No sooner had news of the successful operation of his telegraph, as exhibited privately to his friends, begun to spread about than a fresh source of perplexity arose from an unexpected quarter. Dr. Jackson, a chemist and geologist of Boston, now came forward and publicly claimed to be a joint inventor of the telegraph, alleging that he had suggested it to Professor Morse on board the Sully in 1832. He said that during the voyage he had “the pleasure of becoming acquainted with S.F.B. Morse, a distinguished American artist, who is very ingenious in mechanical inventions. I was enthusiastically describing the various wonderful properties of electricity and electro-magnetism before Professor Morse, Mr. Rivers, Mr. Fisher, and others at the table after dinner while the company were listeners, and, as it appeared to me, were somewhat incredulous, for they knew little or nothing on the subject. I mentioned among many other things that I had seen the electric spark pass instantaneously, without any appreciable loss of time, four hundred times round the great lecture room at the Sorbonne. This evidently surprised the company, and I then asked if they had not read of Dr. Franklin’s experiments in which he had caused electricity to go a journey of twenty miles by means of a wire stretched up the Thames, the water being a portion of the circuit. The answer was from Professor Morse that he had not read it. After a short discussion as to the instantaneous nature of the passage, one of the party, Mr. Rivers or Mr. Fisher, said it would be well if we could send news in the same rapid manner; to which Professor Morse replied, ‘Why cannot we?’ I then proceeded to inform Professor Morse in reply to his questions, how it might be done. First, I observed that electricity might be made visible in any part of a circuit by dividing the wire, when a spark would be seen at the intersection. Secondly, that it could be made to perforate paper, if interposed between the disconnected wires. Thirdly, that saline compounds might be decomposed so as to produce colours on paper. The second and third projects were finally adopted for future trial, since they could be made to furnish permanent records.... I observed that it would be easy to devise a method of reading the markings. Here the conversation changed for a while, and was resumed by Professor Morse next day after breakfast. Professor Morse then questioned me again on every point of the invention, and said he had been thinking much about it. With pencil in hand, he proposed a method of deciphering the markings, the dots and marks being made regularly. This was a subject of discussion, and we both took part in it, but I acknowledge that Professor Morse did most in planning the numeration of the marks.” It is evident that even if the accuracy of the above version of the conversations was unquestionable, the information which Dr. Jackson professed to give to Professor Morse was substantially the same that Morse had learned previously.
To the claim thus set up by Dr. Jackson Professor Morse gave an instant and categorical denial. He said: “The discovery belongs to me, and it must of necessity belong exclusively to one. If by an experiment which we proposed to try together, we had mutually fixed upon a successful mode of conveying intelligence, then might we with some propriety be termed mutual or joint inventors; but as we have neither tried any experiment together, nor has the one proposed to be tried by Dr. Jackson been adopted by me, I cannot see how we can be called mutual inventors. Dr. Jackson is not aware perhaps that the mode I have carried into effect, after many and various experiments, with the assistance of my colleague, Professor Gale, was never mentioned either by him or to him. The plan of marking by my peculiar type, and the use which I make of the electro-magnet, were entirely original with me. All the machinery has been elaborated without a hint from Dr. Jackson of any kind in the remotest degree. I am the sole inventor. It is to Professor Gale that I am most of all indebted for substantial and effective aid in many of my experiments; but he prefers no claim of any kind.” Dr. Jackson, on the 17th of September, 1837, admitted that the telegraph he had suggested would require twenty-four wires for conductors. Professor Morse replied that his telegraph was adapted to the use of one wire, or a single circuit, a method which Dr. Jackson had declared to be impracticable. Dr. Jackson admitted that among those who heard his conversations with Professor Morse was William Pell, the Captain of the Sully, who on being asked to give his version of the matter wrote to the Professor as follows:—“I am happy to say I have a distinct remembrance of your suggesting as a thought newly occurred to you the possibility of a telegraphic communication being effected by electric wires. As the passage progressed and your idea developed itself, it became frequently a subject of conversation. Difficulty after difficulty was suggested as obstacles to its operation, which your ingenuity still laboured to remove till your invention, passing from its first crude state through different grades of improvement, was in seeming matured to an available instrument.” In a subsequent letter Captain Pell said it was a matter of great astonishment to him that a fellow-passenger on the Sully from Havre in October, 1832, should attempt to contest with Professor Morse the claim of having been the inventor of the electric telegraph; the impression rested on his mind with the freshness and force of conviction that Professor Morse alone was the originator of the invention. Other witnesses who were on board the Sully gave equally emphatic testimony in support of his originality. When the question of originality was afterwards investigated in a court of law, Mr. Justice Woodbury, after examining all the authorities on the subject, stated that from 1832 forward Professor Morse was entitled to the high credit of making attempts to construct a practical machine for popular and commercial use, which would communicate at a distance by electro-magnetism, and would record quickly and cheaply what was communicated, and that among sixty-two competitors to the discovery of the electric telegraph up to 1838, Professor Morse alone in 1837 seemed to have reached the most perfect result desirable for public and practical use.
