History of the telegraph. Telegraph communication

Inventor of the telegraph. The name of the inventor of the telegraph is forever inscribed in history, since Schilling's invention made it possible to transmit information over long distances.

The device allowed the use of radio and electrical signals traveling through wires. The need to transmit information has always existed, but in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the context of growing urbanization and technological development, data exchange has become relevant.

This problem was solved by the telegraph; the term was translated from ancient Greek as “to write far away.”

Background to the invention

In the middle of the 18th century. in Scotland, scientist C. Morrisson wrote a scientific article stating that messages could be transmitted over long distances using electric charges. Morrison described in detail the operation of the future mechanism:

  • Charges must be transmitted through wires that are insulated from each other;
  • The number of wires must correspond to the number of letters of the alphabet;
  • The electrical charges were then transferred to the metal balls;
  • The latter attracted objects on which letters should be depicted.

Morrison's paper was used in 1774 by physicist Georg Lesage. He built the electrostatic telegraph. Eight years later, he improved his technology by proposing to lay the device's wires underground. The cables were placed in special clay tubes. But such a mechanism was quite cumbersome, since the telegraph operator spent several hours transmitting the message.

In 1792, Claude Chaf invented a device called the Heliograph. It was a prototype telegraph that ran on a system of mirrors and sunlight. This is how information was transferred over fairly long distances. At the beginning of the 19th century. a scientist named S. Semmering created a telegraph using current. He walked along chemicals and acidified water, resulting in the release of gas bubbles. This was the method of data transfer.

Who invented the telegraph

The electromagnetic telegraph was created by the Russian scientist, philologist, ethnographer, and inventor Pavel Shilling. In 1810, he got a job at the Russian embassy in Munich, at one of the evenings he met S. Semmering, and began to take part in his experiments. In 1812 he volunteered for the front, in 1814 he took part in the capture of Paris, and at the same time received the Order of St. Vladimir. After Patriotic War focused only on scientific inventions.

When invented

P. Schilling created a keyboard electromagnetic telegraph in 1832, which was equipped with indicators. To power them, an electric pointer galvanometer was used. The telegraph keyboard had 16 keys, which closed the current. In a special receiving device, Schilling installed six galvanometers, which had magnetic needles suspended from copper racks. They hung on silk threads.

Two-color flags made of paper were placed above the arrows. One side of them was white and the other was black. The stations were connected to each other by 8 wires:

  • Six were connected to galvanometers;
  • One was for reverse current;
  • Another one for electric current.

A little later, Schilling improved his telegraph by making a single-handed, two-wire device. It had a binary system for coding conditional signals.

Results

Schilling's invention became an innovative development in the field of telegraphic communications. Based on the telegraph of a Russian scientist, a new apparatus for transmitting information was made in 1837. It was the invention of S. Morse, who used the alphabet created by him to send messages. All letters were transmitted using a special key, which was connected to a battery and a communication line. After Schilling and Morse, scientists began to create direct-printing machines, the most successful of which were Jacobi and Edison telegraphs.

In 1832 Russian scientist Pavel Lvovich Schilling invented the telegraph, which was successfully tested in St. Petersburg. Schilling also succeeded in creating a rubber-insulated submarine cable and an overhead line on wires.

Werner von Siemens (1816-1892) – German physicist, electrical engineer and entrepreneur. Born in Lente near Hannover. Soon after graduating from Berlin artillery school left his military career and took up inventive activity.

W. Siemens and his brother Karl improved the design of the electromagnetic telegraph, and together with the mechanic I. Halske the brothers designed electric telegraph. In 1847, in Prussia, W. Siemens received a patent for the telegraph. I. Halske improved the manufacture of wires and their insulation. Werner and Karl Siemens, together with I. Halske, created the company Siemens and Halske, which was engaged in the industrial production of communications equipment. Telegraph lines were built all over the globe. Over a short period of time, a small workshop turned into a large factory that manufactured telegraph installations and various cables.

Siemens Ernst Werner was seriously involved in electrotelegraphy, precision mechanics and optics. In 1846, a scientist invented a machine for applying rubber insulation to wires. This machine came into general use in the production of insulated conductors for underground and submarine telegraph cables. V. Siemens coined the term “electrical engineering”. On January 17, 1867, the scientist presented his theory of the dynamo at the Berlin Academy. This machine became the basis for all modern electrical engineering.

