The Telegraph

by Shawn B
(Queens NY)

this was something we had to be creative about in school i was in Junior High and had to build a telegraph. we created it out of wood incerted a nail and cut a tin foil and placed it right above the nail; there was wire wrapped around the nail attached to a batter and a light bulb. everytime you touched the piece of tin to the nail the bulb lit up.

Barry's Response - Thanks for your brief description, Shawn. This device did demonstrate how early communications were made possible by electric transmission. And greatly sped up long-distance communications as early as the beginning of the 1800's, making it possible to do so without using paper (and pony express) for the first time.



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