Part 7

B 52 to 36 W 11 “ 27 B 62 “ 38 W 13 “ 20 B 53 “ 44 W 7 “ 22 B 51 “ 35 W 12 “ 21 B 59 “ 45 W 14 to 19 B 49 “ 48 W 9 “ 24 B 56 “ 40 W 10 “ 23 B 58 “ 43 W 2 “ 13 B 63 “ 46 W 4 “ 14 B 50 to 34 W 21 “ 28 B 36 “ 28 W 20 “ 28 B 38 “ 42 W 22 “ 25 B 42 “ 56 W 6 “ 20 B 43 “ 52 W 14 to 4 B 45 “ 27 W castles B 27 “ 21c W 7 “ 8 B 61 “ 39 W 13 “ 22 B 39 “ 41 W 3 “ 21 B 41 to 21 W 6 “ 5 B 21 “ 11 W 4 “ 45 B 64 “ 62 W 1 “ 4 B 52 “ 37 W 22 “ 37 B 46 “ 37 W 45 “ 37 B castles W 4 to 2 B 62 “ 61 W 37 “ 27 B 11 “ 14 W 5 “ 3 B 14 “ 12 W 27 “ 6 B 12 “ 21 W 6 “ 5 B 3l “ 39 W 25 “ 22 B 39 to 53 W 3 “ 4 B 35 “ 30 W 4 “ 61 B 59 “ 61 W 24 “ 25 B 44 “ 37 W 22 “ 39 B 56 “ 42 W 2 “ 4 B 61 “ 60 W 5 “ 13 B 53 “ 35 W 39 “ 24 B 58 “ 57 W 13 “ 52 B 54 “ 43 W 8 “ 9 B 35 “ 21 W 52 “ 13 B 21 “ 47 W 13 “ 12 B 42 to 54 W 4 “ 52 B 57 “ 58 W 12 “ 13 B 48 “ 33 W 52 “ 45 B 47 “ 51 W 24 “ 11 B 60 “ 63 W 16 “ 17 B 63 “ 62 W 10 “ 24 B 62 “ 60 W 11 “ 4 B 54 “ 42 W 45 “ 52 B 51 “ 46 W 52 “ 45 B 46 “ 64 W 13 “ 36c B 64 “ 36 W 28 “ 36 B 42 to 54 W 4 “ 21 B 55 “ 42 W 45 “ 47 B 43 “ 38 W 47 “ 34 B 38 “ 27 W 23 “ 27 B 37 “ 27 W 21 “ 30 B 42 “ 39 W 25 “ 39 B 54 “ 42 W 24 “ 44c B 58 “ 57 W 30 “ 37 B 42 “ 28 W 37 “ 54c B 57 “ 55 W 54 “ 45 B gives up.

_Improvement in the Magneto Electric Machine, and Application of this Instrument to operate the Magnetic Telegraph._

The magneto electric machine was originally contrived by Mr. Saxton, soon after the announcement of the interesting discovery of Faraday, that magnetism was capable of exciting electricity. The conditions necessary for obtaining electricity in this way were, chiefly, the disturbance of magnetic forces in a bar of soft iron surrounded by coils of wire. A number of mechanical contrivances were resorted to, in order to effect this disturbance, by causing the bar of iron, thus surrounded, to approach to and recede from the poles of powerful magnets; but the ingenuity of Mr. Saxton far exceeded them all, by giving to the coils and enclosed bar a rotary movement about the poles of a U-form magnet. This instrument afforded bright sparks and strong shocks; but the currents of electricity thus obtained could not be converted to any useful purpose, as, in each half revolution of the coils, the currents were in opposite directions. In 1838, Professor Page published in Silliman’s Journal an account of an improved form of the machine, doing away with many existing objections, and furthermore rendering it at once a useful instrument, by a contrivance for conducting these opposing currents into one channel or direction, which part of the contrivance was called the _unitrep_. The current produced in this way was capable of performing the work to a certain extent, of the power developed by the galvanic battery; and the machine was found adequate to the furnishing of shocks for medical purposes, for exhibiting the decomposition of water, furnishing the elements oxygen and hydrogen at their respective poles, and producing definite electro-chemical results. These two last results could not be obtained without the aid of the unitrep. But, with this improvement, the instrument was still wanting in one property of the galvanic battery, viz. that property which chemists call quantity, or that power upon which depends its ability to magnetize, and also to heat platinum wires. This last property has been given to the machine by the recent contrivance of Professor Page. The machine, in its novel construction, under his improvement, developed what is called, by way of distinction, the current of intensity, but had a very feeble magnetizing power. By a peculiar contrivance of the coils, (not to be made public until his rights are in some way secured,) the current of quantity is obtained in its maximum, while, at the same time, the intensity is so much diminished that it gives scarcely any shock, and decomposes feebly. It has been successfully tried with the magnetic telegraph of Professor Morse, and operates equally well with the battery. It affords, by simply turning a crank attached to the machine, a constant current of galvanic electricity; and as there is no consumption of material necessary to obtain this power, it will doubtless supersede the use of the galvanic battery, which, in the event of constant employment, would be very expensive, from the waste of zinc, platinum, acids, mercury, and other materials used in its construction. It particularly recommends itself for magnetizing purposes, as it requires no knowledge of chemistry to insure the result, being merely mechanical in its action, and is always ready for action without previous preparation; the turning of a crank being the only requisite when the machine is in order. It is not liable to get out of order; does not diminish perceptibly in power when in constant use, and actually gains power when standing at rest. It will be particularly gratifying to the man of science, as it enables him to have always at hand a constant power for the investigation of its properties, without any labor of preparation. We notice among the beautiful results of this machine, that it charges an electro magnet so as to sustain a weight of 1,000 pounds, and it ignites to a white heat large platinum wires, and may be used successfully for blasting at a distance; and should Government ever adopt any such system of defence as to need the galvanic power, it must supersede the battery in that case. Professor Page demonstrates, by mathematical reasoning, that the new contrivance of the coils affords the very maximum of quantity to be obtained by magnetic excitation.

