AN EPOCH-MAKING INVENTION

Taranaki Central Press, 19 April 1937, Page 6

AN EPOCH-MAKING INVENTION

CENTENARY OF MORSE’S TELEGRAPH. FIGHT FOR SUCCESS REWARDED.

The newspaper io<ay. built un as it has been by the inv ir>. e .genius of a few 2 th', most eminent men oi 4 science, owes the world *embraci|ig event of its supply of s to the de-velopire-nt of an instrument which i has become one of the essential appurtenance of modern life, and for: which the flrst paten: was taken, out 11 just a hundred years ago states an ! oversea? journal. In the romance of ineteeiith eem i i tury discover' there is no lan who*’ fought against gre trer odds, made I more sacrifices, and pursued hi 3 pu • p pose so pers/is’cntly as Samuel Fin- I ley Morse. It was in 1837 that th st: < • and experiment. r ion of five of th e r.ost Strenuous yesyg of his kie held out the promise of a gr t achievement —title realisation of an id’pa which! seems to have obsess?! him from 1 i l j I boyhood’s years, and which Was, brought to perfection at a period of j hi s life when poverty and struggle ■ were well nigh .exting i? hinc all) hope s of his future.. Who not hoard of- ’lie Morse i Code, that won Krful m <hod of sig- j nailing across luv?. i. dis f cairns over land or ’inrt- sea, which has annihilated /pace and made tac events of both, hemispheres known fai nd wide a fe"-v seconds after happening? In our time he marvels of wireless telegraphy seem but a na oral evolution of the disco; ■ s made in j ?k»ctro-magneiism, bui a hundred years, a-o;. when the pace of life was tedious, the bridging of space seemed a Utopian dream, and tin flashing of news Yom continent to continent a physical fni possibility. Morse w.'as a home-sick young man I when, ,n twentieth year, he w ote ■ from London to his mo i. ‘.r in Char: -s-; ’ Con, Massachus rs:—“l wish that in ' one inscan* I could tell you of my ! safe arrival, but we are .3.000 miles 1 apart, and must wait four long vr-e' - to hear Iron each, o her/’ Many ; years bad to pass before he desire 1 expressed in that Jette v. accoi - plis-ied. He had lef 1 home tn study art, which many N ~v . Englanders then considered an vnji -r ctive profession for a man of brains. Morse did not think so. By the time he was £ 40 he had made a. name for himself * 38- a painter; put, nevertheless. he f felt thar b wat nut- hi? true vocation, that there wer- problems connected ! with the utilisation of electri. a! ' forces which, if practically grappled I with, would give an impetus o in- I dustry and lighten lai *our. His Art Studies. From jjOndun he went to Paris and , Rome, -where he spent three .ears; in studying rhe productioE.s'. the | great and was n hi s way I home in the steamship <M’: when j 1 one day he fonnd aims-':' amongst a i ’mail company who . ere discussing I - electrical rhtaomena. One obser.a- [ •ion of hi 8 recorded by one of his fellow-tra tiler* was: If the presence 1 1 of eleetrfei- - can be made ’lsiy.® in ! - any part or the cireiii- ; sst no rea . !; son why intelligence may nut be j tr to milted -by it." That -“s th / liir.h Ct tn id-a th:, s .:i after made I 1 'be world „hr r c to very small drmem. i f sions. |p The nature of Morse’s conception ! is indicated by i- ;s remark m the nap. a twin ot the’sHin as he disembarked: i” '‘Should you hear of th ( . teltgi-ph * ' one of the- days a s the v.onder of the world rr:neinb“r that th:i dis-P cover? was made on b -d the good ' ' ship" Had he chosen, he might have taken up the easel and brush, ina- i ll much as numeious commissions came i 1 to him from men of note in New York to paint their portr. s. But instead, !i he rented a humble shop j n New ' Haven and lived five years in poverty ? and toil, bringing to sue • 3g tb e t/ strument that would ' .ecutehis aim 1 All those years he lived aione, 7 cooked his own food, often v. u t • 11 hungry, and at nigh. slop, on an . ' couch Al? the while, his mind we ' 0 absorbed in -working out ih= device/' that would make the electric sp k ! a producer of dots and dsihes the: p to the : atec -' ouid tell tile dram., of life, and every-jin-j that tickled fl the nows palate c. ‘he world and his •- wife. p Of all the simple conceptions that c the mind of man has conceived in i' his effor'S to make the forces of na- 7 tttre subserve hie end, :h:s idea of | ' making the .electric current carry / message over long distances was the ''' most, prolific in benefice t results. 7 Though ilie idea v'as new to the man 61 vho brought it eventually io prac-i ' tical use, it had years h< engaged I the study of oth-rs on both sides of ! Cl the Atlantic. While they were theorising and experimenting Morse found ! c ‘ the means by which he might make the current nor. .nly signal a mes- s tage, but record it.