While rival claims were being made to the invention of the telegraph, Professor Morse succeeded in securing protection by patent in his own country. He had filed his caveat in the United States on October 6, 1837, and six months afterwards applied for a patent, which he obtained in 1840. Just before taking proceedings to obtain patent rights, some friends of the right sort came to his assistance. In September, 1837, he showed his apparatus and explained his designs to Professor Torrey, Mr. Alfred Vail, and others; and their approbation had a stimulating effect. Mr. Alfred Vail and his brother, after making a thorough examination of it, became so enthusiastic about its success that they offered to supply the impecunious inventor with the means requisite to try experiments on a larger scale. This ready assistance when he was in need he never ceased to praise. Many years after his telegraph was in universal use, and when he was being crowned with the highest honours of his life, he stated that the inventor must seek and employ the skilled mechanician in his workshop to put his invention into a practical form, and for this purpose some pecuniary means are required as well as mechanical skill. Both these he received from Messrs. Vail. These gentlemen came to the help of “the unclothed infant, and with their funds and mechanical skill put it into a condition creditable to appear before the nation.” For this valuable assistance Professor Morse assigned to Mr. Vail one fourth share in the patent; and they continued to work together with the greatest good will. The first really good Morse instrument was made by Mr. Vail, assisted by his father and brother, and their first experiment was made with three miles of copper wire placed round a room of Vail’s factory at the Speedwell ironworks, Morristown, New Jersey, on January 6, 1838. Encouraged by its success, the inventor and his partners invited a number of prominent citizens to witness the performances of the telegraph in the Geological Cabinet of the University in Washington Square, New York, on January 24, 1838; and so much interest was excited by its achievements on that occasion that a fortnight later the Committee of Sciences and Arts of the Franklin Institute inspected it. As an authoritative and permanent record of its stage of development at that time their report is instructive. They stated that “the instrument was exhibited to them in the Hall of the Institute, and every opportunity given by Mr. Morse and his associate, Mr. Alfred Vail, to examine it carefully and to judge of its operation. The instrument may be briefly described as follows: (1) There is a galvanic battery of sixty pairs of plates, set in action by a solution of sulphate of copper. (2) The poles of this battery can be connected at pleasure with a circuit of copper wire, which in the experiments we witnessed was ten miles in length. The greater part of the wire was wound round two cylinders, and the coils insulated from one another by being covered with cotton thread. (3) In the middle of this circuit of wire,—that is, at what was considered virtually a distance of five miles from the battery, was the register. In this there is an electro-magnet, made of a bar of soft iron bent in the form of a horseshoe, and surrounded by coils of the wire which forms the circuit. The keeper of this magnet is at the short arm of a bent lever, at the end of the longer arm of which is a fountain-pen. When the keeper is drawn against the magnet, the pen comes in contact with a roll of paper wound round a cylinder, and makes a mark with ink upon this paper. While the telegraph is in operation, the cylinder which carries the paper is made to revolve slowly upon its axis, by an apparatus like the kitchen jack, and is at the same time moved forward, so that the pen if constantly in contact with the paper would describe a spiral or helix upon its surface. (4) Near the battery, at one of the stations, there is an interruption in the circuit, the ends of the separated wire entering into two cups, near to each other, containing mercury. Now if a small piece of bent