Telegraphy

Facilitated by the invention of the electric telegraph in the early 19th century, the fast transmission of messages over long distances significantly impacted ways of communication. In ancient times, people communicated long-distance with the help of light and sound signals. The first telegraphs, such as the optical telegraph by the French Claude Chappe in the late 18th century, were mechanical.

In 1837, the American physicist Samuel Morse invented the electric telegraph and developed a unique method of encoding text characters called Morse code. It was formed of sequences of dots and dashes and initially printed on tape. Morse took advantage of the fact that a current stops the moment it is interrupted. Hence a message could be sent from the transmitter over thousands of kilometres of wire to the receiver by simply switching the current on and off.

The first telegraphic line in the territory of Slovenia, between Graz, Ljubljana, Maribor and Celje, was installed in 1847, and a year later, a telegraph station was established in Ljubljana. Initially, the telegraph was exclusively employed by the state and military. Under pressure from the railway administration, its use soon extended to the railways, and after 1850, it entered the public domain. The construction of the railway was an important milestone in the development of telegraphy, as the telegraph network was built in conjunction with the construction of the railways. In 1850, the Slovene-language newspaper Novice (News)[1] published that no invention of recent times is so remarkable as this one, and that none makes the human mind such an honour as this one.

The telegraph service used Morse-type electric telegraph machines. At the beginning, private telegraphs were rare and mainly used in commercial circles. From February to October 1950, 625 telegrams composed of 21,619 words were sent in Ljubljana. Soon telegraphy traffic began to increase month by month.

In the early 20th century, smaller towns distant from the railway acquired telegraph offices combined with post offices. The payment rate was based on the number of letters sent and the distance, and a double charge was levied for telegrams sent at night. By letter post or special courier, the so-called relay service, telegrams were also sent to places that didn’t have a telegraph station. However, the service was quite costly.

The invention of the telegraph, transmitting messages using letters and characters by the American physicist David Edward Hughes in 1856, considerably sped up communication. A well-trained Morse code operator could send 40 to 50 words per minute. Later, the signal was transcribed from successive audible signals produced by a telegraph sounder, which allowed a skilled radiotelegraph operator to manually transmit and receive 120 codes per minute.

The handwriting of the officials was replaced by text printed on the tape, which the officials tore off and stuck to the consignment. After the earthquake in 1895, the Ljubljana Telegraph Office was allocated two new Hughes telegraph machines, and in 1909 they were also provided to the Maribor Telegraph Office. Hughes’s telegraphs were used in Slovenia from the end of the 19th century until 1940.

In the first half of the 20th century, telegraphs were replaced by a device for transmitting text over distance, called a teleprinter. The teleprinter had a typewriter-like keyboard.

When pressing a key, a sequence of five impulses representing the selected letter was transmitted by a phone line. The receiver decoded the sequence of impulses and printed the letter on paper or onto a punched tape. In Slovenia, a teleprinter was first used in 1933 between Bled and Ljubljana. They were introduced on a larger scale after World War Two.

In Portugal, the development policy adopted in 1852 by the Minister of Public Works, Commerce and Industry, Fontes Pereira de Melo, was fundamental in revolutionising the transport and communications systems and had a major impact on the country’s economy. Roads and railway construction advanced hand in hand with the telegraphy service.

Similarly to what happened in other countries, telegraphy entered Portugal by military hands – the Armed Forces were secretive about introducing new technologies.

In April 1855, the government signed a contract with the French company Bréguet to regulate the installation of the first telegraph lines in the country.

On 16th September, the telegraphic network was inaugurated with the first stretch of 32 km connecting Lisbon to Sintra. A year later, it increased to 677 km and 1571 km by the end of 1857. When 1863 ended, the telegraph coverage was greatly expanded, reaching Spain. In this first phase, service operation was entrusted to the Ministry of War through the Military Telegraphic Corps. Later, it was transferred to civilian hands, and the Directorate-General of the Kingdom’s Telegraphs was created.

Telegraphy quickly developed and became a mass communication system. In 1878, the Directorate-General of Telegraphs marked Portugal’s presence at the Paris Universal Exhibition with equipment from two great telegraphists, Cristiano Augusto Bramão and Maximiliano Augusto Herrmann. They were highly praised by most of the entities and specialists present at the event, highlighting the particularities of Bramão’s telegraph. The Directorate-General of Telegraphs received a “Diplome de Honour”, an award similar to that achieved by great names such as Baudot, Bell and Edison.

[1] The paper was established by the conservative editor Janez Bleiweis (who later became one of the main protagonists of the Slovene national Movement).

Hugh’s telegraph from the Museum of Post and Telecommunications in Pohov Gradec Foto: Nada Žgank, Domen Pal	The Bréguet Telegraphic Table used in the inauguration of the electric telegraphic network in Portugal, and a section dedicated to telegraphy can be visited in the permanent exhibition of the Communications Museum “Conquering the Distance – Five Centuries of Communications in Portugal”. Foto: Pedro Ferreira