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Alfred Lewis Vail (September 25, 1807 – January 18, 1859) was a machinist and inventor. Vail was central, with Samuel F. B. Morse, in developing and commercializing the telegraph between 1837 and 1844.[1] Vail and Morse were the first two telegraph operators on Morse's first experimental line between Washington, DC, and Baltimore, and Vail took charge of building and managing several early telegraph lines between 1845 and 1848. He was also responsible for several technical innovations of Morse's system, particularly the sending key and improved recording registers and relay magnets. Vail left the telegraph industry in 1848 because he believed that the managers of Morse's lines did not fully value his contributions. His last assignment, superintendent of the Washington and New Orleans Telegraph Company, paid him only $900 a year, leading Vail to write to Morse, "I have made up my mind to leave the Telegraph to take care of itself, since it cannot take care of me. I shall, in a few months, leave Washington for New Jersey, ... and bid adieu to the subject of the Telegraph for some more profitable business."[2]
[edit] Biography
Vail's parents were Bethiah Youngs (1778–1847) and Stephen Vail (1780–1864). Vail was born in Morristown, New Jersey, where his father was an entrepreneur and industrialist who built the Speedwell Ironworks into one of the most innovative iron works of its time.[3] Their son and Alfred's brother was George Vail, a noted politician of his time.
Alfred attended public schools before taking a job as a machinist at the iron works. He enrolled in New York University to study theology in 1832, where he was an active and successful student and a member of the Eucleian Society, graduating in 1836.[1] Visiting his alma mater on September 2, 1837, he happened to witness one of Samuel F. B. Morse's early telegraph experiments. He became fascinated by the technology and negotiated an arrangement with Morse to develop the technology at Speedwell at his own expense in return for 25% of the proceeds. Alfred split his share with his brother George Vail. When Morse took on Francis O. J. Smith, a congressman from Maine, as a partner, he reduced the Vails' share to one-eighth. Morse retained patent rights to everything Vail developed.
After having secured his father's financial backing, Vail refined Morse's crude prototype to make it suitable for public demonstration and commercial operation. The first successful completion of a transmission with this system was at the Speedwell Iron Works on January 6, 1838, across two miles (3 km) of wiring. The message read "A patient waiter is no loser." Over the next few months Morse and Vail demonstrated the telegraph to Philadelphia's Franklin Institute, members of Congress, and President Martin Van Buren and his cabinet. Demonstrations such as these were crucial to Morse's obtaining a Congressional appropriation of $30,000 to build his first line in 1844 from Washington to Baltimore.
Vail retired from the telegraph operations in 1848 and moved back to Morristown. He spent his last ten years conducting genealogical research. Since Vail shared a one-eighth interest in Morse's telegraph patents with his brother George, Vail realized far less financial gain from his work on the telegraph than Morse and others.
His papers and equipment were subsequently donated by his son Stephen to the Smithsonian Institution and New Jersey Historical Society.
Vail's cousin was Theodore N. Vail, who became the first president of American Telephone & Telegraph.
[edit] Controversy over Morse Code
There has been a minor controversy as to whether Vail or Morse invented the "Morse Code". The argument for Vail's invention is laid out by a number of scholars.[4] [5] [6] [7]
The argument offered by supporters of Morse claims that Morse originally devised a cipher code similar to that used in existing semaphore telegraphs, by which words were assigned three- or four-digit numbers and entered into a codebook. The sending operator converted words to these number groups and the receiving operator converted them back to words using this codebook. Morse spent several months compiling this code dictionary. It is said by Morse supporters that Vail, in public and private writings, never claimed the code for himself. According to one researcher, in a February 1838 letter to his father, Judge Stephen Vail, Alfred wrote, "Professor Morse has invented a new plan of an alphabet, and has thrown aside the Dictionaries."[8] In an 1845 book Vail wrote describing Morse's telegraph, he also attributed the code to Morse.[9]
[edit] Legacy
A US Army base has been named in his honor. Camp Vail in Eatontown, New Jersey, later renamed Fort Monmouth, part of Camp Vail was an Army housing complex. After World War II the families of servicemen and civilian Army employees negotiated with the Army to purchase the development, which was later named Alfred Vail Mutual Association, and due to the work of the Town Clerk the residents retained the rights to the original Charter of Shrewsbury Township Est. 1693. This housing development exists to this day under that name. An elementary school near the Speedwell Works, in Morristown, New Jersey, is named "Alfred Vail."
