the receiving apparatus in his telegraph was self-recording, and
considered this as one of the most important parts of his system. But
when the telegraph began to come into commercial use the operators at
the receiving end noticed that they could read the messages from the
long and short periods between the clicks of the receiving mechanism.
Thus they were taking the message by ear and the recording mechanism
was superfluous. Rules and fines failed to break them of the habit,
and Vail, recognizing the utility of the development, constructed a
receiver which had no recording device, but from which the messages
were read by listening to the clicks as the armature struck against
the frame in which it was set. Thus the telegraph returned in its
elements to the form of Professor Henry's original bell telegraph.
With his bell telegraph and his relay Henry had the elements of a
successful system. He failed, however, to develop them practically or
to introduce them to the attention of the public. He was the man of
science rather than the practical inventor. Alfred Vail, joining with
Morse after the latter had conceived the telegraph, but before
his apparatus was in practical form, was a tireless and invaluable
mechanical assistant. His inventions of apparatus were of the utmost
practical value, and he played a very large part in bringing the
telegraph to a form where it could serve man effectively. After
success had been won Morse did not extend to Vail the credit which it
seems was his due.
Yet, though Morse made free use of the ideas and assistance of others,
he was richly deserving of a major portion of the fame and the rewards
that came to him as inventor of the telegraph. Morse was the directing
genius; he contributed the idea and the leadership, and bore the brunt
of the burdens when all was most discouraging.
Honors were heaped upon Morse both at home and abroad as his telegraph
established itself in all parts of the world. Orders of knighthood,
medals, and decorations were conferred upon him. Though he had failed
to secure foreign patents, many of the foreign governments recognized
the value of his invention, and France, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands,
Russia, Sweden, Turkey, and some smaller nations joined in paying him
a testimonial of four hundred thousand francs. It is to be noticed
that Great Britain did not join in this testimonial, though Morse's
system had been adopted there in preference to the one developed by
Wheatstone.
In 1871 a statue of Morse was erected in Central Park, New York
City. It was in the spring of the next year that another statue was
unveiled, this time one of Benjamin Franklin, and Morse presided at
the ceremonies. The venerable man received a tremendous ovation on
this occasion, but the cold of the day proved too great a strain upon
him. He contracted a cold which eventually resulted in his death on
April 2, 1872.
While extended consideration cannot be given here to the telegraphic
inventions of Thomas A. Edison, no discussion of the telegraph should
close without at least some mention of his work in this field. Edison
started his career as a telegrapher, and his first inventions were
improvements in the telegraph. His more recent and more wonderful
inventions have thrown his telegraphic inventions into the shadow. On
the telegraph as invented by Morse but one message could be sent over
a single wire at one time. It was later discovered that two messages'
could be sent over the single wire in opposite directions at the
same time. This was called duplex telegraphy. Edison invented duplex
telegraphy by which two messages could be sent over the same wire in
the same direction at the same time. Later he succeeded in combining
the two, which resulted in the quadruplex, by which four messages
may be sent over one wire at one time. Though Edison received
comparatively little for this invention, its commercial value may be
estimated from the statement by the president of the Western Union
that it saved that company half a million dollars in a single year.
Edison's quadruplex system was also adopted by the British lines.
Before this he had perfected an automatic telegraph, work on which
had been begun by George Little, an Englishman. Little could make the
apparatus effective only over a short line and attained no very great
speed. Edison improved the apparatus until it transmitted thirty-five
hundred words a minute between New York and Philadelphia. Such is the
perfection to which Morse's marvel has been brought in the hands of
the most able of modern inventors.
VIII
TELEGRAPHING BENEATH THE SEA
Early Efforts at Underwater Telegraphy--Cable Construction and
Experimentation--The First Cables--The Atlantic Cable
Projected--Cyrus W. Field Becomes Interested--Organizes Atlantic
Telegraph Company--Professor Thomson as Scientific Adviser--His
Early Life and Attainments.
