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| Title | Telegraph Line |
| Coverage / Year | 1816 to 1823 |
| Description | A twelve-inch length of wire with two sections of glass tubing used as insulation. The glass tubes are sealed at the joints with wax. |
| Interpretation | In 1816, Sir Francis Ronalds (1788-1873), an English meteorologist, suspended eight miles of telegraph wire by silk strings from wood lattice in his garden. Later he buried 585 feet of this wire three feet underground. The wire was first placed in glass tubing and then put into the center of a tar-filled wooden tube about two feet square. However the telegraph did not work as designed and the wire remained underground for a century. This telegraph line was perhaps the first subterranean telegraph cable It was dug up in the garden of Kelmscott House, Upper Mall, Hammersmith, England. Ronalds wrote numerous scientific articles on his inventions and experiments. These articles would lead to the invention of a telegraphic instrument based on the principle of synchronously revolving discs. The concept of the synchronously revolving discs is essential to the discovery of the X-ray tube, the audion tube, radio and television. |
| Lesson Plans / Themes | How we learn about communities; |
| Learning Standards | 16 History; 10-12 Science; 13 Science, Technology and Society; |
| Author or Creator | Ronalds, Francis, Sir, 1788-1873 |
| Source | Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Accession File #30.1007 |
| Subject / Keywords | Telegraph; Telegraph cable; Scientific inventions; Communication; Hammersmith, England; Inventions; Electric telegraph |
| Collection Publisher | Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
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| Further Information | For any further information related to this record, please contact the Collection Publisher. See http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/tdc for more information about this project. |
| Rights Management Statement | http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/tdc/conditions.htm |
| Resource Identifier | 30.1007 |
| CONTENTdm file name | 35959181982002_TELEGRAP.jpg |