- ^ a b [1]
- ^ Morse, Edward L., ed. Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals. New York, 1914
- ^ Alfred Vail, World of Invention. Accessed June 1, 2008. "Alfred Vail was born on September 25, 1807, in Morristown, New Jersey, where his father, Stephen, operated the Speedwell Iron Works."
- ^ Pope, Franklin Leonard. "The American Inventors of the Telegraph, with Special References to the Services of Alfred Vail." Century Illustrated Magazine 35 (April 1888), 924–45. on-line copy at Cornell's Making of America
- ^ [http://www.telegraph-office.com/pages/vail.html
- ^ Morse, Edward Lind (June 21, 1904, Tuesday). "Defends His Father's Claim to Paternity of the Telegraph." (PDF). New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9502EFD6103BE631A25752C2A9609C946597D6CF. Retrieved 2007-07-21. "My attention has been called to a communication in The New York Times of June 7 headed "Vail, Father of the Telegraph," and signed Stephen Vail. While I have no desire to enter into a newspaper controversy with Mr. Vail, and while I am sure that you have no desire to encourage one, I trust in justice to my father, Samuel F.B. Morse, you will allow me a few words in reply."
- ^ Vail, Stephen (June 25, 1904, Tuesday). "VAIL-MORSE CONTROVERSY.; Stephen Vail on His Father's Claim to Telegraph Invention." (PDF). New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9801E7DD113DE633A25753C3A9609C946597D6CF. Retrieved 2009-12-22. "Alfred Vail ... invented the new "recording receiver," "the sounding key," and the "dot-and-dash" alphabet...but doing his duty in strict accordance with his understanding of the terms of his contract, and that to Morse belonged all the he had accomplished."
- ^ Silverman, Kenneth. Lightning Man: The Accursed Life of Samuel F.B. Morse. New York, 2003, p. 167
- ^ Alfred Vail, The American Electro Magnetic Telegraph: With the Reports of Congress, and a Description of all Telegraphs Known, Employing Electricity or Galvanism, Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, 1845. Reprinted by New York: Arno Press, 1974
[edit] External links
| Persondata |
| Name |
Vail, Alfred |
| Alternative names |
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| Short description |
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| Date of birth |
September 25, 1807 |
| Place of birth |
Morristown, New Jersey |
| Date of death |
January 18, 1859 |
| Place of death |
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 CW VAIL KEY by Alfred Vail 1807 - 1859 |  Man Behind Morse Code Beginning in 1836, Samuel FB Morse and Alfred Vail developed an electric telegraph, which sent pulses of electrical current to control an electromagnet that was located at the receiving end of the telegraph wire. The technology available at the time made it impossible to print characters in a readable form, so the inventors had to devise an alternate means of communication. Beginning in 1837, William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone operated electric telegraphs in England, which also controlled electromagnets in the receivers; however, their systems used needle pointers that rotated to indicate the alphabetic characters being sent. In contrast, Morse and Vail's initial telegraph, which first went into operation in 1844, made indentations on a paper tape when an electrical current was transmitted. Morse's original telegraph receiver used a mechanical clockwork to move a paper tape. When an electrical current was received, an electromagnet engaged an armature that pushed a stylus onto the moving paper tape, making an indentation on the tape. When the current was interrupted, the electromagnet retracted the stylus, and that portion of the moving tape remained unmarked. The Morse code was developed so that operators could translate the indentations marked on the paper tape into text messages. In his earliest code, Morse had planned to only transmit numerals, and use a dictionary to look up each word according to the number which had been sent. However, the code was soon expanded ... |  Morse Code Radio Operator Training "Technique of Hand Sending" 1944 US Navy 10min more at showbiz.quickfound.net See also: an even better Morse Code hand sending training film, produced by the US Army in 1966: www.youtube.com "IMPORTANT PARTS OF THE TRANSMITTER, TENSION SPRING, ADJUSTING CONTACTS, AND ADJUSTING SPRINGS. ELEMENTS OF MORSE CODE, TIMING, AND PARTS OF BODY THAT FUNCTION WHEN TRANSMITTING CODE. IMPORTANCE OF CORRECT POSITION AND OPERATION." US Navy training film MN-2621B en.wikipedia.org ...Beginning in 1836, the American artist Samuel FB Morse, the American physicist Joseph Henry, and Alfred Vail developed an electrical telegraph system. This system sent pulses of electric current along wires which controlled an electromagnet