The idea of laying telegraph wires beneath the sea was discussed long
before a practical telegraph for use on land had been attained. It
is recorded that a Spaniard suggested submarine telegraphy in 1795.
Experiments were conducted early in the nineteenth century with
various materials in an effort to find a covering for the wires which
would be both a non-conductor of electricity and impervious to water.
An employee of the East India Company made an effort to lay a cable
across the river Hugli as early as 1838. His method was to coat the
wire with pitch inclose it in split rattan, and then wrap the whole
with tarred yarn. Wheatstone discussed a Calais-Dover cable in 1840,
but it remained for Morse to actually lay an experimental cable. We
have already heard of his experiments in New York Harbor in 1842. His
insulation was tarred hemp and India rubber. Wheatstone performed a
similar experiment in the Bay of Swansea a few months later.
Perhaps the first practical submarine cable was laid by Ezra Cornell,
one of Morse's associates, in 1845. He laid twelve miles of cable in
the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee with New York City. The cable
consisted of two cotton-covered wires inclosed in rubber, and the
whole incased in a lead pipe. This cable was in use for several months
until it was carried away by the ice in the winter of 1846.
These early experimenters found the greatest difficulty in incasing
their wires in rubber, practical methods of working that substance
being then unknown. The discovery of gutta-percha by a Scotch surveyor
of the East India Company in 1842, and the invention of a machine for
applying it to a wire, by Dr. Werner Siemens, proved a great aid
to the cable-makers. These gutta-percha-covered wires were used for
underground telegraphy both in England and on the Continent. Tests
were made with such a cable for submarine work off Dover in 1849, and,
proving successful, the first cable across the English Channel was
laid the next year by John Watkins Brett. The cable was weighted
with pieces of lead fastened on every hundred yards. A few incoherent
signals were exchanged and the communication ceased. A Boulogne
fisherman had caught the new cable in his trawl, and, raising it, had
cut a section away. This he had borne to port as a great treasure,
believing the copper to be gold in some new form of deposit. This
experience taught the need of greater protection for a cable, and the
next year another was laid across the Channel, which was protected by
hemp and wire wrappings. This proved successful. In 1852 England
and Ireland were joined by cable, and the next year a cable was laid
across the North Sea to Holland. The success of these short cables
might have promised success in an attempt to cross the Atlantic had
not failures in the deep water of the Mediterranean made it seem an
impossibility.
We have noted that Morse suggested the possibility of uniting Europe
and America by cable. The same thought had occurred to others, but the
undertaking was so vast and the problems so little understood that for
many years none were bold enough to undertake the project. A telegraph
from New York to St. John's, Newfoundland, was planned, however, which
was to lessen the time of communication between the continents.
News brought by boats from England could be landed at St. John's and
telegraphed to New York, thus saving two days. F.N. Gisborne secured
the concession for such a line in 1852, and began the construction.
Cables were required to connect Newfoundland with the continent, and
to cross the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but the rest of the line was to be
strung through the forests.
Before much had been accomplished, Gisborne had run out of funds,
and work was suspended. In 1854 Gisborne met Cyrus West Field, of
New York, a retired merchant of means. Field became interested in
Gisborne's project, and as he examined the globe in his library the
thought occurred to him that the line to St. John's was but a start on
the way to England. The idea aroused his enthusiasm, and he determined
to embark upon the gigantic enterprise. He knew nothing of telegraph
cables or of the sea-bottom, and so sought expert information on the
subject.
One important question was as to the condition of the sea-bottom on
which the cable must rest. Lieutenant Berryman of the United States
Navy had taken a series of soundings and stated that the sea-bottom
between Newfoundland and Ireland was a comparatively level plateau
covered with soft ooze, and at a depth of about two thousand fathoms.
This seemed to the investigators to have been provided for the
especial purpose of receiving a submarine cable, so admirably was it
suited to this purpose. Morse was consulted, and assured Field that
the project was entirely feasible, and that a submarine cable once
laid between the continents could be operated successfully.
