Post 5: EOTO Technology

Monday, December 7, 2020

EOTO Technology Presentation: The Telegraph 

The communication device known as the telegraph was originally designed & developed throughout the 1830s-40s by Samuel Morse. The system transmits electrical signals by means of electrical wire hung between telegraph stations. These telegraph lines carry encoded messages from one station, which are then decoded on the receiving end, producing the message. The code that is used to transmit these messages was also created by Samuel Morse, and it would come to be known as Morse Code. 

                             

                                                 -Samuel Morse 

The telegraph was designed and created in order to achieve an efficient and potentially universal method of communication over long distances. 

                                                        

After the creation of the machine and once a means of mass distribution of this technology was designed the telegraph held great significance to the “manifest destiny” beliefs originating in 1845. This was the popular opinion of the time that the idea of the westward expansion of the United States was the destiny of its people. The telegraph aided in this expansion as it provided a simple and efficient way of long-distance communication. 

Source:

            Hochfelder, David. The Telegraph in America, 1832-1920. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012. HPU Libraries, https://hpulibraries.on.worldcat.org/oclc/830022821. Accessed 5 Oct. 2020