te!egraebs
we're necessarily imperfect, exceedingly slow,
and liable 70 total interruption by storms
and tOgs.
The idea of the employment Of electricity
as means Of conveying Intelligence To
/ distance, appears to nave been lUcg enter
tanned, aud experiments to ascertain tie
practicabiity Of electrical communication
| between distant places, wero early made Oy
scientific ucn throughout the civilized world.
. In 1929, Grey and Wheeler discovered that
current of electricity could be made u
! flow through Il considerable length OF wire.
| n TAG, Wiucker, al Leipslc, and La MOI
! bier, at Paris, experimental On the same
| subject of the transmission of the electric
current through conducting bodies. In
! l747, DR.. Watson, in England, repeated and
! extended these experiments, sending cur.
rent through tRO miles OF wire and two OF
earth; sending shocks across the Thames and
the New River Dr. Franklin, in l746, and
De Luc in l149, repeated many Of these ex-
! periments. Ia addition, experiments bear
| ing more or less on she subject Of electric
teIesraphy, were made by Lcsage 10 ia,
ReuSser IN 1874, Cayallo 10 1875, Betan-
court in 1893, SGenmering in 1907, and
! PcOf. Osrsted in 1919.
The first electric telegraph actually ap-
piled seems to have been the invention Of VI.
D. L. Saliva. humboldt says his telegraph
was established between Madrid and Aran-
juez ir l79S, distance of about twenty-5x
miles.
After many improvements and changes,
Professor 5. y. B. Morse, in the year 1880,
constructed the basis Of his present simple
and beautiful instrument. In September,
1897, be exhibited bis instrument at the
New York University, working through l.
| 700 feet Of wire.
Morse applied for patent in the United
States in April, 1888. This application was
afterwards withdrawn, and his patent was
no, taken out until June, $40. Ia loi2, he
petitioned Congress, who appropriated S3O,-
! 900 to his use for the construction OF line
between Washington and Baltimore. ln
June, 1874, Morse had his invention in sue.
cessfu operation between Washington and
Baltimore o distance of forty miles. This
was the only liue in the United States con-
structed under government patronage.
The House Telegraph, the invention OF
| Royal H. House, differs from previously in
vented tclegraphic instruments, by printing
messages in the ordinary Roman letters; and
this invention, with the invention Ut David
E. Hughes, of Kentucky, is well fitted TO
precede the experiment Of the Atlantic ca
bic. BY the latter invention the labor which
electricity he's to perform is reduced to
minimum, by making it necessary to uso.
only single electrical impulse to form
letter, whereas by previous systems several
distinct impulses were necessary. With the
aid of this inyention we can transmit mes
sage the distance OF ore continent to anoth
or; aud so we here have the practical deci
sion in regard to the feasibility Of the A.
lantic cable, the other difficulties being only
mechanical.
To show the progress which has been made
| throughout the world in building telegraph
lines, We give summary Of the existing
lines in the world -