Field thereupon adopted the plans of Gisborne as the first step in the
larger undertaking. In 1855 an attempt was made to lay a cable across
the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but a storm arose, and the cable had to be
cut to save the ship from which it was being laid. Another attempt
was made the following summer with better equipment, and the cable was
successfully completed. Other parts of the line had been finished, the
telegraph now stretched a thousand miles toward England, and New York
was connected with St. John's.
Desiring more detailed information of the ocean-bed along the proposed
route, Field secured the assistance of the United States and British
governments. Lieutenant Berryman, U.S.N., in the _Arctic_, and
Lieutenant Dayman, R.N., in the _Cyclops_, made a careful survey.
Their soundings revealed a ridge near the Irish coast, but the slope
was gradual and the general conditions seemed especially favorable.
The preliminary work had been done by an American company with Field
at the head and Morse as electrician. Now Field went to England
to secure capital sufficient for the larger enterprise. With the
assistance of Mr. J.W. Brett he organized the Atlantic Telegraph
Company, Field himself supplying a quarter of the capital. Associated
with Field and Brett in the leadership of the enterprise was Charles
Tiltson Bright, a young Englishman who became engineer for the new
company.
Besides the enormous engineering difficulties of producing a cable
long enough and strong enough, and laying it at the bottom of the
Atlantic, there were electrical problems involved far greater than
Morse seems to have realized. It had been discovered that the passage
of a current through a submarine cable is seriously retarded.
The retarding of the current as it passes through the water is a
difficulty that does not exist with the land telegraph stretched on
poles. Faraday had demonstrated that this retarding was caused by
induction between the electricity in the wire and the water about the
cable. The passage of the current through the wire induces currents in
the water, and these moving in the opposite direction act as a drag on
the passage of the message through the wire. What the effect of this
phenomenon would be on a cable long enough to cross the Atlantic wan
a serious problem that required deep study by the company's engineers.
It seemed entirely possible that the messages would move so slowly
that the operation of the cable, once it was laid, would not pay.
Faraday failed to give any definite information on the subject, but
Professor William Thomson worked out the law of retardation accurately
and furnished to the cable-builders the accurate information which
was required. Doctor Whitehouse, electrician for the Atlantic Company,
conducted some experiments of his own and questioned the accuracy of
Thomson's statements. Thomson maintained his position so ably, and
proved himself so thoroughly a master of the subject that Field and
his associates decided to enlist him in the enterprise. This addition
to the forces was one of the utmost importance. William Thomson,
later to become Lord Kelvin, was probably the ablest scientist of his
generation, and was destined to prove his great abilities in his early
work with the Atlantic cable.
William Thomson was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1824. His father was
a teacher and took an especially keen interest in the affairs of his
boys because their mother had died while William was very young.
When William was eight years of age his father removed to Glasgow,
Scotland, where he had secured the chair of mathematics in Glasgow
University. His early education he secured from his father, and this
training, coupled with his natural brilliancy, enabled him to develop
genuine precocity. At the age of eight he attended his father's
university lectures as a visitor, and it is reported that on one
occasion he answered his father's questions when all of the class had
failed. At the age of ten he entered the university, together with
his brother James, who was but two years older. The brothers displayed
marked interest in science and invention, eagerly pursued their
studies in these branches, and performed many electrical experiments
together.
[Illustration: CYRUS W. FIELD]
[Illustration: WILLIAM THOMSON (LORD KELVIN)]
James took the degrees B.A. and M.A. in successive years. Though
William also passed the examinations, he did not take the degrees,
because he had decided to go to Cambridge, and it was thought best
that he take all his degrees from that great school. In writing to
his older brother at this time, William was accustomed to sign himself
"B.A.T.A.I.A.P.," which signified "B.A. to all intents and purposes."
After finishing their work at Glasgow the boys traveled extensively on
the Continent.
