Morse code and the telegraph allowed for faster long-distance communication before telephones. Samuel Morse developed the telegraph system in 1832 in response to being unable to see his sick wife before she died due to slow communication by letter. Morse code became very popular for telegraph communication by 1850, allowing people to communicate across long distances through electrical signals representing letters, numbers, and punctuation. It remained a primary means of long-distance communication until around 1900 when the telephone was invented.

1. Morse Code and the
telegraph

2. Visual telegraph 1792

3. How did people communicate over long
distances, before we had telephones?
• Letters
• Carrier pigeons
• Morse code

4. Samuel Morse 1791-1872
In 1825 he got a letter that said his wife was very sick.
She lived far away. The next day he got a letter that
said she died.
He could not see her before she died, because of
slow communication with letters.
Because of this, he wanted to make a new system of
communication that was very fast.

5. He made the telegraph system in 1832. It became
very popular by 1850.

6. The alphabet in Morse code

7. S.O.S. Save our souls!
SOS is the most
famous and easiest
thing to say in
morse code. It
means “help me
please!”
We can send the
message with a
flashlight!

8. SOS sounds

9. Telegraph connected to a computer

10. He was a prisoner in the Vietnam
War. He was being tortured.
He blinked his eyes in Morse code
to send a message to America.
Amazing!
TORTURE

11. Telegraph lines

12. World telegraph map- 1901

13. Printing telegraph

14. Sending telegrams was very expensive!
• In the 1800’s sending a ten word telegram from New York to London
cost about 80,000 baht!
• Sending a telegram a short distance was still expensive. About 2000
baht!

15. This necklace says “Sarah” in Morse code.
Morse code is so romantic!

16. Morse code was popular until around the
year 1900, when telephones were invented.