_Report of Commissioner of Patents, for 1844._

REPORTS TO CONGRESS ON THE SUBJECT OF ELECTRO MAGNETIC TELEGRAPHS.

_Letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting a Report upon the subject of a System of Telegraphs for the United States. December 11, 1837._

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, _December 6, 1837_.

SIR: I have the honor to present this report, in compliance with the following resolution, which passed the House of Representatives on the 3d of February last, viz. “_Resolved_, That the Secretary of the Treasury be requested to report to the House of Representatives, at its next session, upon the propriety of establishing a system of telegraphs for the United States.” Immediately after its passage I prepared a circular, with the view of procuring, from the most intelligent sources, such information as would enable Congress, as well as the Department, to decide upon the propriety of establishing a system of telegraphs.

It seemed also important to unite with the inquiry the procurement of such facts as might show the expense attending different systems; the celerity of communication by each; and the useful objects to be accomplished by their adoption.

A copy of the circular is annexed, (1)

The replies have been numerous, and many of them are very full and interesting. Those deemed material are annexed, numbered 2 to 18, inclusive.

From those communications, and such other investigations as the pressure of business has enabled me to make, I am satisfied that the establishment of a system of telegraphs for the United States would be useful to commerce as well as the Government. It might most properly be made appurtenant to the Post Office Department, and, during war, would prove a most essential aid to the military operations of the country.

The expense, attending it is estimated carefully in some of the documents annexed; but it will depend much upon the kind of system adopted: upon the extent and location of the lines first established; and the charges made to individuals for communicating information through it which may not be of a public character.

On these points, as the Department has not been requested to make a report, no opinion is expressed; but information concerning them was deemed useful as a guide in deciding on the propriety of establishing telegraphs, and was, therefore, requested in the circular before mentioned. Many useful suggestions in relation to the subject will be found in the correspondence annexed, and in the books there referred to.

The Department would take this occasion to express, in respect to the numerous gentlemen whose views are now submitted to Congress, its high appreciation and sincere acknowledgments for the valuable contributions they have made on a subject of so much interest. I remain, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, LEVI WOODBURY, _Secretary of the Treasury_.

The Hon. J. K. POLK, _Speaker of the House of Representatives_.

No. 1.

_Circular to certain Collectors of the Customs, Commanders of Revenue Cutters, and other persons._

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, _March 10, 1837_.

With the view of obtaining information in regard to “the propriety of establishing a system of telegraphs for the United States,” in compliance with the request contained in the annexed resolution of the House of Representatives, adopted at its last session, I will thank you to furnish the Department with your opinion upon the subject. If leisure permits, you would oblige me by pointing out the manner, and the various particulars, in which the system may be rendered most useful to the Government of the United States and the public generally. It would be desirable, if in your power, to present a detailed statement as to the proper points for the location, and distance of the stations from each other, with general rules for the regulation of the system, together with your sentiments as to the propriety of connecting it with any existing department of the Government, and some definite idea of the rapidity with which intelligence could ordinarily, and also in urgent cases, be communicated between distant places. I wish you to estimate the probable expense of establishing and supporting telegraphs, upon the most approved system, for any given distance, during any specified period.

It would add to the interest of the subject if you would offer views as to the practicability of uniting with a system of telegraphs for communication in clear weather and in the day time, another for communication in fogs, by cannon, or otherwise; and in the night, by the same mode, or by rockets, fires, &c.