His Dominant Desire. Thar ’houglit engrossed the last -days of his voyage hom'-w; J. EfeCorc he landed he had finished his sketches of a printing telegiaph. By means oi‘ n the current operated by i electro-niagne 1 tu ? end of which ! was at.ajched a nder rod that, made little do s and dashes on a moving ! ’ape< of paper. His first efforts, how- • ever, to make the electro-magnet do tail that he hoped for as a. receiver : and recorder were . ot enevuragi ing. Often in his trials between 1832 jarv 1835 -he messages of . is mod Is I wfe’-e ?nterrui<ed and broker He | was hampered by want of money to nrouure the ma:erial s with which to ?arry on ins investigations. Lu -kily, when things were adverse li. wa c ; appointed professor o r ! literature of the arts of detign in .he | D.-'wly-fcunded T T niversity of New ( York City. Tht firs" - f his earnings ’ Was spent in buying the required • appliances and befrre long he had j constructed his fir? apparatus, and ' ited 5 is colJeg- fn s e his I :raiism -siou of mesfcag*-s-. Soon after J ie got valuable Delp from a fellow cil: n, Professor who was i ‘. •’iiu similar inv'siigationg a few hundred miles away, and who like-.-’ise was employing an > lectromagnet, bj means of which he was jble :o produce sound signals on a bell at a ‘ lie’s distance. I To h- x h the truth became obvious ii th*= tine time that 5 r ihe current -v a; be Lent over wires for great distanceit v. uld become weak ilrat it would be unable to operate rm receiving instrument. This led l o ;o. adoption of ’he relay -method I which made i possible to send the , jurr- nt at considerable distan(Ces Lfi’Gi jg ny weakening in itvvsf 1-ength. Helped _by this additional light on his great ■ projsot, completed in 1537. a model hose apparatus was provided with stronger batteries; longer vires, and provided for the ure < f the relay. i"he tes:s ;:e mode filled him with onfidenee Its Practicality. Soon high officials ;lc Washington and New York came to hear of his achievement, ami in 1835 the Secre.. tary of th-. Treasury wa s directed by me House of Represexit ai ivfs '.o report <>n the feasibility ot establishing i sys-, nt of telegraphs. Morse ‘orthwilh came forvtirji and placed I die results of Ins exp rfmeiits before he Minisier. Hut what he had to fommunicate did not bring entire lonviction. It did not assure the offi■ialt that long distance messages could be despatched. However, at ■hat cimical time, when Government ■fficials were sceptical. on e day on M st wa f giving a demonstraion to an English visitor a young man named Alfred Vail arrived. Ho 'as a bi ! of an experimenter him:ell, mostly in mechanical research. Inq-uri ing if the inventor proposed T:ynallings over a longer line, he was -old that he did as goon as the money '-as available. Vail, impressed with Im possibdities of Morse's apparatus, • hereu'-'u said that he could put up I the mono., if he were accepted a* a partner. Morse forthwith expressed his assent. Befc”. long an order was given for the making of the necessary instruments, and two thousand dollars paid tor th?, registration ot the patent After five months’ Work in ■< secret room in an iron foundry the <na«hine s were completed. The first to be finished was a copy of Morse’s perfected model, but Vail added to it i few features which enhanced its efficiency, instead of the pencil affixed to the armature that made zigaag lin s on th paper-tap-, a. totint tin pen was subs'.-uted, which produced long and short lines, and, thereby, the do‘s and da'-bes of the j Morse cod were put into correct term. Vail realised tha importance j of having the simplest, combinations ‘ of dots and dashes stand for the I most frequently used letters to tiscij late t creased speed in ife’-v. I ■'rapliy. | a-arij ,n January, 1838, the first. ' telegraph wa s at t-rk, operating r.a ~ .'ix-mde distance. Vail was t the transmitter and Morse at. the receiver. -Standing beside hi.? son, Mr Vail, senior, wrote on a piece of paper: “The patient waiter i s no loser." accompanying hi s action with tile remark that, if the sentence could be telegraphed, he would be convinced. Promptly the words were tapped’ off. and almost as quick as -hough written out by Morse. But man; years had to g< by before the world realised what a. few touches on a fragile .contrivance could effect. When Morse travelled through England France and Russia seeking aid l-.r iiie iuv<ntion he was atighed at. It was only titer snper-

a—human efforts that the United States Government wa s induced, to construct a hue from Washington to Baltimore in 1843. In May of the ensuing year 'he first message was flashed over it. Its words Were: “What God bath wrought."