20. Samuel Morse and the electrical telegraph
The first commercial electrical telegraph system was not invented by Samuel Morse in 1838. Morse’s system was instead an improvement over systems which used a series of separate wires to stimulate needles on a receiver. The needles then pointed to corresponding letters and numbers on a grid, allowing words to be spelled. The Cooke and Wheatstone electrical telegraph system was in use in England for over a year before the Morse system was introduced, and remained a competitive alternative for years later, offering what was seen by some operators as an advantage. Its operators were not required to master a new code.
Morse invented a single wire system which was simpler in design and contained far fewer components, making it cheaper to manufacture and maintain. But its operation required the use of a special code, which Morse invented, known to history and is still in use as Morse code. By the time of the American Civil War, the Morse system was the standard in Europe and the United States, but the Cooke and Wheatstone system was the first patented electrical telegraph system to be put into commercial use, making Morse’s reputation as the inventor of the electrical telegraph dubious. And Modern International Morse Code was created not by Morse but by Friedrich Gerke, replacing Morse’s original code and with some changes remains the form of Morse code used internationally today.