I should be gratified by receiving your reply by the first of October next.

LEVI WOODBURY, _Secretary of the Treasury_.

No. 2.

_Letter from S. F. B. Morse, to the Secretary of the Treasury._

NEW YORK CITY UNIVERSITY, _Sept. 27, 1837_.

DEAR SIR: In reply to the inquiries which you have done me the honor to make, in asking my opinion “of the propriety of establishing a system of telegraphs for the United States,” I would say, in regard to the general question, that I believe there can scarcely be two opinions, in such a community as ours, in regard to the advantage which would result, both to the Government and the public generally, from the establishment of a system of communication by which the most speedy intercourse may be had between the most distant parts of the country. The _mail system_, it seems to me, is founded on the universally admitted principle, that the greater the speed with which intelligence can be transmitted from point to point, the greater is the benefit derived to the whole community. The only question that remains, therefore, is, what system is best calculated, from its completeness and cheapness, to effect this desirable end?

With regard to telegraphs constructed on the ordinary principles, however perfected within the limits in which they are necessarily confined, the most perfect of them are liable to one insurmountable objection—_they are useless the greater part of the time_. In foggy weather, and ordinarily during the night no intelligence can be transmitted. Even when they can transmit, much time is consumed in communicating but little, and that little not always precise.

Having invented an entirely new mode of telegraphic communication, which, so far as experiments have yet been made with it, promises results of almost marvellous character, I beg leave to present to the Department a brief account of its chief characteristics.

About five years ago, on my voyage home from Europe, the electrical experiment of Franklin, upon a wire some four miles in length was casually recalled to my mind in a conversation with one of the passengers, in which experiment it was ascertained that the electricity travelled through the whole circuit in a time not appreciable, but apparently instantaneous. _It immediately occurred to me, that if the presence of electricity could be made_ VISIBLE _in any desired part of this circuit, it would not be difficult to construct a_ SYSTEM OF SIGNS _by which intelligence could be instantaneously transmitted._ The thought, thus conceived, took strong hold of my mind in the leisure which the voyage afforded, and I planned a system of signs and an apparatus to carry it into effect. I cast a species of type, which I had devised for this purpose, the first week after my arrival home; and although the rest of the machinery was planned, yet, from the pressure of unavoidable duties, I was compelled to postpone my experiments, and was not able to test the whole plan until within a few weeks. The result has realized my most sanguine expectations.

As I have contracted with Mr. Alfred Vail to have a complete apparatus made to demonstrate at Washington by the 1st of January, 1838, the practicability and superiority of my mode of telegraphic communication by means of electro magnetism, (an apparatus which I hope to have the pleasure of exhibiting to you,) I will confine myself in this communication to a statement of its peculiar advantages.

_First._ The _fullest and most precise information_ can be almost instantaneously transmitted between any two or more points, between which a wire conductor is laid: that is to say, no other time is consumed than is necessary to write the intelligence to be conveyed, and to convert the words into the telegraphic numbers. The numbers are then transmitted nearly instantaneously, (or if I have been rightly informed in regard to some recent experiments in the velocity of electricity, _two hundred thousand miles in a second_,) to any distance, where the numbers are immediately recognised, and reconverted into the words of the intelligence.

_Second._ The same full intelligence can be communicated _at any moment irrespective of the time of day or night, or state of the weather._ This single point establishes its superiority to all other modes of telegraphic communication now known.

_Third._ The whole apparatus will occupy but _little space_, (scarcely six cubic feet, probably not more than four;)[11] and it may, therefore, be placed without inconvenience, in any house.

_Fourth._ The _record of intelligence is made in a permanent manner and in such a form_ that it can be at once bound up in _volumes_ convenient for reference, if desired.

_Fifth._ _Communications are secret_ to all but the persons for whom they are intended.

[11] It now occupies a space 10 inches long, 8 inches high, and 5 wide.

These are the chief advantages of the Electro Magnetic Telegraph over other kinds of telegraphs, and which must give it the preference, provided the expense and other circumstances are reasonably favorable.

The newness of the whole plan makes it not so easy to estimate the expense, but an _approach_ to a correct estimate can be made.

The principal expense will be the first cost of the wire or metallic conductors, (consisting of four lengths,) and the securing them against injury. The cost of a single copper wire ¹/₁₆ of an inch diameter, (and it should not be of less dimensions,) for 400 miles, was recently estimated in Scotland to be about £1,000 sterling, including the solderings of the wire together; that is, about $6 per mile for one wire, or $24 per mile for the four wires. I have recently contracted for twenty miles of copper wire, No. 18, at 40 cents per pound. Each pound, it is estimated, contains 93 feet, which gives a result coinciding with the Scotch estimate, if $1.60 per mile be added for solderings.

