"The testimony to
the paternity of the idea in Morse's mind, and to his acts and drawings
on board the ship, is ample. His own testimony is corroborated by all
the passengers (with a single exception), who testified with him before
the courts, and was considered conclusive by the judges; and the date of
1832 is therefore fixed by this evidence as the date of Morse's
conception, and realization also--so far as the drawings could embody
the conception--of the telegraph system which now bears his name."
But though invented in 1832, it was not until 1835 (during which time he
was engaged in the discharge of the duties of his professorship in the
University of the City of New York) that he was enabled to complete his
first recording instrument. This was but a poor, rude instrument, at the
best, and was very far from being equal to his perfected invention. It
embodied his idea, however, and was a good basis for subsequent
improvements. By its aid he was able to send signals from a given point
to the end of a wire half a mile in length, but as yet there was no
means of receiving them back again from the other extremity.
Pages:
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533