wire be introduced, with an end in each cup, the circuit will be completed, the electro-magnet at the other station will be set in action, the keeper will be drawn against it, and the pen will make a mark upon the revolving paper. On the other hand, when the bent wire is removed from the cups, the circuit will be interrupted, the electro-magnet will instantly cease to act, the keeper will, by its weight, recede a small distance from the magnet, the other end of the lever will rise and lift the pen from the paper, and the marking will cease. (5) The successive connections and interruptions of the circuit are executed by means of an ingenious contrivance for depressing the arch of copper wire into the cups of mercury, and raising it out of them. This apparatus could not be described intelligibly without a figure; but its action was simple and very satisfactory. (6) Two systems of signals were exhibited, one representing numbers, the other letters. The numbers consist of nothing more than dots made on the paper, with suitable spaces intervening. Thus ... .. ..... would represent 325, and may either indicate this number itself, or a word in a dictionary, prepared for the purpose, to which the number is attached. The alphabetical signals are made up of combinations of dots and of lines of different lengths. There are several subsidiary parts of this telegraph which the Committee have not thought it necessary to mention particularly. Among these is the use of a second electro-magnet at the register, to give warning by the ringing of a bell, and to set in motion the apparatus for turning the cylinder. The operation of the telegraph as exhibited to us was very satisfactory. The power given to the magnet at the register, through a length of wire of ten miles, was abundantly sufficient for the movements required to mark the signals. The communication of this power was instantaneous. The time required to make the signals was as short, at least, as that necessary in the ordinary telegraphs. It appears to the Committee therefore that the possibility of using telegraphs upon this plan in actual practice is not to be doubted, though difficulties may be anticipated which could not be tested by the trials made with the model. One of these relates to the insulation and protection of the wires, which are to pass over many miles of distance to form the circuits between the stations. Mr. Morse has proposed several plans,—the last being to cover the wires with cotton thread, then varnish them thickly with gum-elastic, and inclose the whole in leaden tubes. Doubts have been raised as to the distance to which the electricity of an ordinary battery can be made efficient; but the Committee think that no serious difficulty is to be anticipated as to this point. The experiment with the wire wound in a coil may not indeed be deemed conclusive; but one of the members of the Committee assisted in an experiment in which a magnet was very sensibly affected by a battery of a single pair through an insulated wire of two miles and three quarters in length, of which the folds were four inches apart; and when a battery of ten pairs was used water was freely decomposed. An experiment is said to have been made with success on the Birmingham and Manchester railroad through a circuit of thirty miles in length. It may be proper to state that the idea of using electro-magnetism for telegraphic purposes has presented itself to several different individuals, and that it may be difficult to settle among them the question of originality. The celebrated Gauss has a telegraph of this kind in actual operation for communicating signals between the University at Göttingen and the magnetic observatory in the vicinity. Mr. Wheatstone of London has also been for some time engaged in experiments on an electro-magnetic telegraph. But the plan of Professor Morse is, so far as the Committee are informed, entirely different from any of those devised by other individuals, all of which act by giving different directions to magnetic needles, and would therefore require several circuits of wires between all the stations.”