The preparation of the wire for being laid, (if in the ground,) comprehends the _clothing of the wires_ with an insulating or non-conducting substance; the _encasing them in wood_, _clay_, _stone_, _iron_, or _other metal_; and the _trenching_ of the earth to receive them. In this part of the business I have no experience to guide me, the whole being altogether new. I can, therefore, only make at present a rough estimate. Iron tubes enclosing the wires, and filled in with pitch and resin, would probably be the most eligible mode of securing the conductors from injury, while, at the same time, it would be the most costly. Iron tubes of 1½ inch diameter, I learn, can be obtained at Baltimore, at 28 cents per foot. The _trenching_ will not be more than three cents for 2 feet, or about $75 per mile. This estimate is for a trench 3 feet deep and 1½ wide. There is no _grading_; the trench may follow the track of any road, over the highest hills or lowest valleys. Across rivers, with bridges, the circuit may easily be carried, enclosed beneath the bridge. Where the stream, is wide, and no bridge, the circuit, enclosed in lead, may be sunk to the bottom.

If the circuit is laid through the air, the first cost would doubtless be much lessened. This plan of making the circuit has some advantages, but there are also some disadvantages; the chief of which latter is, that, being always in sight, the temptation to injure the circuit to mischievously disposed persons, is greater than if it were buried out of sight beneath their feet. As an offset, however, to this, an injury to the circuit is more easily detected. With regard to danger from wantonness, it may be sufficient to say, that the same objection was originally made in the several cases, successively, of water-pipes, gas-pipes, and railroads; and yet we do not hear of wantonness injuring any of these. Stout spars of some thirty feet in height, well planted in the ground, and placed about 350 feet apart, would, in this case, be required, along the tops of which the circuit might be stretched. Fifteen such spars would be wanted to a mile. This mode would be as cheap, probably, as any other, unless the laying of the circuit in water should be found to be most eligible. A series of experiments to ascertain the practicability of this mode, I am about to commence with Professor Gale, of our university, a gentleman of great science, and to whose assistance, in many of my late experiments, I am greatly indebted. We are preparing a circuit of twenty miles. The result of our experiments I will have the honor of reporting to you.

The other machinery, consisting of the apparatus for transmitting and receiving the intelligence, can be made at a very trifling cost. The only parts of the apparatus that waste or consume materials, are the batteries, which consume _acid_ and _zinc_, and the register, which consumes _paper_ for recording, and _pencils_ or _ink_ for marking.

The cost of _printing_, in the first instance, of a _telegraphic dictionary_,[12] should perhaps also be taken into the account, as each officer of the Government, as well as many others, would require a copy, should this mode of telegraphic communication go into effect. This dictionary would contain a vocabulary of all the words in common use in the English language, with the numbers regularly affixed to each word.

[12] Mr. Francis O. J. Smith has recently published a Secret Corresponding Vocabulary adapted to this purpose.

The stations in the case of this telegraph may be as numerous as are desired; the only additional expense for that purpose being the adding of the transmitting and receiving apparatus to each station.

The cost of supporting a system of telegraphs on this plan, (when a circuit is once established,) would, in my opinion, be much less than on the common plans; yet, for want of experience in this mode, I would not affirm it positively.

As to “the propriety of connecting the system of telegraphs with any existing department of Government,” it would seem most natural to connect a telegraphic system with the Post Office Department; for, although it does not carry a mail, yet it is another mode of accomplishing the principal object for which the mail is established, to wit: the rapid and regular transmission of intelligence. If my system of telegraphs should be established, it is evident that the telegraph would have but little rest day or night. The advantage of communicating intelligence instantaneously in hundreds of instances of daily occurrence, would warrant such a rate of _postage_, (if it may be so called,) as would amply defray all expenses of the first cost of establishing the system, and of guarding it, and keeping it in repair.

As every word is numbered, an obvious mode of rating might be, a _charge of a certain amount on so many numbers_. I presume that five words can certainly be transmitted in a minute; for, with the imperfect machinery I now use, I have recorded at that rate, at the distance of half a mile.

In conclusion, I would say, that if the perfecting of this new system of telegraphs (which may justly be called the American Telegraph, since I can establish my claims to priority in the invention) shall be thought of public utility, and worthy the attention of Government, I shall be ready to make any sacrifice of personal service and of time to aid in its accomplishment.

In the mean time I remain, sir, with sincere respect and high personal esteem, Your most obedient, humble servant, SAML. F. B. MORSE.

HON. LEVI WOODBURY, _Secretary of the Treasury_.

No. 3.

_Letter from S. F. B. Morse to the Secretary of the Treasury._

UNIVERSITY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, _November 28, 1837_.