At seventeen William entered St. Peter's College, Cambridge University,
taking courses in advanced mathematics and continuing to distinguish
himself. He took an active part in the life of the university, making
something of a record us an athlete, winning the silver sculls, and
rowing on a 'varsity crew which took the measure of Oxford in the
great annual boat-race. He also interested himself in literature and
music, but his real passion was science. Already he had written many
learned essays on mathematical electricity and was accomplishing
valuable research work. On the completion of his work at Cambridge he
secured a fellowship which brought him an income of a thousand dollars
a year and enabled him to pursue his studies in Paris.
When he was but twenty-two years of age he was made professor of
natural philosophy at the University of Glasgow. Though young,
he proved entirely successful, and wan immensely popular with his
students. At that time the university had no experimental laboratory,
and Professor Thomson and his pupils performed their experiments
in the professor's room and in an abandoned coal-cellar, slowly
developing a laboratory for themselves. His development continued
until, when at the age of thirty-three he was called upon to assist
with the work of laying an Atlantic cable, he was possessed of
scientific attainments which made him invaluable among the cable
pioneers.
IX
THE PIONEER ATLANTIC CABLE
Making the Cable--The First Attempt at Laying--Another Effort
Checked by Storm--The Cable Laid at Last--Messages Cross the
Ocean--The Cable Fails--Professor Thomson's Inventions and
Discoveries--Their Part in Designing and Constructing an Improved
Cable and Apparatus.
Field and his business associates were extremely anxious that the
cable be laid with all possible speed, and little time was allowed the
engineers and electricians for experimentation. The work of building
the cable was begun early in 1857 by two English firms. It consisted
of seven copper wires covered with gutta-percha and wound with tarred
hemp. Over this were wound heavy iron wires to give protection and
added strength. The whole weighed about a ton to the mile, and was
both strong and flexible. The distance from the west coast of Ireland
to Newfoundland being 1,640 nautical miles, it was decided to supply
2,500 miles of cable, an extra length being, of course, necessary
to allow for the inequalities at the bottom of the sea, and the
possibility of accident.
The British and American governments had already provided subsidies,
and they now supplied war-ships for use in the work of laying the
cable. The _Agamemnon_, one of the largest of England's war-ships, and
the _Niagara_, giant of the United States Navy, were to do the actual
work of cable-laying, the cable being divided between them. They were
accompanied by the United States frigate _Susquehanna_ and the
British war-ships _Leopard_ and _Cyclops_. In August of 1857 the fleet
assembled on the Irish coast for the start, and the American sailors
landed the end of the cable amid great ceremony.
The work of cable-laying was begun by the _Niagara_, which steamed
slowly away, accompanied by the fleet. The great cable payed out
smoothly as the Irish coast was left behind and the frigate increased
her speed. The submarine hill with its dangerous slopes was safely
passed, and it was felt that the greatest danger was past. The
paying-out machinery seemed to be working perfectly. Telegraphic
communication was constantly maintained with the shore end. For six
days all went well and nearly four hundred miles of cable had been
laid.
With the cable dropping to the bottom two miles down it was found
that it was flowing out at the rate of six miles an hour while the
_Niagara_ was steaming but four. It was evident that the cable was
being wasted, and to prevent its running out too fast at this great
depth the brake controlling the flow of the cable was tightened. The
stern of the vessel rising suddenly on a wave, the strain proved too
great and the cable parted and was lost. Instant grief swept over
the ship and squadron, for the heart of every one was in the great
enterprise. It was felt that it would be useless to attempt to grapple
the cable at this great depth, and there seemed nothing to do but
abandon it and return.
The loss of the cable and of a year's time--since another attempt
could not be made until the next season--resulted in a total loss
to the company of half a million dollars. Public realization of the
magnitude of the task had been awakened by the failure of the first
expedition and Field found it far from easy to raise additional
capital. It was finally accomplished, however, and a new supply of
cable was constructed.