In 1879, the first electric railway and the first tram, built by W. Siemens, were presented at the Berlin exhibition. This began the active work of the inventor in the development and distribution of electrical railways.

The plant, founded by W. Siemens, gave the world many inventions and improvements in telegraph and electrical engineering: in induction electric machines, steel magnets were replaced with electromagnets; a self-excited electric generator was developed; an electric pyrometer was designed; An industrial electric melting furnace and a selenium photometer were designed.

There are currently enterprises operating in various countries joint stock company Siemens and Halske for the production of electrical equipment and accessories, for electric lighting, for the operation of telephones, telegraphs, electric railways, and for the transmission of electricity.

The unit of measurement is named after the scientist, physicist and inventor Werner von Siemens electrical conductivity- Siemens.

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The world's first electromagnetic telegraph was created in 1832 by the famous Russian scientist Pavel Lvovich Schilling.

Philologist, ethnographer, cryptographer, chess player, inventor, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, Pavel Lvovich Schilling was born in 1786 in Reval (Tallinn) in the family of an officer Russian army, commander of the infantry regiment Baron L.F. Shilling.

From 1797 to 1802 he studied at the First Cadet Corps in St. Petersburg. After graduating from the corps, he served in the General Staff of the Russian Army. And in1803 he left with military service and was accepted into the service of the College of Foreign Affairs. In 1810 Schilling began working at the Russian embassy in Munich. In Germany he met S.T. Semmering, who invented the electrolytic telegraph. Schilling even took part in Semmering's experiments.

The first inventions in electrical engineering

Pavel Lvovich Schilling

Schilling was very interested in electrical engineering. And he made his first discovery already in 1811, proposing to use electricity to explode underwater mines.

The main part of the electric fuse, the fuse, consisted of carbon electrodes. The copper wire on shore was connected to a galvanic battery. The electric current that flowed from the battery to the electrodes caused a spark to appear between them. From this spark the coal fuse was ignited, and from it the gunpowder was already ignited. And a mine exploded. To insulate the copper wire, Schilling used silk and special composition their rubber and linseed oil. So Schilling was proposed the new kind underwater and underground communication cables in which the copper core was covered with insulation.

The invention of Pavel Lvovich Schilling was demonstrated in St. Petersburg in 1812 to Emperor Alexander I.

It should be said that only 18 years later did the Americans begin to explode mines with electricity. But it took the British 26 years to do this.

In 1812, when the war with the French began, Pavel Lvovich Schilling volunteered to join the active army. And in 1814, when Russian troops entered Paris, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir.

From that moment on, Schilling's entire life was devoted to science.

Electromagnetic telegraph

Schilling electromagnetic telegraph

In 1817, Schilling was assigned to head the first lithograph in Russia of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which created for the army topographic maps. Soon he created a civil lithography for printing geographical maps.

In 1822, Schilling became a corresponding member of the French Asiatic Society. In 1824 - member of the British Orientalist Association. And in 1828 he was elected a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

At the same time, Schilling continued work on the creation of an electric telegraph. And in 1828 he created the world's first electromagnetic telegraph. This telegraph had one magnetic needle, which was set in motion by electrical signals transmitted in series. But this device was not presented to the public.

But in 1832, Schilling demonstrates an electromagnetic telegraph in the presence of Emperor Nicholas I. For the operation of this device, he came up with a telegraph code. We can say that this code was the prototype of the modern binary coding system. And the role of ones and zeros was played by black and white circles with magnetic arrows. These hands rotated in a magnetic field created by six coils.

They say that the text of the first telegram was compiled by the Russian Emperor himself.

In 1832, telegraph lines connected the premises of the Winter Palace. Later the Winter Palace and the Admiralty were connected.

In 1835, Schilling demonstrated his telegraph in Berlin at the congress of the Society of German Naturalists and Physicians.

In 1837, Schilling was assigned to connect St. Petersburg and Kronstadt by telegraph line. But sudden death Pavel Lvovich Schilling prevented this on July 25, 1837. The line was built after Schilling's death.

The activities of Pavel Lvovich Schilling for the benefit of Russia have not been forgotten by descendants. The memoirs of his contemporaries, numerous articles and books are dedicated to him.

