Dear Members of the CW Email Group...

I am happy and honored to be able to announce that Fons Vanden Berghen has made the English language version of his 7th. and latest Telegraph history book available at no cost on the internet along with his other books.  These books represent his lifetime of work in collecting, studying and writing about telegraph instruments and telegraph history.

This book represents an in-depth presentation of the history of the telegraph starting from the earliest attempts to extend communications beyond the capabilities of the human voice through the various stages of the development and evolution of the electric telegraph.

Four of his earlier books are in Dutch and three in English. For details on his other books I suggest that you visit his very extensive website: “FORWARD” TO THE PAST  -  https://www.telegraphy.eu

The title of this seventh is ‘Samuel MORSE, HISTORIC CODES and TELEGRAPH APPARATUS’.
It is a 351-page work with more than 500 illustrations that are mainly color photographs of the related  equipment. The color cover of the book is inserted below.

It is very wide-ranging (four books in one, so to speak): see the Table of Contents attached that I have inserted below and that is available on his website.

One need not read the book “linearly”; one can select (first) from this table of contents those chapters that the reader finds most interesting.  As an aside: in the freely downloadable online .pdf version of the book, all lines of the table of contents are hyperlinks to the corresponding chapters.
 
Since this latest book is mainly aimed at Amateur Radio Operators (HAMs), it will be of interest to a wide spectrum of people who are involved in radio-related activities and studies.

It can be downloaded for free from the internet: via  BOOK7V2c
 
“FORWARD” TO THE PAST
https://www.telegraphy.eu
 

 
TABLE OF CONTENTS   

INTRODUCTION    4
SHORT SUMMARY    6
PART 1: A LOT ABOUT AND AROUND SAMUEL MORSE    7
CHAPTER 1: SAMUEL MORSE, ABOUT THE MAN    7
1.1.    HIS YOUTH    7
1.2.    THE PAINTER - A CHRONOLOGICAL OVERVIEW    8
1.3.    A LOOK AT SOME OF MORSE’S FAMOUS PAINTINGS    13
1.4.    THE INVENTION OF HIS ‘MORSE TELEGRAPH’ - A CHRONOLOGICAL OVERVIEW    17
1.5.    HIS PATENTS    24
1.5.1.    Overview    24
1.6.    “WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT”    30
1.6.1.     The meaning: interpretations from the literature    30
1.6.2.    The context    30
1.6.3.    The Bible    31
1.6.4.    The paper tape    31
1.7.    SAMUEL MORSE AND LOUIS DAGUERRE    33
1.8.    HIS RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL VIEWS    36
1.9.    SOME REMARKABLE EVENTS    38
1.10.    A BIT ON HIS FAMILY LIFE, LATER YEARS AND DEATH    39
1.11.    RECOGNITION, HONOURS AND AWARDS    41
1.12.    SOME PERSONAL CLOSING REMARKS.    43
Chapter 2: ABOUT Alfred VAIL    54
2.1.    ABOUT HIS LIFE (1807-1859)    54
2.2.    HIS OWN INVENTIONS    55
2.3.    AGREEMENT BETWEEN SAMUEL MORSE AND ALFRED VAIL (23 September 1837)    56
2.4.    SAMUEL MORSE VERSUS ALFRED VAIL    59
2.4.1.    Did S. Morse invent the telegraph?    59
2.4.2.    Did S. Morse improve his first prototype?    59
2.4.3.    Did S. Morse invent the Morse code?    59
2.4.4.    Did S. Morse invent the Morse key?    60
2.4.5.    Disputes in the press after Morse’s death!    61
2.4.6.    My conclusion    61
Chapter 3: SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE EARLIEST APPARATUS    62
3.1.    MORSE’S FIRST MODEL (1837)    62
3.2.    THE PATENT MODEL (1840)    64
3.3.    VAIL’S SECOND MODEL (1844)    65
3.4.    THE THIRD MODEL (1846)    67
3.5.    THE MODEL FROM 1849?    69
3.6    THE FIRST “KEYS”    69

