|
Year
|
History
|
|
1835
|
Samuel F.B. Morse devised a system of dots
and dashes to represent letters and numbers.(Morse
code alphabet) |
|
1836
|
Samuel F.B. Morse constructed a working
model of a telegraph. |
|
1837
|
Sir William Cooke and Sir William Wheatstone,
British inventors, obtained a patent for the first electric telegraph to
be used on the British railway system. |
|
1837
|
Samuel F.B. Morse, an American inventor,
was granted a patent for the electromagnetic telegraph. |
|
1843
|
Morse obtained a $30,000 grant from the
United States government to build an experimental telegraph line from Baltimore,
Maryland to Washington D.C. The line was 35 miles long. The
first message stated, "What hath God wrought!" |
|
1845
|
Morse patent was licensed to four small
companies. These companies established four separate lines: New York
to Philadelphia, New York to Boston, New York to Buffalo, and Philadelphia
to St. Louis. |
|
1856
|
Western Union Telegraph Company was formed. |
|
1861
|
The first transcontinental telegraph
line was completed. |
|
1865
|
Due to the Civil War, the demand for
the telegraph dramatically increased. After the war, the United States
had three major telegraph companies: Western Union with 44,000 miles of
wire, American with 23,000 miles and United States Telegraph with 16,000
miles. |
|
1868
|
J.B. Stearns, an American inventor, completed
the duplex transmission system. This allowed the same line to be
used simultaneously for sending and receiving messages. |
|
1866
|
Western Union merged with American Telegraph
Company causing a monopoly in the domestic telecommunication industry. |
|
1874
|
Thomas Edison and George Prescott patented
the quadraplex telegraph system. This allowed two singles to be transmitted
simultaneously in each direction on a the same line. |
|
1903
|
Donald Murray, a British inventor, patented
a time-division multiplex system. This device used a typewriter keyboard
that punched tape and the receiver printed text. |
|
1912
|
Murray sold his patent rights to Western
Union and Western Electric. |
|
1924
|
AT&T (American Telegraph and Telephone
Company) introduced a printing text called the Teletype. |
|
1932
|
AT&T introduced the Teletypewriter Exchange
Service (TWX), a switched teleprinter network. At first, it was switched
manually and was automated after W.W.II. This device was replaced
by the fax machine by the 1980's.(Revenue Chart) |