Telegraph is a set of methods that allow you to transmit text symbols, writing, and messages over long distances. It is assumed that both parties know the rules for exchanging information, certain rules transcripts. For example, a railway worker understands semaphore signals, drivers understand traffic lights. These are the simplest examples of the principle of operation of the telegraph. Historically, people used smoke, beacons, and reflected light from a mirror.

Term

The words were introduced by the French inventor of the semaphore, Claude Chappe (semaphore, telegraph). Nowadays the term usually refers to an electrical type of device. Wireless telegraphy involves carrier modulation, as opposed to Hertz's earlier spark gap observation technique. Contradicting Chappe, Morse pointed out the appropriateness of using the term to designate systems transmitting/recording messages. The smoke should then be considered a semaphore.

The transmitted message began to be called a telegram. A separate line is Telex, which arrived via the network.

Story

According to Morse terminology, the telegraph was invented by Pavel Schilling. Early models sent dot-dash signals, the symbols of a typewriter.

Optical telegraph

The first optical telegraph was built by Robert Hook (1684) for the Royal Society of Great Britain. The experiments were continued by Sir Richard Lowell Edgeworth (1767). Chappe's 1793 semaphore network operated for half a century. The French Revolution contributed a lot to the popularity of the invention, requiring a reduction in the time it took to transmit government messages. On March 2, 1791, at 11 am, the first message was sent, covering 16 km: “If you continue, you will soon be covered in glory.”

The simple design contained an observation telescope and a pair of black and white panels. The operator, leafing through the code book, wrote down the letters. A year later, Claude was tasked with laying the 230 km long Paris-Lille line. The idea is intended to simplify the management of the Austrian war. In 1794, the line brought news: Condé-sur-l'Escaut had capitulated. 1 hour spent.

The Prussians are shocked by the possibilities new system, building their own lines (1830s). The operability of the telegraph was determined by weather conditions and time of day. The delivery speed was two to three words every minute. The last coastal variant was buried by Sweden (1880). France continued to use the invention, entrusting the semaphore to sailors who wanted to convey a message to the shore. The advantages of the technique are undoubted:

  1. No energy costs, including solar. The system successfully withstands cloudy weather.
  2. Speed ​​will give 100% handicap points to messengers (swimmers).

Electric telegraph

The first recycling idea beneficial properties electricity was published by Scott's Magazine (1753). Enthusiasts proposed assigning an individual wire to each letter of the alphabet (at that time they used silk threads). The source of electricity was a static generator. Early receiving devices used the phenomenon of charge interaction. The idea, devoid of prospects, was left to collect dust in the archive.

George-Louis le Sag built (1774) twenty years later, according to the note, the first electrostatic model. 26 wires made it possible to read the letters to people occupying adjacent rooms.

A new impetus to the development of this direction was given by Volta’s invention of electrolytic current sources. The German scientist Thomas von Soemmering (1809) improved the design of the mathematician Francisco Salva Campillo. Both accommodated 35 parallel wires, continuing the idea described above. The new product jokingly covered a distance of a couple of kilometers.

The receiving side, equipped with electrolytic flasks, observed hydrogen bubbles. The retort number corresponded to a letter or number. Visual observation helped the operator carrying the outfit to record the message transmitted by the bubbles. The bitrate left much to be desired.

A suitable model was built by the English inventor Francis Ronalds (1816). The family estate (Hammersmith Mall) was decorated with a 175-yard ditch. The 8 mile segment outside was by air. The invention presented to the Admiralty was assessed as “completely useless.” Ronalds's written description of the telegraph and some other electrical apparatus is considered to be by far the first manuscript on the subject. Along the way, Francis examined the retardation of signals, provoked by induction then unknown to science.

Peter Strikes Back

Russian diplomat Pavel Schilling demonstrated (1832) the remote transmission of messages between adjacent rooms. A notable point was the use of character encryption: an attempt to reduce the number of connecting wires. The role of receivers was played by 6 multipliers, connecting lines became 8:

  1. Signal.
  2. Returnable.
  3. 6 informational.

Gradually, the inventor figured out to replace the alphabetic code with a digital one. New edition The device contained 2 copper wires. The British government (1836) tried to buy the patent. The inventor rejects the foreign offer, accepting the conditions of Nicholas I. The length of the next line erected was 5 kilometers, connecting the Admiralty building, the royal palace of Peterhof, and the Kronstadt naval base for official correspondence. The project ended with the death of the inventor.

