Makers of the Telegraph: Samuel Morse, Ezra Cornell and Joseph Henry

by Kenneth B. Lifshitz

Overview

The single-wire telegraph revolutionized long distance communication but it was not the brainchild of one inventor, Samuel Morse. His colleagues and employees--specifically Ezra Cornell and Joseph Henry--made crucial contributions.

Examining the careers of the three men and the key events, this book presents Morse as primarily a businessman and consolidator of ideas who, frequently in conflict with his associates, sought to present the telegraph as a uniform system under his sole imprimatur. The battle between Morse and Cornell over the invention of the magnetic relay was central to the drama.

What emerges is a complex portrait of three ambitious and brilliant innovators and the age in which they lived.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476665597
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	02/13/2017
Pages:	344
Sales rank:	787,935
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Kenneth B. Lifshitz has lectured widely on such topics as the great chain across the Hudson and The Franklin Marble. Also a bass player, he has performed with local and regional symphony orchestras. He lives in the Catskill region of New York.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Notes on Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
Section I: Knickerbocker Tales
 1. The American Experiment
 2. SPAAM (The Society for the Promotion of Agricultural Arts and Manufactures)
 3. T. Romeyn Beck
 4. The Albany Academy
 5. The Big Ditch
 6. A Tale of Two Cities
 7. Portrait Painter
 8. The Man Who Sneezed So Singularly
Section II: Henry’s Influence on Morse
 9. The New, Old School
10. The Vision at Palmyra
11. Ghost Story
12. Wrap Artist
13. The American Achievement
14. Que Viva Mexico
15. Endless Debate
16. Quantity vs. Intensity
17. The Barnaby Mooer ­Side-Hill Plow
18. Catching Colt
19. Out of the “Fog” of Invention
20. The Plow in Maine
21. Sins of the Father
Section III: The Madman and the Telegrapher
22. A Federal ­No-Show Job
23. Cable Problems
24. Big Confab at Little Relay
25. The Trouble with Fisher …
26. On the Third Floor of the Patent Office
27. The Burden of Big Science
28. Bartlett’s Contract
29. ­Cross-Cut!
30. A Fight Over Pole Insulators
31. Out of the Frying Pan
Section IV: Relay Race
32. The Magnetic Telegraph Company
33. A Red Herring
34. The Mule Kicks Back
35. The State Fair
36. Raising Cash
37. When the Going Gets Tough …
38. … The Tough Go to Europe
39. Trompe l’œil
40. “The Telegraph for Dummies”
41. O’Reilly
42. Saxton Faxton’s ­Love-Hate Relationship
43. Organization Man
44. Crossing the Rubicon
Section V: Prodigal
45. Audubon’s Laundry
46. Tit for Tat
47. An Indispensable Plague
48. The New ­York–Offing Line
49. Rebirth of a Notion
Coda: King Edward of Kalamazoo
Afterword
Appendix A: Morse’s Deposition
Appendix B: Questions Prepared for Professor Henry by Morse, 1839
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

The sections on Cornell are fascinating”—Carleton Mabee, Pulitzer Prize winning author and biographer of Samuel Morse; “This outstanding work, peppered with insightful details, is an extraordinary history based on fresh research about three colorful and controversial characters. An absorbing narrative to the very last page! Sure to be part of the library of every transportation and communication scholar.”—Michelle P. Figliomeni, President, Orange County Historical Society; “Lifshitz provides a delight-to-read examination of a pivotal event in the history of American technology. At many points he challenges accepted wisdom and offers new interpretations of the motivations of the actors and their actions”— Marc Rothenberg, former editor of the Joseph Henry Papers Project.

From the Publisher