The electric telegraph is a now obsolete communications system that was used to transmit electrical signals over wires from one location to another that translated into a message by the people in the stations. The non-electric telegraph was invented by Claude Chappe in 1794. This system was visual and used a semaphore, an alphabet based on the language of flags, and depended on line of sight for communication. This “optical telegraph” was eventually replaced by the electric telegraph. In 1809, a crude telegraph was invented in Bavaria by Samuel Soemmering. He used 35 wires with gold electrodes in water and at the receiving end, 2,000 feet away, the message was read by the amount of gas caused by electrolysis. In 1828, the first telegraph in the United States. was invented by Harrison Dyar who sent electrical sparks through chemically treated paper tape to burn dots and dashes. ElectromagnetIn 1825, British inventor William Sturgeon (1783-1850) revealed an invention that laid the foundation for a huge leap forward in electronic communications: the electromagnet. William demonstrated the power of his electromagnet by lifting nine pounds with a seven-ounce piece of iron wrapped in wires through which current from a single-cell battery was sent. However, the true power of the electromagnet lies in its role in creating countless inventions to come. Read on to find out more. The Three Telegraphs In 1830, an American named Joseph Henry showed the potential of William Sturgeon's electromagnet for long-distance communications by sending an electronic current down a mile of wire to activate an electromagnet that rang a bell . In 1837, British physicists William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone patented the...... middle of paper ......em. The telephone competes with the telegraph Until 1877, all rapid long-distance communications depended on the telegraph. A slower and more tedious form of long-distance communication was sending letters. It was that same year that a rival technology was developed, this device would (again) change the face of communication: the telephone. In 1879, patent litigation between Western Union and the nascent telephone system ended with an agreement that largely separated the two services. As the telephone was a faster and less tedious way to send information, more and more people, who had previously used telegraphs, began using telegraphs instead. The telegraph companies were rapidly losing business to the very thing you and I cannot live without. The growing popularity of the telephone would ultimately end the use of the previously world-changing device, its predecessor, the telegraph..