that was located at the receiving end of the telegraph system. In 1837, William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone in England began using an electrical telegraph that also used electromagnets in its receivers. However, in contrast with any system of making sounds of clicks, their system used pointing needles that rotated above alphabetical charts to indicate the letters that were being sent. In 1841, Cooke and Wheatstone built a telegraph that printed the letters from a wheel of typefaces struck by a hammer. This machine was based on their 1840 telegraph and worked well; however, they failed to find customers for this system and only two examples were ever built. On the other hand, the three Americans' system for telegraphy, which was first used in about 1844, was designed to make indentations on a paper tape when electric ... |  Samuel Morse painting of George W King in 1838 Last known portrait by Morse Samuel FB Morse painted this portrait of George W King at Speedwell Iron Works in 1838. Morse and Alfred Vail both worked on perfecting the Morse Code and the Telegraph and in January 1838, the telegraph was successful. George King was a friend of Alfred Vail. He was a jeweler and watchmaker. He is holding a letter with his initials on top: GWK and visible below the letters are dashes. Sorry about the video quality. We wanted to share this painting with everyone. Speedwell Lake and Fort Nonsense are in the background. |  RARE ANTIQUE GERMAN BIRDCAGE DOLLHOUSE FOUND IN MORRISTOWN In early september we got wind of an estate sale in Morristown, having grown up in NJ... all those days I spent fishing at Speedwell lake across from the little red building where alfred vail and samuel morse invented the telegraph, I knew the town was rich in history, but I had no idea just a few blocks away lived the decorator for Princess Margaret, and that she had in her home an antique purchased in Cirencester England in the 1950's. Under the impression I was going to find an antique dollhouse, I went room to room in search of it, and I admit when told by the estate rep that it was a birdcage which was used for a dollhouse I passed that fact right out my other ear when I saw it. Being amazed is saying nothing, the attention to detail, the constuction and placement of the beams... signalled a mst have. Once the item was here in our workshop, we submitted it to value my stuff, kinda like the antique roadshow, where proffesionals with years of experience in a certain field value your item. It was then confirmed that this Rare find is an original antique german decorative birdcage. which had been used solely as a dollhouse by this wonderful decorator of british royalty, using her creative skills to transform this wonderfully stunning item into an exquisite house for royal dolls. |  What Hath God Wrought? Morse's first telegram marked the beginning of the telecommunications revolution. When decoded, this paper tape recording of the historic message transmitted by Samuel FB Morse reads, "What hath God wrought?" Morse sent it from the Supreme Court room in the US Capitol in Washington to his assistant, Alfred Vail, in Baltimore. Morse's early system produced a paper copy with raised dots and dashes, which were translated later by an operator. Across the top of this artifact Morse has given credit to Annie Ellsworth, the young daughter of a good friend, for suggesting the message he sent. She found it in the Bible, Numbers 23:23. |  Morris Crossing Apartments For Rent - Morristown, NJ Morristown Apartments for rent - Morris Crossing Apartments in Morristown, NJ | Visit www.apartmenthomeliving.com for Morris Crossing. Check availability today! Our recently redesigned residences are set in a tranquil, forested location making it easy to forget that you are minutes away from boutiques, restaurants, cafes and countless recreational and cultural opportunities. Community Amenities - Convenient access to Manhattan Minutes from Historic Morristown and Train Station Easy access to the NJ Turnpike, I-287, I-78 and Route 24 Complimentary water, tea and coffee service Complimentary fax service Complimentary package acceptance service Close to Morristown High School and Alfred Vail School Apartment Amenities- Recently renovated luxury baths with designer tile Cozy wood-burning fireplace in select apartments Garages Available Washer and dryer in most apartments Central air conditioning and heating Redesigned gourmet kitchen with built-in microwave, dishwasher, Onyx appliances, frost-free refrigerator, designer cherry-wood cabinetry, granite style countertops Custom hardwood flooring in select apartments Wood blinds. |  US Army Training Film TF11-3697 - Morse Code US Army training film TF11-3697 - Morse Code as taught by the Signal Corps, US Army. This is a