Category Archives: Telegraph history

1955 Fire Box Telephone

Before the widespread availability of cellular phones, or even landline phones, the problem of alerting the fire department to an emergency was solved in many localities by the fire alarm call box, which dates back to the 1850’s. The device was essentially a telegraph sender. When it was pulled, it would encode a message via a rotary sender to headquarters. The message would indicate only that the alarm had been pulled, and the location. Apparently, the call box also had a telegraph key, which would allow responding firefighters or police to call back to the station to request a backup.

It wasn’t until 70 years ago that the system was updated by the addition of a telephone. This photo, from the November 1955 issue of Popular Electronics, shows this young woman calling in an emergency somewhere in Omaha, where the new boxes were being field tested by Bell Labs. They would soon be available in Indianapolis, Miami, Syracuse, and Sioux Falls.

As with the old call boxes, merely lifting the receiver from the hook would flash an alarm signal with location to headquarters. This young woman seems to have her wits about her, but the magazine noted that if the person was too excited to speak, the message would still get through. The operator at headquarters had the ability to transfer the call, such as to police headquarters. The phone would also allow responding police officers or firefighters to call directly to headquarters. Before the days of handheld radios, it wasn’t unusual for cops walking a beat to periodically phone in to the station with one of these.

When I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s, there was such a call box located on a utility pole across the street from our house. (We were also across the street from a school, which might have been the reason it was located there, to prevent another tragedy such as the 1958 Our Lady of the Angels fire in which help was delayed due to the lack of a call box. (A passing motorist saw the fire and went to a store to call the fire department, but was initially refused because the phone wasn’t for public use.)

I don’t remember whether the alarm near our house had a phone, or just an alarm to be pulled. I never got a close look at it, because I knew it wasn’t the kind of thing that I should mess with in the absence of a real emergency. False alarms were surprisingly rare. On a handful of occasions, I recall a fire truck showing up, looking around to confirm that there wasn’t any fire, and then resetting the alarm. But that didn’t happen very often.



1940 Pointers on Learning Morse Code

Eighty-five years ago this month, the British magazine Practical Mechanics offered some pointers on how to master the Morse Code, including the simple code oscillator shown here. The article included one idea that I’ve never seen before. It mentioned that code records, in addition to providing receiving practice, could be a source of sending practice as well. This was accomplished by having the text being sent, and then sending it in unison with the record.



15 Circuits with 8 Conductors

Sixty years ago this month, the August 1965 issue of Popular Mechanics showed how to use only eight conductors to control 15 different circuits. The trick was using three independent power sources. This way, 5+3 wires could be used to make 5×3 circuits. The magazine noted that the most common application would be for signaling.

Advanced students could use this as a science fair project.  The top components could be switches, and the bottom ones could be lamps.  For another way of making wires do double duty, see our earlier post about a mystery device.



1940: Learning Code for Scouts

1940AprBLEighty-five years ago this month, the April 1940 issue of Boys’ Life contained some pointers from William “Green Bar Bill” Hillcourt for Scouts to learn the Morse Code, which was then a requirement for First Class.  The best way was to sit down with a buddy and learn the letters with a buzzer telegraph set, and the simple instructions for making such an instrument are shown below.  Then, you could continue your signaling in the great out-of-doors.

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1924 Visual Signaling

1924NovBLLast month, we showed how young men a hundred years ago could set up a telegraph system to communicate with a friend down the street, using, of course, Eveready batteries. But what if the friend lived across the street?  According to this ad in the November 1924 issue of Boys’ Life, running a wire across the street might not be possible, since many towns forbade it.  But there was still a solution in the form of this lamp signaling outfit.  With three Eveready dry cells, and a four-volt Eveready automotive lamp, your friend across the street could easily copy your code visually.

Of course, before taking the key, it was best to put on a tie.



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1924 Boys’ Telegraph

1924OctBLA hundred years ago, these young men (Bill and Sam) kept in touch and built up their code speed with this telegraph system linking their houses. All they needed was two buzzers, two keys, two switches, and enough wire to connect their houses down the street. And, of course, they needed some batteries, but this ad warned them not to just walk into the store and ask for a dry cell. Instead, they were to ask for Columbia Eveready by name. Those peppy batteries made the buzzer yelp at the slightest touch of the key, allowing them to quickly build up their speed. And for easy connections, you could get the batteries with Fahnestock clips.

The ad appeared in the October 1924 issue of Boys’ Life.



Operating a Landline Telegraph

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441500216_10232620648842474_8600482236910331051_nThis weekend, I had the pleasure of demonstrating a landline telegraph to a group of scouts at the BSA Northern Star Council Spring Camporee at Stearns Scout Camp near South Haven, MN.  Over 500 scouts attended, and the theme of the event was American Heroes.  The event included a group of Civil War reenactors from the New Ulm Battery, complete with their cannon.  Since the telegraph shaped the Civil War, we were placed near them.  The two awnings here, about 100 feet apart, were separate telegraph stations, with the line connecting them run through the tall grass.