PART 2: MORSE & RELATED CODES    70
Chapter 1. DETAILS AND EVOLUTION OF THE MORSE CODE    70
1.1.    THE DIFFERENT MORSE CODES    70
1.1.1.    Some observations about those different codes    70
1.1.2.    The numerical code of 1832    72
1.1.3.    The first Alphabetical Code (1837/1838)    73
1.1.4.    The American Morse code (about 1844)    76
1.2.    THE GERKE CODE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CODE    79
1.2.1.    The Gerke code    79
1.2.2.    The International Morse code    80
1.2.3.    More code comparison tables    81
1.2.4.    About the extended International code    83
1.3.    MORE ABOUT CODES    86
1.3.1.    A Hundred Years of SOS    86
1.3.2.    Morse code for non-Latin alphabets    88
1) Japanese    88
2) Chinese    89
3) Greek    90
4) Russian    91
5) Cyrillic    92
                                            6) Arabic                                                                                                                                              92
7) Hebrew    93
1.3.3.    SEMAPHORE > signaling Morse codewith flags    94
1.3.4.    Some brief (interesting?) facts    96
1) A bit of etymology    96
2) Morse’s second death    96
3) Morse and Colt    96
4) Morse versus SMS…    96
5) Can I send Morse code with my smartphone?    96
6) How to convert text into Morse code and vice versa?    97
7) Records    97
8) Morse over IP    97
9) Carrier pigeon versus Morse code    97
10) Morse code via snail mail.;o)    97
11) Sending Morse code by knocking    98
12) Who coined the term ‘bug’    98
13) Morse code as "Intangible Cultural Heritage"    98
14) Sending coded timing.    99
15) How to practice Morse code with a spoon?    99
16) Why is a ‘radio amateur’ called a HAM?    99
17) A help for disabled    100
18) Ditti Morse code; what’s that    100
19) A book in Morse code    100
20) Dead Head    101
21) The end of the Pony Express    102
22) Miscellaneous    102
Chapter 2: OTHER CODES    103
2.1.    INTRODUCTION    103
2.2.    THE OPTIC-MECHANIC TELEGRAPH FROM CLAUDE CHAPPE (1793)    104
2.3.    CODES FROM SOME -MORE OR LESS FAMILIAR- OLD SYSTEMS    108
2.3.1.    A note on very early electricity    108
2.3.2.    Baron Pavel Schilling von Cannstadt (1832)    109
2.3.3.    Gauss & Weber  (1832/33)    110
2.3.4.    Steinheil (1836/1837)    111
2.3.5.    Bain (1843)    112
2.3.6.    Henley (1848)    114
2.3.7.    Other, less important, codes    115
2.3.8.    Display at the receiver    118
2.4.    THE CODES FROM William Cooke(1806-1879) & Prof. Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875)    120
2.4.1.    The five needle telegraph    120
2.4.2.    The two needle telegraph    122
2.4.3.    The single needle telegraph    123
2.5.    SOME OTHER CODES IN THE WORLD OF TELEGRAPHY    125
2.5.1.    Baudot    125
2.5.2.    MURRAY    126
2.5.3.    EUROPEAN TELEX CODE and  AMERICAN TELETYPE    127
2.6.    MARITIME SIGNAL FLAGS    128
2.6.1.    Alphabet and figures    128
2.6.2.    Special meanings of individual flags    129
2.6.3.    Naval special flags and pennants    130
2.7.    DOCUMENTATION    131
2.7.1.    Telegraph Codes of the World    131
2.7.2.    The Mc ELROY poster (the details will follow)    139
2.8.    HOW DID THEY LEARN THE MORSE CODE    149
2.8.1.    Old tools    149
1)    Learner sets    149
2)    The Omnigraph    150
3)    The Instructograph    152
4)    Some other    152
2.8.2.     More tools that could help    153
1)    Learning with the aid of a record player    153
2)    Signal Disks    156
3)    Old instruction booklets    157
4)    Tools to memorize the code and ‘decoder charts’    159
5)    Learning in a classroom    160
6)    Talking about OKi….., a personal note.    162
7)    At the Scouts    164
8)    Miscellaneous illustrations    165
2.8.3.    How to learn it today    166
2.9.    ABOUT THE  EFFICIENCY OF THE MORSE CODE    168
2.9.1.    Letter frequency    168
2.9.2.    Timing of the signals in the American code    169
2.9.3.    Comparison with the International code    170
2.9.4.    On practical efficiency and… Paris    172
2.9.5.    A late confession by Samual Morse “himself”    173
2.9.6.    Some conclusions    174
2.10.    COMMENTS FROM COLLECTORS / HAMs    175