film released by the Department of Defense, Department of the Army's Office of the Chief Signal Officer (09/18/1947 - 02/28/1964). It is titled, "Principles and Basic Technique for Good, Rhythmic Sending of Morse Code by Operating the Hand Key". This demonstrates the use of a "STRAIGHT KEY" as taught by the military Morse code is a method of transmitting text information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment. The International Morse Code[2] encodes the ISO basic Latin alphabet, some extra Latin letters, the Arabic numerals and a small set of punctuation and procedural signals as standardized sequences of short and long signals called "dots" and "dashes" respectively,[1] or "dits" and "dahs". Because many non-English natural languages use more than the 26 Roman letters, extensions to the Morse alphabet exist for those languages. Each character (letter or numeral) is represented by a unique sequence of dots and dashes. The duration of a dash is three times the duration of a dot. Each dot or dash is followed by a short silence, equal to the dot duration. The letters of a word are separated by a space equal to three dots (one dash), and two words are separated by a space equal to seven dots. The dot duration is the basic unit of time measurement in code transmission.[1] Morse code ... |  International Morse Code: Hand Sending pt1-2 1966 US Army Training Film more at scitech.quickfound.net "PRINCIPLES AND BASIC TECHNIQUE FOR GOOD, RHYTHMIC SENDING 0F MORSE CODE BY OPERATING THE HAND KEY." US Army training film TF11-3697 Public domain film from the National Archives, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and mild video noise reduction applied. The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original). Split with MKVmerge GUI (part of MKVToolNix), the same software can recombine the downloaded parts (in mp4 format): www.bunkus.org part 2: www.youtube.com en.wikipedia.org Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment. The International Morse Code encodes the ISO basic Latin alphabet, some extra Latin letters, the Arabic numerals and a small set of punctuation and procedural signals as standardized sequences of short and long signals called "dots" and "dashes" respectively, or "dis" and "dahs". Because many non-English natural languages use more than the 26 Roman letters, extensions to the Morse alphabet exist for those languages. Each character (letter or numeral) is represented by a unique sequence of dots and dashes. The duration of a dash is three times the duration of a dot. Each dot or dash is followed by a ... |  Wees - REP YOUR HOOD CYPHER ! ( Rap Hip Hop Contest ) Hosted by Vudu Kat hey guys this my entry for rep your hoood cypher (quick history) alfred vail inveted the telegraph in morrtistown new jersey, george washington led his troops here during the revolution, seeing eye dogs were started here. whos is the mudd lady? the mudd lady is a bum now that walks the streets of morritown but legend has it that she was a millionair before but got cheated by her husband and then she went crazy. lyrics: this is my entry to rep my city 973 or moto w last is n destined to put town back on the map like fate and up date we stay historical telegraph inveted here and no fear 973zy the best rappers out the ass mounting to high success climbing high like skyscrappers only public school with soccer players wearing 400 dollar vapors football champs like greenbay packers twins on lineman and monster linebackers so much money we got millionairs gone crazy just ask our beloved mud lady always got my town in my head like a fitted and for town ill spitted shout outs to vudu kats contest and whoever else in it tour of morristown! www.youtube.com |
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WebWire (press release)
Thu, 03 May 2012 07:15:14 -0700
Did you know that without Alfred Vail, a Morristown native, Samuel Morse would likely have failed in his attempts at perfecting the telegraph? Did you know that it was Alfred Vail who invented most of the telegraph's recognizable components?
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Patch.com
Mon, 07 May 2012 06:50:09 -0700
There are buildings with artifacts from the era, as well as a permanent exhibition on inventor Alfred Vail. The site was the location of the first use of a telegraph. Hopatcong State Park: Located on Lake Hopatcong's southwestern side, Hopatcong State ...
|  Thot (Abonnement) |
Thot (Abonnement)
Mon, 07 May 2012 04:42:22 -0700
Ce code, créé au début du XIXe siècle par Samuel Morse et son assistant Alfred Vail n'est plus très populaire; peu d'entre nous savent le déchiffrer. Mais il est possible de composer ou de décoder des messages en morse grâce au site Alyon qui nous ...
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