Interesting! Earlier (1821), Adnre-Marie Ampère expressed the idea of ​​implementing a telegraph using rotating frames that controlled a Schweigger galvanometer. According to the scientist, he experimentally tested his own ideas. Peter Barlow (1824) repeated the steps taken by Ampère, finding the maximum distance achieved of 200 meters unpromising.

Carl Friedrich Gauss and Wilhelm Weber created (1833, Göttingen) the first electromagnetic telegraph, which united the observatory and the Institute of Physics, separated by a space of 1 km. Schilling used rotating frames, similar to Schweigger's design. German scientists used a real electromagnetic relay formed by a coil of wire. The elements of the code were positive and negative directions of current flow. Gradually, the transmission of information began to be encoded in pulses, increasing the speed. Scientists sponsored by Alexander von Humboldt continued their work, the first working model was built by Karl August Steinel (Munich - 1835-1836, then the first German railway).

Commercial success

The Americans carried out developments in parallel. Some accuse David Alter of plagiarism. The doctor answered the reporter: “I find it difficult to see the connection between Morse’s invention and Elderton’s telegraph communication. The professor also probably hasn't heard anything about local remedies transmission of messages."

Samuel Morse patented (1837) an electric writing telegraph. Assistant engineer Alfred Whale developed a recorder: a stylus controlled by a magnet. Together, the searchers generated a new code. On January 11, 1838, Morse sent a message that traveled 3 km of wire.

This is interesting! The Internet is full of misconceptions that the first bird was the biblical phrase WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT? The said message dates back to 1844. At that time, the length of the telegraph network was 44 km.

May 1837 gave the planet the first paid service for sending messages. William Fothergill Cook and Charles Wheatstone patented the six-wire needle telegraph. The system could include an arbitrary number of sharpened steel rods. The inventors recommended using 5 pieces. The four-needle model connected two areas of London. On July 25, 1837, a successful demonstration took place. Gauss made his way with sponsored money - Cook and Wheatstone made money by selling patented models.

The laid underground cable soon died: an insulation breakdown. The product was replaced with a single core that lacked coating. The device has been modernized. After the reduction, 2 needles remained, the length of the code increased. The next installation (Slough, 1843) contained a two-wire cable, making do with a single tip. The first commercial success attracted the attention of enthusiasts, providing the industry with a steady increase in innovation.

Morse code

It took 20 years for the new code to conquer the USA, finishing off the Pony Express on October 24, 1861 by crossing the continent through the line. Soon, every post office acquired a copy of the new service delivery system. Businessmen saw a wide range of tasks:

  1. Increase transfer speed.
  2. Reduce cost.
  3. Reduce the amount of manual labor.

Helped fire telegraph operators ABC method Wheatstone (1840). The inventor placed the letters around the watch dial. The receiving needle selected the desired one. The recipient client just had to write down the result. The speed has reached the limit of 15 words/min.

New achievements

Alexander Bain patented (Edinburgh, 1846) the chemical telegraph. The current moved a steel stylus across paper soaked in a mixture of ammonium nitrate and potassium ferrocyanide. The resulting blue markers repeated the transmitted Morse code. The maximum speed was 1000 words/min. The message was deciphered by the operator. The novelty came to an end: the angry Morse group sued the patent.

In parallel, Royal Earl House developed a printing system containing a keyboard. The receiving party automatically generated a paper message. The stated speed was 2600 words/hour. There was a steam version from 1852.

The idea was taken up by David Edward Hagis. The keyboard, containing 26 characters, has won universal recognition. The technique was distinguished by enviable accuracy. The next novelty made us wait, revealing general satisfaction with the existing state of affairs. Emile Baudot (1874) introduced his own encoding. The symbol was transmitted by the position of five switches. The speed was 30 words/min.

Charles Wheatstone finally automated the process by inventing punched paper tape. The device, artlessly called the Stick Punch, resembled a typewriter. The operator sat down, typed out the message, straightened the tape, and handed it over to the receiving party. The speed reached 70 words/min.

