Inventions in the Century

by William Henry Doolittle

Sixth, Morse’s adaptation of the armature and electro-magnet of Henry as a recording instrument in 1837 in connection with his improvement in 1838 on the Schilling, Gauss and Steinheil alphabets by employing the simple “dot and dash” alphabet in a single line. He was also assisted by the suggestions of Profs. Dana and Gale. To which must be added his adoption of Alfred Vail’s improved alphabet, and Vail’s practical suggestions in respect to the recording and other instrumentalities.

To these should be added the efforts in England, made almost simultaneously with those of Morse, of Wheatstone and Cook and Davy, who were reaching the same goal by somewhat different routes.

Morse in 1837 commenced to put the results of his experiments and investigations in the form of caveats, applications and letters patent in the United States and in Europe. He struggled hard against indifference and poverty to introduce his invention to the world. It was not until 1844 that he reduced it to a commercial practical success. He then laid a telegraph from Washington to Baltimore under the auspices of the United States Government, which after long hesitation appropriated $30,000 for the purpose. It was on the 24th day of May, 1844, that the first formal message was transmitted on this line between the two cities and recorded by the electro-magnet in the dot and dash alphabet, and this was immediately followed by other messages on the same line.

Morse gathered freely from all sources of which he could avail himself knowledge of what had gone before. He was not a scientific discoverer, but an inventor, who, adding a few ideas of his own to what had before been discovered, was the first to combine them in a practical useful device. What he did as an inventor, and what anyone may do to constitute himself an inventor, by giving to the world a device which is useful in the daily work of mankind, as distinguished from the scientific discoverer who stops short of successful industrial work, is thus stated by the United States Supreme Court in an opinion sustaining the validity of his patents, after all the previous art had been produced before it:—

“Neither can the inquiries he made nor the information or advice he received from men of science in the course of his researches impair his right to the character of an inventor. No invention can possibly be made, consisting of a combination of different elements of power, without a thorough knowledge of the properties of each of them, and the mode in which they operate on each other. And it can make no difference in this respect, whether he derives his information from books, or from conversation with men skilled in the science. If it were otherwise, no patent in which a combination of different elements is used would ever be obtained, for no man ever made such an invention without having first obtained this information, unless it was discovered by some fortunate accident. And it is evident that such an invention as the electro-magnetic telegraph could never have been brought into action without it; for a very high degree of scientific knowledge and the nicest skill in the mechanic arts are combined in it, and were both necessary to bring it into successful operation. The fact that Morse sought and obtained the necessary information and counsel from the best sources, and acted upon it, neither impairs his rights as an inventor nor detracts from his merits.”—O’Reilly vs. Morse, 5 Howard.

The combination constituting Morse’s invention comprised a main wire circuit to transmit the current through its whole length whenever closed; a main galvanic battery to supply the current; operating keys to break and close the main circuit; office circuits; a circuit of conductors and batteries at each office to record the message there; receiving spring lever magnets to close an office circuit when a current passes through the main circuit; adjusting screws to vary the force of the main current; marking apparatus, consisting of pointed pieces of wire, to indent dots and lines upon paper; clockwork to move the paper indented; and magnet sounders to develop the power of the pointer and of the armatures to produce audible distinguishable sounds.

It was soon learned by operators how to distinguish the signs or letters sent by the length of the “click” of the armature, and by thus reading by sound the reading of the signs on paper was dispensed with, and the device became an electric-magnetic acoustic telegraph.

What is known as the Morse system has been improved, but its fundamental principles remain, and their world-wide use constitute still the daily evidence of the immense value of the invention to mankind.

Before the 1844 reduction to practice, Morse had originated and laid the first submarine telegraph. This was in New York harbour in 1842. In a letter to the Secretary of the United States Treasury, August 10, 1843, he also suggested the project of an Atlantic telegraph.

While Henry was busy with his great magnets and Morse struggling to introduce his telegraph, Michael Faraday was making those investigations and discoveries which were to result in the application of electricity to the service of man in still wider and grander fields.