. Bulletin. Science. telegraph system.^* Davy's first telegraph (1836) was a very crude electrostatic device with 26 wires—one for each letter of the alphabet. However, this inventor's experimentation developed rapidly and had pro- gressed so far by the beginning of 1837 that he was making successful tests on a needle telegraph through a mile of wire in Regent's Park. Later in that year Davy filed a caveat for an 8-wire needle telegraph that included a relay. A working model of this was shown in December 1837 at the Belgrave Institute in London. This device had a keyboard of 12 keys that actua
. Bulletin. Science. telegraph system.^* Davy's first telegraph (1836) was a very crude electrostatic device with 26 wires—one for each letter of the alphabet. However, this inventor's experimentation developed rapidly and had pro- gressed so far by the beginning of 1837 that he was making successful tests on a needle telegraph through a mile of wire in Regent's Park. Later in that year Davy filed a caveat for an 8-wire needle telegraph that included a relay. A working model of this was shown in December 1837 at the Belgrave Institute in London. This device had a keyboard of 12 keys that actuated screens that uncovered the appropriate letters. In 1838 Edward Davy patented an instrument that required two wires and a common return to 2« J. J. Fahie, History of Electric Telegraph to the Tear 1837, London, 1884, pp. 349-447, 516-529. actuate a combination needle and electrochemical telegraph (British patent 7719, July 4, 1838). The needles served as relays to close a local circuit, and a chemical decomposition was thus produced on a treated fabric; combinations of marks and spaces in- dicated the desired letter. In spite of much ingenuity and a considerable understanding of the electrical problems involved, Davy never created an invention that was brought to commercial application. Personal matters forced him to leave England in 1839, just at the time when the major problems of his telegraph had been worked out and when it might have been pos- sible for him to make a commercial success of his invention. Alexander Bain of Edinburgh was more successful than Davy as a competitor of Wheatstone and Cooke. 292 BULLETIN 228: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Smithsonian Institution; United States. Dept. of the Interior; United States
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