Telex printers

Printing devices were late. The first successful version is considered to be the invention of Frederick Creed (1924). The engineer produced a number of innovative mechanisms, including a tape puncher. The propellant was compressed air. Automated system sprinkled 200 words every minute, rivaling the 19th century chemical model. An employee of Creed's company, Donald Murray, modified Baudot's code, taking out the corresponding patent. Soon the P3 model (1927) won post offices. The Daily Mail became interested in the system, and an adapted version of the hammer drill was released.

Advanced Teletype systems have taken over airports, delivering official messages and weather forecasts. By 1938, the network covered the entire United States, excluding the states of Maine, South Dakota, and New Hampshire. Creed occupied Britain, Siemens occupied Germany. The recipient was selected according to a standard telephone number (pulse dialing). New class The devices were called telexes.

Through multiplexing, one line could accommodate a maximum of 25 machines. Telex has become a reliable means of long-distance communication.

Atlantic cable

The idea to connect the continents was born in parallel with the inventions of Henry and Wheatstone. The founder is considered to be Morse (1840). Scientists were looking for a suitable insulator that could protect the copper core. Scottish surgeon William Montgomery proposed (1842) gutta-percha, the sticky juice of a Malaysian plant. Faraday and Wheatstone immediately confirmed the insulating properties of the material. It was decided to build the Dover-Calais line. Testing (1849) was successful at the base of the Rhine River.

First steps: the birth of an idea

John Watkins Brett received Louis Philippe's approval to build a line connecting England and France. The work was completed by 1850. The route was extended to Ireland. In parallel, Bishop John Malloch, head of the Roman catholic church Newfoundland drew a line through the forest, providing the diocese with communications. The next project of the followers of Christ crossed the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The priest's efforts inspired Frederick Newton of Gisborne. The inventor received (1851) a grant from the legitimate power of the island, having formed a company, he expressed the idea to Cyrus West Field. Thus the idea of ​​conquering the Atlantic was born.

Development of installation methods

In the 40s of the 19th century, individual enthusiasts cherished the hope of connecting the shores of America and Europe with a copper vein. Among others, Edward Thornton, Alonzo Jackman. Cyrus consulted Morse. Then he became interested in Lieutenant Matthew Maury, who was knowledgeable in oceanography. Afterwards, Field notified companies in Newfoundland, the USA, and Great Britain, proposing to organize an oceanic telegraph.

The next project (1854) pursued a bold idea - to conquer the Atlantic. The entertainers quickly realized the lack of funding. It was necessary to organize a society to raise funds. The first step was the attempt (1855) to conquer the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Bark was laying the cable regularly, but a storm interfered: he had to urgently cut it, saving people’s lives. The following summer the ship successfully completed its plans. Field, having appointed Charles Tilston Bright as chief engineer, made up his mind.

Transatlantic company

On November 6, 1856, entrepreneurs created the Atlantic Telegraph Company (London), which was engaged in the construction of an underwater highway designed to bring such distant shores of the United States closer, at least in terms of the speed of news transmission. The 1858 attempt was successful. The line was broken by people passing messages.

A kilometer of cable formed by seven copper cores weighed 26 kg. Covered with three layers of gutta-percha - almost three times heavier. The insulator was protected from the outside by a hemp stocking; the armor was served by a close spiral of 18 twisted steel strands. The final weight was 550 kg/km. Two manufactories were engaged in production:

  1. Glass, Elliott & Co. (Greenwich).
  2. R.S. Newval and Co (Birkenhead).

Later it was revealed: individual sections were wound in opposite directions. This deviation from technology was deliberately exaggerated to the public after a cable failure caused by exceeding the permissible electrical voltage. The English government contributed £1,400 by providing the ship. The next (after the first failure) fundraising lasted 8 years. On July 28, 1866, the service began working. General chronology:


This is interesting! The electrical destruction of the first successfully laid cable was carried out by Wildman Whitehouse. The scientist tried to significantly increase the voltage, hoping to increase the speed. They announced to the public: the manufacturer, warehouses, and third parties are to blame.

