Communications

Post

A penny post on all letters was inaugurated in Britain in 1840 after it was discovered that handling, 

not the distance sent, was the critical cost in delivering mall. All letters weighing a half-ounce or less 

could be carried for an English penny (two cents). By 1875 the Universal Postal Union had been 

established to facilitate the transmission of mail between foreign countries.

                                                                                         The Electric Telegraph

                                                                                       Wheatstone's telegraph made use of five wires, each 

                                                                                       of which was used to drive a pointer at the receiver to 

                                                                                       indicate different letters. However, Wheatstone's

                                                                                       telegraph was too troublesome for the people to use. 

                                                                                       In the same year, the American inventor Samuel Finley 

Breese Morse developed the first American telegraph, which was based on simple patterns of "dots" and 

"dashes" called Morse Code being transmitted over a single wire (the duration of a "dash" is three  times 

the duration of a "dot").

The Telephone

Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone grew out of his research into ways to improve the 

telegraph. On April 6, 1875, Bell was granted the patent for the multiple telegraph, which sent two signals 

at the same time. In September 1875 he began to write the specifications for the telephone. On March 7, 

1876, the U.S. Patent Office granted him Patent Number 174,465 covering, the method of, and apparatus 

for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to

the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sounds. After the invention of telephone, a 

new form of communication was started.

The Wireless Telegraph

means of using these waves until 1894 when a young Italian, Guglielmo Marconi, conceived the idea of applying

them to telegraphic communication. He approached the Italian Posts and Telegraphs Office but they showed 

little interest and so he came to Britain. In 1896 he applied for the world's first patent for wireless telegraphy, 

which influences a lot in the modern society.

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