Who invented the telegraph? Samuel F.B. Morse, every school child knows, along with his famous Morse code, an alphabet of dots and dashes that could be transmitted over the telegraph lines. But was Samuel Morse, a portrait painter by trade, the sole inventor?
“NO!” says the website for the historic Speedwell Iron Works in Morristown, the birthplace of the telegraph, where Morse and Alfred Vail first demonstrated the system on this day, January 11 in 1838.
Morse’s idea for the telegraph was hatched in 1832 when he was returning from painting and studying in Europe, and met Charles Thomas Jackson of Boston, an expert in electromagnetism on his voyage. Morse was intrigued and developed an idea for a single wire telegraph. The museum’s website states that Morse never would have completed the invention without the partnership of Alfred Vail, a skilled young man whose family owned the successful Iron works and also provided financial assistance to the project. “History glorifies Morse but credits little, or nothing, to Alfred. The reasons are complicated, unfair and more than a little sad.”
Vail and Morse met one day at New York University, where Morse was demonstrating his idea in the classroom of Dr. Leonard Gale, a mutual friend of Vail’s. Vail was fascinated with the “magnificent machine”, secured financing from his brother and signed a one sided agreement with Morse to perfect the design, but still give credit to Morse. Why he agreed to this may come down to a matter of personalities. Morse was a charming promoter, sixteen years older than the shy, industrious, and hard working Vail. Alfred Vail was a mechanical genius and perfectionist who made major improvements to every aspect of the design including the battery, the recording mechanism, and materials used in construction. In addition, Morse’s original idea was to have a dictionary which paired each word to a number. Vail invented instead the dot and dash alphabet, later known as Morse code.
“Between December 19, 1843 and August 19, 1844, Alfred conducted 58 numbered experiments and several unnumbered ones.”, making Morse’s original toy into a practical, successful device. The local Morristown farmers were slow to recognize the potential of the device, and Vail endured ridicule from them, but many realized immediately the impact the telegraph would have. However, when Morse presented the invention to Congress, hoping to have the US Post Office support the system, he was unable to secure funding for five years because of the shortsightedess of some congressmen. It wasn’t until 1844 that Morse sent his famous message “What hath God wrought” from Baltimore to the Capitol in Washington, DC, paving the way for success in expanding telegraph lines in the US and by 1851 also in Europe.
For more information on this fascinating story, visit the Speedwell Iron Works, a historic site run by the Morris County Parks Department:
The Factory at Speedwell Iron Works
THIS WEEK in New Jersey History 
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