Professor Thomson had been studying the problems of submarine
telegraphy with growing enthusiasm, and had now arrived at the
conclusion that the conductivity of the cable depended very largely
upon the purity of the copper employed. He accordingly saw to it that
in the construction of the new section all the wires were carefully
tested and such as did not prove perfect were discarded. In the mean
time the engineers were busy improving the paying-out machinery. They
designed an automatic brake which would release the cable instantly
upon the strain becoming too great. It was thus hoped to avoid a
recurrence of the former accident. Chief-Engineer Bright also arranged
a trial trip for the purpose of drilling the staff in their various
duties.
The same vessels were provided to lay the cable on the second attempt
and the fleet sailed in June of 1858, this time without celebration or
public ceremony. On this occasion the recommendation of Chief-Engineer
Bright was followed, and it was arranged that the _Niagara_ and
_Agamemnon_ should meet in mid-ocean, there splice the cable together
and proceed in opposite directions, laying the cable simultaneously.
On this expedition Professor Thomson was to assume the real scientific
leadership, Professor Morse, though he retained his position with the
company, taking no active part.
The ships had not proceeded any great distance before they ran into a
terrible gale. The _Agamemnon_ had an especially difficult time of
it, her great load of cable overbalancing the ship and threatening
to break loose again and again and carry the great vessel and her
precious cargo to the bottom. The storm continued for over a week, and
when at last it had blown itself out the _Agamemnon_ resembled a wreck
and many of her crew had been seriously injured. But the cable
had been saved and the expedition was enabled to proceed to the
rendezvous. The _Niagara_, a larger ship, had weathered the storm
without mishap.
The splice was effected on Saturday, the 26th, but before three miles
had been laid the cable caught in the paying-out machinery on the
_Niagara_ and was broken off. Another splice was made that evening and
the ships started again. The two vessels kept in communication with
each other by telegraph as they proceeded, and anxious inquiries and
many tests marked the progress of the work. When fifty miles were
out, the cable parted again at some point between the vessels and they
again sought the rendezvous in mid-Atlantic. Sufficient cable still
remained and a third start was made. For a few days all went well and
some four hundred miles of cable had been laid with success as the
messages passing from ship to ship clearly demonstrated. Field,
Thomson, and Bright began to believe that their great enterprise was
to be crowned with success when the cable broke again, this time about
twenty feet astern of the _Agamemnon_. This time there was no apparent
reason for the mishap, the cable having parted without warning when
under no unusual strain.
The vessels returned to Queenstown, and Field and Thomson went to
London, where the directors of the company were assembled. Many were
in favor of abandoning the enterprise, selling the remaining cable
for what it would bring, and saving as much of their investment as
possible. But Field and Thomson were not of the sort who are easily
discouraged, and they managed to rouse fresh courage in their
associates. Yet another attempt was decided upon, and with replenished
stores the _Agamemnon_ and _Niagara_ once again proceeded to the
rendezvous.
The fourth start was made on the 29th of July. On several occasions as
the work progressed communication failed, and Professor Thomson on
the _Agamemnon_ and the other electricians on the _Niagara_ spent many
anxious moments fearing that the line had again been severed. On each
occasion, however, the current resumed. It was afterward determined
that the difficulties were because of faulty batteries rather than
leaks in the cable. On both ships bad spots were found in the cable
as it was uncoiled and some quick work was necessary to repair them
before they dropped into the sea, since it was practically impossible
to stop the flow of the cable without breaking it. The _Niagara_
had some narrow escapes from icebergs, and the _Agamemnon_ had
difficulties with ships which passed too close and a whale which swam
close to the ship and grazed the precious cable. But this time there
was no break and the ships approached their respective destinations
with the cable still carrying messages between them. The _Niagara_
reached the Newfoundland coast on August 4th, and early the next
morning landed the cable in the cable-house at Trinity Bay. The
_Agamemnon_ reached the Irish coast but a few hours later, and her end
of the cable was landed on the afternoon of the same day.