Sir Charles Wheatstone and Sir William Fothergill Cooke
Sir Charles was not the 'inventor' of the telegraph - indeed no-one can really claim that title. The telegraph was advanced by several people starting with Stephen Gray in 1727. However, Sir Charles was the first person with William Cooke to develop a viable system which was made available to the public.
Sir Charles Wheatstone and Sir William Fothergill Cooke
This was first demonstrated on 24th July 1837 when they ran a telegraph line along the railway track from Euston to Camden Town and successfully transmitted and received a message.
Cooke and Wheatstone's
telegraph employed five iron needles which when not in use rested
in a vertical position. Each needle could be moved either to the
left or the right by electromagnets. To transmit a letter of the
alphabet two switches were pressed which caused two needles to
move and point to the appropriate letter. By pressing different
combinations of switches any one of twenty letters could be
transmitted. Unfortunately J, C, Q, U, X and Z had to be omitted
making it difficult to send some words. Alternative methods were
adopted to spell words such as `queen', `quiz' or `axe'. Despite
its shortcomings, the advantage of their equipment was that it
could be used by unskilled operators.
Cooke's business acumen played a crucial role in the success of their telegraph. He realised the potential of an almost instant method of sending messages for the new railway companies, and in 1837 he arranged a demonstration between Euston and Camden stations, a distance of 1.5 miles (2.4km).
There were problems in insulating the iron wires which carried the signal. The wires were covered with cotton and buried in iron pipes beside the railway line. While the wires remained dry there was no problem but if they became wet the insulation failed. Nevertheless, the equipment clearly impressed the Directors of the Great Western Railway who allowed a trial to take place between Paddington and West Drayton. The trial was a partial success. The company did not accede to Cooke's request to extend it to Bristol, but did agree an extension as far as Slough, provided railway messages were carried free of charge. Cooke overcame the insulation problems by suspending the wires from iron posts using glass insulators. This extension was paid for by Cooke and Wheatstone and to recover some of the expense they offered the public the opportunity to send messages at a shilling (5p) a time.
Although the five needle telegraph was easy to operate it required six wires. It was soon replaced by a single needle instrument. Each letter of the alphabet was given a code of right and left needle movements, and in this way messages could be transmitted. However, this required skilled operators.
In 1844 the first public telegraph line opened along the railway line between London and Gosport. It provided the Admiralty with a direct link to the naval base at Portsmouth.
Slowly, the advantages and potential of the electric telegraph were being realised. However, it was the use of Cooke and Wheatstone's telegraph to apprehend a criminal that caught the public imagination.
On New Year's Day 1845 John Tawell travelled by train to Slough with one purpose in mind to murder his mistress. They met and he emptied the contents of a phial of poison into her drink. Rather naively he expected that when she finished her drink she would expire conveniently at his feet. Instead his victim let out a bloodcurdling scream and in his panic he ran out into the street to make his escape.
Neighbours also heard the scream and, opening their doors to find out what the commotion was about, saw him hurrying up the road looking very agitated. Tawell made his way to the station where a train was about to depart for London. Settling back in his seat, as the train sped along the tracks, he was convinced he had escaped and that once in London he could disappear in the crowds.
Meanwhile, the murder had been discovered and news soon reached the station of the man who had aroused suspicion. As he sat in the train he could not have known that travelling along the wires beside the speeding train flashed a message which would arrive in London long before he did.
The message read:
There was some confusion at Paddington about the word `KWAKER'. The telegraphist thought it was an error but after it was transmitted a third time he realised that it represented the word `QUAKER', the five needle telegraph being unable to transmit the letters `Q' or `U'.
Immediately the police were summoned and were at the station when the train pulled in.
Tawell walked out of the station, quite unaware that he was being watched, and caught an omnibus. The conductor who collected his fare was a policeman in plain clothes who also followed Tawell when he left the bus. At his lodgings the constable confronted him and asked if he had just come from Slough. Tawell answered `no' and was promptly arrested. He was later tried, found guilty of murder and hanged.
The American Dimension
Cooke and Wheatstone are generally credited as having developed the first working electric telegraph, but at almost the same time Samuel Morse, working in America, was developing his own. At first he concentrated on designing a machine which could record the incoming message on a moving paper tape, but he simplified his equipment so that the receiver made only a sound. He also devised a code which still bears his name. Morse's telegraph and code were soon adopted throughout the world and it is his name that is most associated with the electric telegraph.
For further information of the Electric Telgraph and History of Communication visit the superb Cable & Wireless Site from where the majority of the above information has been taken.
