Carbo-coal : Anon. ( Steam, vol. xxiii, No. 3, p. 62, September, 1919)

Abstract

The telegraph was an application of research in electricity and electromagnetism between 1800 and 1840. The first telegraph lines opened in Britain in 1837 and the USA in 1844. The telegraph remained the mainstay of rapid long-distance communication until practical long-distance telephony after 1900. After 1920, as long-distance telephone rates dropped, telegraphy's share of the long-distance communications market declined. By 1970 the overland telegraph industry in the industrialized world was dying. Submarine telegraphy survived longer; it remained the preferred medium for overseas communication until the installation of undersea telephone cables in the 1950s. After 1980 other technologies, such as facsimile and electronic mail, took over the role of long-distance record communications formerly supplied by the telegraph. In technological terms, the telegraph was important for three reasons. It was the first major application of discoveries in electrical science and one of the first technologies with a firm scientific foundation. Telegraph electricians helped to establish the discipline of electrical engineering. Technical problems in submarine telegraphy stimulated advances in physics and oceanography. Because of the telegraph's ability to transmit information instantly, it helped to create integrated markets, modern news reporting, new literary forms, Western imperialism, and national telecommunications and technology policies.