Details
MORSE, Samuel Finley Breese (1791-1872), inventor of the telegraph. Autograph document signed ("Saml.F.B.Morse Superintendant Elec.Mag. Teleg."), comprising an "Abstract A of Expenditures on ac[coun]t of Materials for the Elec[tro] Mag[netic] Tel[egraph] for the month ending Feby. 10 1845," and "to March 20th 1845." Washington, 20 March 1845. 2/3 page, folio. In mint condition. [With:] VAIL, S. Receipt signed ("S. Vail"), on behalf of the Speedwell Iron Works, Morris Co., [Morristown], New Jersey, 24 January and 16 February 1844. 1 page, oblong. Headed "The Electro Magnetic Telegraph Co." Together 2 items.
MORSE ORDERS A MAGNET FOR THE FIRST TELEGRAPH
Two documents of very early date; Vail's receipt actually predating by two months Morse's first successful telegraph transmission of the famous salutation "What hath God Wrought!" on 24 May 1844. Both documents relate to expenses incurred in the construction and maintenance of the first experimental telegraph line, which stretched between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Vail's document records Morse's purchase of "one large magnet - 18 in. Best refined Iron, annealed & polished," plus crating and delivery to "Patent Office, Washington." The magnet was quite probably intended for use in the register of the first telegraph apparatus. At the bottom, S. Vail--apparently the father of Alfred Vail, Morse's assistant (who helped in the design and construction of the telegraph instrument)--certifies that he has "received from Prof. S.F.B.Morse, payment in full," totaling $13. The second document, entirely in Morse's clear, elegant hand, is part of Morse's very meticulous record-keeping of expenditures for the test telegraph line. With funding from Congress, Morse was required to submit careful monthly statements of all disbursements to the Secretary of the Treasury. Here, his "Abstract of Expenditures" records "Voucher no. 817," to Alfred Vail, in the amount of $13. Evidently Morse had furnished Alfred Vail the funds necessary to purchase the magnet from the iron foundry owned by his family.
"Morse expected his invention to supplant the mails...The telegraph annhilated distance. Space, once measured in miles, was now measured in the moments between the time a man in New York pressed a key and another in New Orleans replied. The conduct of commerce was revolutionized" (D.F. Hawke, Nuts and Bolts of the Past: A History of American Technology, 1776-1860, p.194).
MORSE ORDERS A MAGNET FOR THE FIRST TELEGRAPH
Two documents of very early date; Vail's receipt actually predating by two months Morse's first successful telegraph transmission of the famous salutation "What hath God Wrought!" on 24 May 1844. Both documents relate to expenses incurred in the construction and maintenance of the first experimental telegraph line, which stretched between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Vail's document records Morse's purchase of "one large magnet - 18 in. Best refined Iron, annealed & polished," plus crating and delivery to "Patent Office, Washington." The magnet was quite probably intended for use in the register of the first telegraph apparatus. At the bottom, S. Vail--apparently the father of Alfred Vail, Morse's assistant (who helped in the design and construction of the telegraph instrument)--certifies that he has "received from Prof. S.F.B.Morse, payment in full," totaling $13. The second document, entirely in Morse's clear, elegant hand, is part of Morse's very meticulous record-keeping of expenditures for the test telegraph line. With funding from Congress, Morse was required to submit careful monthly statements of all disbursements to the Secretary of the Treasury. Here, his "Abstract of Expenditures" records "Voucher no. 817," to Alfred Vail, in the amount of $13. Evidently Morse had furnished Alfred Vail the funds necessary to purchase the magnet from the iron foundry owned by his family.
"Morse expected his invention to supplant the mails...The telegraph annhilated distance. Space, once measured in miles, was now measured in the moments between the time a man in New York pressed a key and another in New Orleans replied. The conduct of commerce was revolutionized" (D.F. Hawke, Nuts and Bolts of the Past: A History of American Technology, 1776-1860, p.194).