Personal opinion outweighs intelligence

The engineers' efforts attracted the attention of scientists who wanted to study the problems of signal transmission along long lines. Simply put, the men of science were simply forced to give an answer. The problem was compounded by differences between two chief engineers, separated by an ocean, over how the cable should work:

  1. Lord Kelvin, who grabbed the western end, considered it unacceptable to increase the voltage. Instead, pulsed transmission was proposed with detection at the leading edge of the flowing current. Kelvin invented the differential galvanometer-recorder earlier.
  2. Whitehouse, who occupied the eastern end, had a medical background. Knowledge of electricity left much to be desired. The doctor, literally interpreting Ohm's law, heeding Kelvin's advice, decided to increase the voltage. The assistants quickly took out an induction coil, providing a potential difference of several thousand volts. The insulation of the sea thread endured torture for several days, then the system finally broke down. Negative reaction the public froze further work for 7 years.

Great Eastern

The 1865 project was carried out by the Great Eastern. Three tanks contained 4,300 km of cable, and the deck was equipped with special equipment. On the morning of July 15, 1865, the ship left the bay of Valentia Island. On the 31st, 1968 km were covered, the sailors lost their end... The steamer sounded its trumpet for England, Field organized a new enterprise - the Anglo-American Telegraph Company. Having collected money, the Grand Orient set sail on July 13, 1866. Defying the vagaries of the weather, on the 27th the team successfully reached the opposite shore. The next morning (9:00) the English report was quoted in the Times editorials.

From the ancient Greek word "telegraph" It translates how far away I am writing. On modern language this means transmitting alphanumeric messages over long distances using radio signals, electrical signals through wires, and other communication channels. The need to transmit information over long distances arose in ancient times with the help of fires, drums and even windmills. The prototype of the first non-primitive telegraph was the invention of Claude Chaf (1792), called “Heliograph”. Thanks to this device, information was transmitted using sunlight and mirror systems. In addition to the installation, the inventor came up with a language of symbols, with their help messages were transmitted over long distances. In 1753, an article by Charles Morrison appeared, in which the Scottish scientist proposed transmitting messages using electric charges sent through numerous wires isolated from each other. The number of wires must be equal to the number of letters of the alphabet. Through the wires, the electric charge must be transferred to metal balls, which attracted light objects with the image of letters.

In 1774, physicist Georg Lesage, using the technology proposed by Morrison, first built a working electrostatic telegraph. In 1782, he invented a method of laying cables underground by placing them in clay tubes. The problem with multi-wire telegraphs was that the operator had to spend several hours transmitting even a small message. In 1809, the German scientist Semmering first invented the telegraph, based on chemical exposure current on substances. When an electric current passed through acidified water, gas bubbles were released, which the scientist used as a means of communication.

In 1832, the Russian scientist P.L. Schilling created the first keyboard electromagnetic telegraph with indicators made on the basis of an electric pointer galvanometer. The keyboard of the transmitting device had 16 keys designed to close the current. The receiving device contained 6 galvanometers with magnetic needles, which were suspended from copper stands using silk threads. Above the arrows, paper flags were attached to threads, one side of which was white, the other black. Both stations of the electromagnetic telegraph were connected by eight wires, six of which were connected to galvanometers, 1 for reverse current, 1 for an electric bell. If at the sending (transfer) station a key was pressed and current was passed, then at the receiving station the corresponding arrow would deflect. Different positions of white and black flags on different disks conveyed conditional combinations that corresponded to letters or numbers. 36 different deviations corresponded to 36 conditioned signals. A special six-digit code created by Schilling determined the number (6) of dial indicators in his apparatus. Later, the scientist would create a single-pointer, 2-wire telegraph, which had a binary system for coding conditioned signals.

During this period of development of telegraph communication, the Morse apparatus turned out to be the most successful (1837). In his apparatus, the scientist used Morse code, which he himself developed. The letter is transmitted in the device using a key to which a communication line and a battery are connected. When the key is pressed, a current flows into the line, which, passing through an electromagnet at the other end of the line, attracts the lever. At the end of the lever there is a wheel, lowered into liquid paint. Using a spring mechanism, a paper tape is pulled near the wheel, on which the wheel imprints a sign - a dash or a dot.

The Morse apparatus was replaced in 1856 by the first a direct-printing machine created by the outstanding Russian scientist B. S. Jacobi. His writing telegraph had a pencil attached to an electromagnet armature and recording symbols. Thomas Edison modernized the telegraph apparatus by proposing to record telegrams on punched tape. A modern telegraph machine is called a teletype, which means printing at a distance.