A month later the Committee of Commerce drew up their report to Congress. They stated that, among the suggestions that had been submitted, the electro-magnetic telegraph of Professor Morse was pre-eminently interesting and wonderful; and that in addition to being examined and confidently recommended by the Select Committee of the Franklin Institute, it had been exhibited to the President of the United States, to several heads of departments, members of Congress, and a vast number of scientific and practical men from all parts of the Union. All concurred, without a dissenting doubt, in admiration of the ingenious and scientific character of the invention, and appeared to be convinced as to “its great and incalculable practical importance and usefulness to the country and ultimately to the world.” The Committee also stated that Professor Morse concurred in saying that it would be presumptuous to calculate or hold out promises as to what its whole capacity for usefulness might be in either a political, commercial, or social point of view if the electrical power on which its action depended proved inefficient over long distances; but it was obvious, they thought, that the influence of the invention among the people of such a widely extended country, would, in the event of its success, amount to “a revolution unsurpassed in moral grandeur by any discovery that has been made in the arts and sciences from the most distant period to which authentic history extends to the present day.” Such was the language applied to the first experimental working of the telegraph over ten miles of wire; nor did the Committee’s first impressions end there. Our familiarity with the telegraph has divested it of novelty, but it suggested to them thoughts which are still impressive and beautiful. They said that, “with the means of almost instantaneous communication between the most distant points of the country and simultaneously between any given number of intermediate points, which this invention contemplates, space for all purposes of information will be completely annihilated between the States of the Union. The citizens will be invested with and will reduce to daily and familiar use an approach to the high attribute of ubiquity in a degree that the human mind till recently had hardly dared to contemplate seriously as belonging to human agency, from an instinctive feeling of religious reverence and reserve of a power of such awful grandeur.” The Committee concluded by recommending Congress to grant 30,000 dollars for the making of an experiment on a much larger scale, say 100 miles.
To Professor Morse, who had toiled at the invention now and then for fully five years amid many discouragements, everything now looked encouraging. “I see nothing now,” he said, “but an unclouded prospect, for which let us pay to Him who shows it to us the homage of grateful and obedient hearts, with most earnest prayers for grace to use prosperity aright.”
The next step thought necessary to insure the wide success anticipated was the taking out of foreign patents; and for that purpose the sanguine inventor and Mr. F. O. J. Smith, who had become a warm friend of his, paid a visit to Europe. Mr. Smith was a member of the House of Representatives, and as Chairman of the House Committee of Commerce, he had in April, 1838, recommended Congress to grant 30,000 dollars for the purpose of testing the telegraph over many miles. In after years Professor Morse gave him “the credit of a just appreciation of the new invention and of the zealous advocacy of an experimental essay, as well as of inditing an admirably written report in its favour which was signed by every member of the Committee, when in 1838 the telegraph appeared in Washington a suppliant for the means to administer its power.” This friend now accompanied the inventor to England, where they applied for a patent. In England Messrs. Wheatstone and Cooke had already obtained a patent for their needle telegraph; but as the Morse telegraph was essentially different from theirs, he unhesitatingly paid the usual fees and went through the preliminary formalities. To his dismay, however, he found his application objected to before the Attorney-General, whose sanction was requisite, on the ground that his telegraph was not new. The arguments were heard on the 12th of July, 1838, when Morse produced his instrument in order to show the Attorney-General how different it was from the English telegraph; but the Attorney-General held that it was unnecessary to examine it, because the London Mechanics’ Magazine for the previous February had published an article from Silliman’s (American) Journal for October, 1837, giving a description of the invention. This publication was considered a valid reason for refusing a patent. Another hearing was obtained, but it only confirmed the previous decision. While in London on this business Morse was a spectator of the coronation of Queen Victoria in Westminster Abbey.
In France a better reception was accorded to the inventor, who not only got a patent without difficulty, but was loaded with compliments. Arago brought his telegraph before the French Institute, where the greatest men of the time, such as Humboldt and Guy Lussac, were profuse in their admiration of it. But to make the patent valid in France it was necessary that it should be worked there within two years; and this it was found impossible to do. An agreement was made with the St. Germain Railway Company to erect a line of telegraph upon their railroad, but the Government having refused their permission, the project was dropped.
