JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post

For some reason this short article–found in Nature for 6 February 1879–was titled “A Real Telegraph”. “Real” telegraphs were in existence for quite some time, more than 30 years at this point. What the author meant in this case was that rather than have a key operator tap out the message in Morse Code, the sender would be writing out the message in long hand, and the receiver would gather up the message so that it appeared in recognizable letters and words rather than dots and dashes.  The inventor’s name was E.A. Cowper, and he brought to the telegraphic art something as “startlingly” as the “marvels” of the telephone, which had been invented just three years earlier. [This paper is offered for sale at our blog bookstore, here.]

The author describes the appearance of the script on the receiving end seeming as though to have been guide by a “spirit hand”, such as the highly unexpected result even to the trained scientific reporter. 

A somewhat longer article appeared in the New York Times a few weeks later, the full text of which is here.

According to William Maver jr. American telegraphy and encyclopedia of the telegraph: systems, apparatus … By William Maver (jr.) this was the first successful attempt at producing susch a machine.