1. Morse’s Telegraph

2. 1. Compare and contrast Morse’s telegraph and other contributing inventions and decide which one was the most important to the Industrial Revolution. 2. Be able to signal and understand a message in Morse Code after completing the activity.

3.  Invented by Claude Chappe  Used flag-based alphabet  Required a line of sight

4.  Invented by William Sturgeon  Laid foundations for future creations

5.  Used Sturgeon’s electromagnet to experiment with other ideas  Sent an electric current through wire causing a bell to ring

6.  Was a professor of chemistry interested in Joseph Henry’s creation  Published article reflecting on Henry’s creation about a possible way to create an electric telegraph  Article was crucial to Morse’s invention

7.  Idea to create telegraph came to him when returning from Europe in 1832 when he understood how the electromagnet worked  He built his first telegraph out of basic materials including a picture frame, a table, and lead pieces.  This worked but was ignored  He had to wait twelve years before trying again ◦ He was in debt and had no food  He did not give up

8.  Failed as a painter  Turned his attention to the telegraph again  He was still very poor and had to make the most of his materials  He found small pieces of wire and tied them together  Demonstrated his progress in the fall of 1837 ◦ He strung ten miles of wire around a classroom ◦ He invited business men who could possibly invest in his invention ◦ No one liked it except Alfred Vail

9.  Alfred Vail became his partner and was crucial to Morse’s success  They worked together to improve the telegraph  First model used marker to record message  Next model used notched metal rod to transfer messages  Eventually, they changed the code and finished with a series of dots and dashes ◦ Often used letters such as vowels had shorter codes

10.  Asked Congress for money ◦ Request was approved  A young women notified him of Congress’s support ◦ Morse let the young lady choose the first message to be sent over wires  Message was sent on May 24, 1844 ◦ “What hath God wrought” was sent from Numbers 23:23 in the Bible  Message was received in Baltimore by Alfred Vail

11.  People were more interested in Morse and his telegraph  It was now easy to send detailed messages from one person to another quickly  Later, translators worked to convert Morse code into words ◦ A skilled translator could transmit 40-50 words per minute ◦ An automatic transmission was developed later to transmit twice as many words per minute  Telegraph lines connected Europe and America

12.  Had a great influence on businesses ◦ They could communicate easily with other businesses ◦ As a result, they could connect with each other and eventually even merge together to become one big business which would make even more money ◦ Thy could work faster and more efficiently

13.  The electric telegraph was a creation that greatly influenced the Industrial Revolution because it changed the lives of many people by providing machinery that could help one communicate.  Before this, people had to use flag signals which took a long time, were inconvenient, and made detailed messages impossible.

14.  Samuel Morse was a determined inventor ◦ He never gave up even when in debt ◦ He was focused and knew he could create an electric telegraph  He successfully used the experiments of others to invent an electric telegraph that was quick and convenient ◦ Used William Sturgeon’s electromagnet ◦ Improved Joseph Henry’s progress in creating the telegraph

15.  When I compared and contrasted the inventions of Joseph Henry, William Sturgeon, and Samuel Morse, I thought that William Sturgeon’s creation of the electromagnet was the most important since Henry’s and Morse’s inventions could not have been created without this knowledge.