We showed the scouts the telegraph in action, and let them hear what it would have sounded like during the Civil War.  I don’t know the exact age of the instruments we used, but they were probably at least a hundred years old.  They were purchased on eBay by another scout leader who got them working.

Since I am not able to copy the clicks and clacks of a landline telegraph sounder, we also hooked in a beeper.  With that in place, I asked the scouts to send their name, and to their amazement, I copied it correctly.

CodeChartThe purpose of a telegraph is two-way communications, so I gave them a pencil and paper and told them I was going to send them a message.  According to conventional wisdom, you need to memorize the code before you can start receiving it.  But these scouts, and other guinea pigs I’ve experimented on in the past, prove that this is not true.  I printed up copies of the simple chart from LearnMorseCode.com shown here.  It might be gimmicky, but it works.  You place your finger or pencil at the spot marked “start.”  Moving down the chart, if you hear a dash, you go to the left.  If you hear a dot, you go to the right.  When you are done, you are pointing at the letter in question.  I encouraged the scouts to write down the dots and dashes, and then use the chart when they were done.  But many of them were able to do it in real time.  I found that people (young people, at least) can learn the code very quickly using this method, without having to memorize it first.  After hearing a letter just a few times, they get it without bothering to look at the chart.

CipherWheelThe round object shown in the top photo is a reproduction U.S. Army cipher wheel.  Not unlike a typical secret decoder ring, this replica is available on Amazon and is nicely crafted.  (If you want to download and print a similar one, you can do so here.)   You can read more about how it was used at this link.  It was apparently used mostly for messages sent by flag, but it could be used for telegraph messages as well.  Most of the letters are represented with numbers containing 1’s and 8’s.  But the 8’s are really 2’s.  Eights are  used only because they are easier to read on the circular rule.  When used on the telegraph, the “dot code” was often used, as it permitted minimally skilled operators to use the telegraph.  So if A=1221 in that day’s code, then the letter could be sent by sending one dot, two dots, two dots, and one dot.

 

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Wigwag Signaling

1963OctBLSixty years ago this month, the October 1963 issue of Boys’ Life magazine showed Scouts the art of wigwagging, which is the “other” method of sending a message with signal flags. The most common method, semaphore, uses two flags, and each letter is sent by holding the flags in a certain position. Wigwag, on the other hand, uses a single flag, and uses Morse code. For a dot, the flag is waved in a figure eight to the sender’s right. The dash is formed by waving the flag to the sender’s left.

For a break between letters, the flag is held upright. After each word, the flag is held down.



90 Year Old Radio Fan: 1922

1922Mar31WilmingtonIn 1832, Andrew Jackson was re-elected President of the United States. It would be twelve years before Morse would demonstrate his electric telegraph between Baltimore and Washington. Slavery still existed in half of the United States, and would for more than thirty years. Abraham Lincoln wasn’t yet a lawyer, but held a bartending license and was about to make an unsuccessful bid for the Illinois General Assembly. Communications with other towns took days, if not weeks. In short, it was a long time ago. But people born that year would listen to the radio in their lifetime. But people born that year would listen to the radio in their lifetime.

But a lot was about to change. The news clipping above appeared in the Wilmington Daily Commercial.

Mrs. Sarah Frederick of Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, was an avid radio listener. The paper noted that she was an avid listener to the radio chapel services from KDKA, and that she had recently celebrated her 90th birthday. She was totally blind but had frequently expressed her wonder and delight at this product of modern science.

And she was born in 1832.



Worldwide TV: 1951

1951DecPMSeventy years ago this month, the December 1951 issue of Popular Mechanics carried a feature with the byline of RCA Chairman of the Board David Sarnoff discussing the prospects of international television. He predicted that before long, viewers would be able to bring exciting events from distant lands to their armchairs with a flick of the dial, all at the instant they’re taking place.

He outlined the ways this might happen, but interestingly, he fails to mention the technology that did make it happen, namely orbiting satellites.

His most promising idea is shown above, namely a network of microwave relays about 20-50 miles apart. This network was already taking shape in the US, and Sarnoff pointed out that it could easily be expanded from Patagonia to Alaska. And since it was only 40 miles acroos the Bering Strait, there was no technological reason why the network couldn’t be thus extended into Eurasia, and from there to Africa. He notes that there were plans for a telegraph land line along the same route 90 years earlier, which was abandoned only after the success of the transatlantic telegraph cable.

Another idea for connecting America and Europe was a string of artificial islands in the Atlantic, 200 miles apart, each with a 1000 foot tower.

We’ve previously mentioned the idea of stratovision, namely, using aircraft both to broadcast and relay programs. Sarnoff hinted at a possible expansion of this system to link America and Europe. He noted that there were already enough commercial flights flying the route, and that if these planes were fitted with television relays, they could provide a permanent microwave link across the Atlantic.