PART 3: MORSE APPARATUS                                         182
Chapter 1: ELEMENTARY WORKING PRINCIPLES    182
1.1.    THE BASIC CONNECTION (The ‘European’ way)    182
1.2.    SET UP BETWEEN TWO STATIONS    183
Chapter 2: Apparatus using the Morse code    184
2.1.    AMERICAN REGISTERS    184
2.1.1.    The earliest models    184
1)    From Samuel Morse/Alfred Vail (1837)    184
2)    A Tillotson    187
3)    A  Chester    188
4)    And this special design is from Frederick Pearce    188
2.1.2.     Later models    189
1)    One from Bunnell    189
2)    Phelps    189
3)    Bunnell    189
4)    Greeley    189
2.2.    EUROPEAN MORSE RECEIVERS  (a lot)    190
2.2.1.    From Belgium    190
2.2.2.    Embossers   1) to 6) are weight driven!    191
2.2.3.    Ink writers    199
2.2.4.    Automatic start/stop function.    207
2.2.5.    Portable and army telegraphs    208
2.2.6.    Demo and toy telegraphs    218
2.3.    SOUNDERS AND KEY ON BOARDS (KOBs)    220
2.3.1.    Sounders    220
2.3.2.    Key On Board    224
2.3.3.    UK “Baseboards”    226
2.3.4.    Repeaters    227
1)    A classic repeater    227
2)     A more complex British model    228
2.4.    EXAMPLES OF MY KEYS    229
2.4.1.    Introduction    229
2.4.2.    The beginning: Morse & Vail    230
2.4.3.    Double tappers (or pedal keys)    230
2.4.4.    ‘Camelbacks’    231
2.4.5.    Dual-lever keys (‘reverse polarity keys’)    234
2.4.6.    Two remarkable keys    236
2.4.7.    Special (G)PO keys.    237
2.4.8.    Keys from Breguet    241
2.4.9.    Keys from various countries.    242
2.4.10.    The ‘Belgian’ Victor key    251
2.4.11.    Miscellaneous keys    253
2.4.12.    Marconi (replica) keys    254
2.4.13.    Some toy keys    255
2.4.14.    Very special keys.    257
2.4.15.    Addendum: “Key & Telegraph”    260
2.5.    OTHER SYSTEMS WORKING WITH THE MORSE CODE    263
2.5.1.    Typical old British apparatus    263
1)     Single needle telegraphs    263
2)     Bright’s Bells    264
3)     The double plate sounder    264
2.5.2.    Professor Wheatstone’s high-speed automatic system    265
1)     The perforator    265
2)    The transmitter    266
3)    The receiver    266
2.5.3.    Mirror galvanometer    267
2.5.4.    Undulators / Siphon recorders    269
2.5.5.    The Aldis lamp    271
2.5.6.    Heliograph    272
2.5.7.    Transmission via the earth    273
2.5.8.    Early alarm systems    274
2.5.9.    Early wireless Morse from Guglielmo Marconi    275
1)     the 10-inch induction coil    275
2)     the replica ‘grasshopper’ Morse key’    275
3)     the ‘guillotine’ Morse keys    275
4)     the  “coherer” (an original one)    276
5)     the coherer receiver (a working replica made for me, with my original coherer)    276
6)     magnetic detector    277
7)     multiple tuner    277
8)     My coherers from Telefunken, Ducretet and Bing    278
9)     Other Marconi items    279
2.6.    TELEGRAPHS USING  COMPLETELY DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGIES    280
2.6.1.    ABC telegraphs (also called ‘dial’-telegraphs and ‘pointer’ telegraphs    280
1)    SIEMENS & HALSKE    280
2)     BREGUET    280
3)     DIGNEY      282
4)     LIPPENS    283
5)     WHEATSTONE    283
6)     BENEVOLO (not complete)    284
7)     HAGENDORF    284
2.6.2.    Printing telegraphs    285
1)     The three generations of HUGHES from my collection    285
2)     BAUDOT    287
3)     WRIGHT & NIGRON    288
4)     FERNDRUCKER AG (1898)    288
5)     “STOCK TICKERS” (stock exchange telegraph    288
6)     EXTEL    290
7)     STELJES    291
2.7.    LIST OF EARLY INVENTORS (1835-1885)    292
2.7.1.    In Europe    292
2.7.2.    In the U.S.    293
PART 4: MISCELLANEOUS    294
1.1.    BELGIAN APPARATUS IN USE    294
1.2.    SKETCHES AT THE “CENTRAL TELEGRAPH OFFICE”, GENERAL POST OFFICE, LONDON    295
1.3.    A CONSIDERATION ABOUT THE RADIO AMATEURS (HAMs)    297
1.4.    IDDY UMPTY …    298
1.5.    MORSE; YOU SAID MORSE?    300
1.6.    A GUIDED TOUR OF LOCUST GROVE, ERSTWHILE HOME TO THE MORSE FAMILY    304
1.7.    TELEGRAPHY AND WOMEN IN DAYS GONE BY    305
1.8.    SOME TALES  OF THE TELEGRAPH    305
1.9.    TED McELROY, THE CHAMPION    308
1.10.    RELAX! > Illustrations: all related to Morse and morse    309
1.10.1.    Some stamps    309
1.10.2.    Some ‘chromos’ (trading cards)    314
1.10.3.    Some letter covers    316
1.10.4.    Some old photographs with Morse telegraphs    318
1.10.5.    Phone cards    323
1.10.6.    Miscellaneous    324
1.10.7.    Questions    325
1.10.8.    Humor    326
BIBLIOGRAPHY    332
WEBOGRAPHY    339
THANK YOU    342
TABLE OF CONTENTS    343
 
     Number of illustrations:            over 600


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