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Tag Archives: telegraph
Noises in the Earth
The early telegraph pioneers encountered major problems with cables, so there was a strong incentive for them to minimise the amount of cabling required. Fortunately, the use of an “earth return” meant that one wire (rather than two) was sufficient … Continue reading
Posted in Telecom Ramblings
Tagged 19th century, Alexander Graham Bell, earth return, Samuel Morse, telegraph, telephone
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The Victorians were Rocked to their Socks
Methods of communicating over long distances advanced surprisingly little from the days of the Roman Empire to the start of the nineteenth century. Although beacons and semaphores were occasionally used, the speed at which information could be transmitted was typically … Continue reading
Posted in Telecom Ramblings
Tagged 19th century, communications, DOT-DASH TO DOT.COM, electric telegraph, history, telegraph
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Concerns about Copper
The high price of copper on world markets has led to a spate of cable thefts, and this has provided telephone companies with a strong incentive to find cost-effective ways of replacing copper telephone wire with optical fibre. However, this is … Continue reading
Posted in Telecom Ramblings
Tagged 19th century, cable, communications, copper, telecoms, telegraph, telephone
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Did the Radio Telegraph lead to a Miscarriage of Justice?
In an earlier blog, we learned how Cooke and Wheatstone’s telegraph played a central role in the capture of the murderer John Tawell as he travelled by train from Slough to London. In an analogous case, the murderer Dr Hawley … Continue reading
If At First You Don’t Succeed . . .
The successful laying of a trans-Atlantic cable was one of the most extraordinary feats of engineering in the history of telecoms. The hero of our story is Cyrus Field, an American businessman who had made his fortune in the New … Continue reading
Posted in Telecom Ramblings
Tagged 19th century, Cyrus Field, telegraph, undersea cable
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A New Year Murder
In 1839, William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone opened the world’s first public telegraph service on a 13-mile stretch of rail track between London Paddington and West Drayton. The telegraph received some sensational publicity a few years later when it … Continue reading