Seven Castles

Telegraphy

                                      

October 2, 2006

 

Months ago, I was asked to do the translation for Shanghai Telecom Museum. It is great to review the history of telecommunications and see how the fascinating technologies change the world.

 

The term "telegraphy" is from the Greek words: "tele" (far) and "graphein" (write). Telegraphy is a method of communication employing electrical signaling impulses produced and received manually or by machines. Telegraph signals are transmitted over open wire or cable landlines, submarine cables, or radio. Telegraphy as a communication technique uses essentially a narrow frequency band and a transmission rate adapted to machine operations. It is the long-distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters.

 

In the history of Western civilization, 1400s is the Century of Discovery; 1500s the Century of Exploration; 1600s the Century of Reason; 1700s the Century of Enlightenment and 1800s the Century of Science.

 

An electrical telegraph was independently developed and patented in the United States in 1837 by Samuel Morse. On May 24, 1844, he sent the message, "What hath God wrought," from Washington to Baltimore. The electric telegraph was one of the first important and large-scale practical applications of the new electrical force. It shrank the distances across continents to almost nothing, for it took no longer to transmit a message across a continent than it did across a street. The first electric telegraph line was constructed between Washington and Baltimore in 1844, running beside railway tracks and the highways of Europe and America were soon lined by poles and cross-arms carrying wires through which the silent electric messages streamed in ever-increasing numbers. The first transatlantic telegraph cable was successfully completed on July 27, 1866, allowing transatlantic telegraph communications for the first time.

 

Telegraphy messages sent by telegraph operators using Morse code were known as telegrams or cablegrams, often shortened to a cable or a wire message. Later, telegrams sent by the Telex network, a switched network of teleprinters similar to the telephone network, were known as telex messages. Before long distance telephone services were readily available or affordable, telegram services were very popular. Telegrams were often used to confirm business dealings and, unlike e-mail, telegrams were commonly used to create binding legal documents for business dealings.

 

Telegraphy faded out since 1990s, replaced by telephony, and e-mail messages in particular. In the United States, 20,000 telegrams were sent in 2005, compared with 20 million in 1929. On January 27, 2006, Western Union announced an end to its telegraph service due to the lack of sales.

 

【作者: zhangliping】【访问统计:】【2006年10月2日 星期一 12:48】【 加入博采】【打印】