Though his visit to Paris was not attended with the results he desired, an incident occurred which rendered it memorable and linked his name with another discovery, which probably encouraged him to persevere with his own. The American Consul introduced him to M. Daguerre, who, in conjunction with M. Niepce, had just discovered the art of photography, then known as “the new art.” The discovery of Daguerre was causing a great sensation, but his method was kept a secret. The two inventors agreed to show their inventions to each other, but Professor Morse undertook not to disclose the art of photography just then. Negotiations were going on between M. Daguerre and the French Government with reference to the publication of the process, and the result was that Daguerre agreed to disclose it in consideration of the Government paying him a pension of 250l. a year and Niepce 166l. a year for life. M. Arago took a leading part in guaranteeing the genuineness of the discovery. As soon as a bill conferring the pensions passed the French Chambers, “the new art” was to be made public, and M. Daguerre in January promised to send Professor Morse a copy of his description as soon as published. It was not till September that this took place, but Professor Morse, who had returned to New York in April, 1839, was the first in America to receive a copy of Daguerre’s own account of his discovery illustrated with six diagrams. From these drawings Professor Morse was able to construct the first photographic apparatus used in the United States; and the first photograph taken with it was a view of the tower of the Church of the Messiah on Broadway, as seen from a back-window of New York University. The process was no sooner published than improvements were made in it; and among the earliest improvers in America were Professor Morse and Dr. J. W. Draper, professor of Chemistry in New York University. Experiments which they made in a studio erected on the roof of the University resulted in the publication next year of a paper by Professor Draper, On the Process of Daguerreotype, and its Application to taking Portraits from the Life. This was the announcement of a great improvement. By the process of Daguerre the time of taking a photograph at Paris varied from three to thirty minutes, and the human face could only be photographed with the eyes shut. By Professor Draper’s improvements portraits could be taken with the eyes open, and instead of an average of fifteen minutes, it could be done in one minute or less. Professor Draper stated that in portraits taken by his process “the eye appears beautifully; the iris with sharpness, and the white dot of light upon it with such strength and so much reality and life as to surprise those who have never before seen it. Many are persuaded that the pencil of the painter has been secretly employed to give this finishing touch.” For six months Professor Morse acted as a photographer, and was thus enabled to repay the “great expenses” he had incurred in improving the process. He then abandoned photography for telegraphy.
It thus appears that Professor Morse was the first lecturer on art in America, the first sculptor from America who received foreign honours, the first photographer in America, and the first inventor of the recording telegraph.
The work now set before him was the introduction of the telegraph, and to accomplish this work other five years were necessary. They were five years of poverty and disappointment, occasionally brightened by transient gleams of success. The petition to Congress for money to make an experiment with it on a large scale had been thrown aside among the unfinished business of the session, and it was not till 1842 that the matter was again brought forward. At the close of 1841 the despairing inventor said: “I have not a cent in the world. I am crushed for want of means, and means of so trivial a character, too, that they who know how to ask (which I do not) could obtain in a few hours. One year more has gone for want of means. I have now ascertained that, however unpromising were the times last session, if I could only have gone to Washington, I could have got some aid to enable me to insure success at the next session. As it is, although everything is favourable, although I have no competition and no opposition—on the contrary although every member of Congress, so far as I can learn, is favourable—yet I fear all will fail because I am too poor to risk the trifling expenses which my journey and residence in Washington will occasion me. I will not run in debt if I lose the whole matter; so unless I have the means from some source I shall be compelled, however reluctantly, to leave it. Nothing but the consciousness that I have an invention which is to mark an era in human civilisation, and which is to contribute to the happiness of millions, would have sustained me through so many and such lengthened trials of patience in proof of it.” He even said to one of his art pupils that he was so destitute of money that he would be dead next week from starvation; and on the pupil giving him ten dollars and taking him to dinner, Morse said that was the first meal he had had for twenty-four hours.