The Telegraph, Insulation and A Lasting Legacy

Welcome to the fourth edition of Safe For Work. This week we explore the history of the telegraph which changed communications…blah blah. We think the real story is insulation (or lack thereof) in the wires needed for the telegraphic system. It is the choices and failures made due to insulation that still reverberate throughout our work and society today.

The telegraph revolutionized long distance communication. It is the precursor to the internet. It demonstrated the case for mass adoption of technology requiring a “killer app.” It changed financial markets and international diplomacy. It lives on in terse emails and text messages.

The telegraph was a product of many inventors making marginal improvements over many decades. As early as the 1700s, scientists were discussing the possibility of communication using electricity. Arguably, its widespread adoption is correlated to the lives of two men who were more tinkerers than scientists. And their drive to succeed or give-up linked to their marriages.

Edward Davy was an English doctor and chemist who demonstrated a working model of a telegraph in 1837. His version was more reliable than the later more famous model from Cooke and Wheatstone. He made use of an electrical relay mechanism, but stopped commercial pursuit of the telegraph. The story is murky, but is likely the first episode of Real Housewives: London. He couldn’t keep up with her spending habits, had his father cover the debts and Eddie shipped himself off to Australia.

Samuel Morse was a renowned painter from Massachusetts who was commissioned to do some portraiture work in Washington DC. While away, his wife Lucretia died. His father sent him a letter to tell him she was ill, but he did not get it in time. Morse returned home to find his beloved bride already buried. Some historians argue that proved the impetus for him to begin working on the telegraph to improve the speed of communication. He contributed improvements to the telegraph, but more importantly developed a communication protocol known as Morse Code. Due to its simplicity and ability to be duplicated in audio, light flashes, or print it became the standard for telegraphic communication.

Insulation is where the story gets really interesting.

The main competing telegraphic systems were in England and the United States. Both began by attempting to run the cable underground. These efforts failed due to lack of effective insulation for the wires. And despite centuries of progress, we live with the solutions today.

Morse teamed up with the Congressman and financier, Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith. He had a expert in construction and getting things done, Ezra Cornell, lead the project of laying the wire from Washington DC to Baltimore. Unfortunately, the wire purchased by F.O.J. Smith was poorly insulated and despite burying miles of it in conduit, it couldn’t carry a useable signal. Cornell helped design a glass/ceramic insulator and they decided to hang the wire from what are now known as utility poles. Morse and Cornell managed to cut F.O.J out and setup Western Union Telegraph Company. Similar insulation problems plagued the efforts in England and they too proceeded with telegraph poles.

Once the overground systems were being utilized at scale, attention turned to expansion via oceanic cables. Early oceanic cables also failed due to poor insulation and the British looked for solutions at the far reaches of their colonial empire. A natural plastic like resin, gutta percha, was available in the forests of Southeast Asia. Much like the story of the Lorax, the result was deforestation and ecological destruction.

On the American side of the Atlantic, the early failures of the Transatlantic cable encouraged Western Union to find an overland route to Europe. The idea of monopolizing communication to Europe and Asia inspired the hubristic president, Hiram Sibley. Having already expanded to San Francisco, how hard could it be to go up the coast through British Columbia, into Alaska and over the Bering Strait? While ultimately giving up after millions of dollars invested and countless lives lost when the Transatlantic cable finally succeeded, the foray into Alaska opened further diplomatic relations with Russia. Without this effort, perhaps Alaska would not be part of the United States.

Which leaves us in the present day and another annexed state, Hawaii. Many experts believe that the cause of the deadly fires in Maui last summer are directly linked to poorly insulated wires and shoddy utility poles.

Next time you look at the window or try to admire a skyline and see wires hanging everywhere, remember the telegraph.

Interesting Links

• Synchronous Time: With the telegraph, distribution of regulated synchronous time became possible. Another great find by JF Ptak, who is the eponymous owner of a science book store in Washington DC. His blog is a treasure trove of curious artifact, scientific intrigue and endless fun and enlightment for the nerd inclined.

• Digging into the history of electricity: If you have lived in a house with knob and tube wiring, this may make you feel old. Archaeologists are uncovering the history of electrification in American homes. The discoveries include many components not found in the code-books of the day. Shocking 😅 

• Georainbolt. If you need a break from blogs and journal articles for some good ole fashioned doom scrolling, Trevor Rainbolt is the way to go. Watching him play Geoguessr or identifying the location of a meme photo on Google maps is insane. His knowledge of telegraph poles is outstanding.

See you next month as we dive into February’s theme of the pioneers of electricity. Stay safe.