Communication Technologies in The Progressive Era

Alexander Graham Bell Born in Scotland, 1842 Both his mother and wife were deaf Awarded a patent for the telephone in 1876

Bell’s father was offered a job in the United States at the Boston School for Deaf Mutes (Horace Mann School for the Deaf today). His father declined, but sent his son instead. Bell trained instructors successfully and also did the same at similar schools in New England.

Bell continued work on elocution and transferring the human voice via telegraph. However, he did not have the electrical skills to build his ideas. In 1874, he met Thomas Watson an electrician and mechanic. Bell hired him as his assistant.

In 1877, Bell founded the Bell telephone company. He had tried to sell his idea to Western Union for $100,000, but that offer was turned down. Early Bell logo

Ten years later 150,000 Americans owned telephones, and Bell made the first transcontinental telephone call in 1915 from New York. He called his assistant and friend, Thomas Watson.

The Bell Telephone Company was renamed American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T).

American born in 1819 Retired at age 34 after amassing $250,000 in the penny printing business. Took his wealth, and investments from the American and British governments to form the Atlantic Telegraph Company Field is credited with laying the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable Cyrus Field

In 1858, Field’s company laid the first cable from the Americas to Europe (Nova Scotia to Ireland), and the first telegraph across the cable was from Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan via Morse Code.

This cable only lasted for three weeks before breaking apart. The cable was not replaced until 1866, but the old cable was reattached at the same time leaving a backup cable.

In 1836, Samuel Morse and two friends developed the first electrical telegraph. The code of dashes and dots that was later developed became known as Morse Code. Samuel Morse

In 1844 a system was developed where electrical signals would make a indentation in a ticker tape. Morse's original code was supposed to just transmit numbers that represented words to be looked up in a dictionary.

Morse’s friend, Alfred Vail further developed the system to include dashes and dots for letters and special characters. He studied the frequency of letter use in newspapers and assigned shorter signals to the most commonly used letters.

Morse Code was used extensively in telegraph systems before it was possible to transmit voice. The code was especially prominent in the 1890s before telephones became widely available. Morse Code became useful again when aviators used it in the 1920s and later via radio.

Morse Code via radio was not used extensively during WWI, but during WWII as armies moved to fast to build telegraph and telephone lines, the Code was vital to both sides of the conflict.

Morse Code was a maritime standard for ships and navies around the world until 1999 when it was completely replaced with a new standard. Morse Code was also used by ships and even submarines via signal lamps when radio silence is important.