The following year he associated himself with Professor Wheatstone; a
joint patent was procured; and the Cooke and Wheatstone needle telegraph
was erected between the Euston Square and Camden Town stations of the
London and Birmingham Railway. To test the working of the instruments
through a longer distance, several miles of wire were suspended in the
carriage-shed at Euston, and included in the circuit. All being ready,
the trial was made on the evening of the 25th of July 1837, a memorable
date. Some friends of the inventors were present, including Mr George
Stephenson and Mr Isambard Brunel, the celebrated engineers. Mr Cooke,
with these, was stationed at Camden Town, and Mr Wheatstone at Euston
Square. The latter struck the key and signalled the first message.
Instantly the answer came on the vibrating needles, and their hopes were
realised. 'Never,' said Professor Wheatstone--'never did I feel such a
tumultuous sensation before, as when, all alone in the still room, I
heard the needles click; and as I spelled the words I felt all the
magnitude of the invention, now proved to be practical beyond cavil or
dispute.'
It was in 1832, during a voyage from Havre to New York in the packet
_Sully_, that Mr S. F. B. Morse, then an artist, conceived the idea of
the electro-magnetic marking telegraph, and drew a design for it in his
sketch-book. But it was not until the beginning of 1838 that he and his
colleague, Mr Alfred Vail, succeeded in getting the apparatus to work.
Judge Vail, the father of Alfred, and proprietor of the Speedwell
ironworks, had found the money for the experiments; but as time went on
and no result was achieved, he became disheartened, and perhaps annoyed
at the sarcasms of his neighbours, so that the inventors were afraid to
meet him. 'I recall vividly,' says Mr Baxter, 'even after the lapse of
so many years, the proud moment when Alfred said to me, "William, go up
to the house and invite father to come down and see the
telegraph-machine work." I did not stop to don my coat, although it was
the 6th of January, but ran in my shop-clothes as fast as I possibly
could. It was just after dinner when I knocked at the door of the house,
and was ushered into the sitting-room. The judge had on his
broad-brimmed hat and surtout, as if prepared to go out; but he sat
before the fireplace, leaning his head on his cane, apparently in deep
meditation. As I entered his room he looked up and said, "Well,
William?" and I answered: "Mr Alfred and Mr Morse sent me to invite you
to come down to the room and see the telegraph-machine work." He started
up, as if the importance of the message impressed him deeply; and in a
few minutes we were standing in the experimental room. After a short
explanation, he called for a piece of paper, and writing upon it the
words, "A patient waiter is no loser," he handed it to Alfred, saying,
"If you can send this, and Mr Morse can read it at the other end, I
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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