How to send a telegram in usa
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You can order a telegram online and it will be delivered to the recipient on paper. Enter the street address of the recipient and your message, and pay by credit or debit card. The telegram will be delivered by a courier to the door of the recipient, in a sealed envelope.
MOST FREQUENTLY USED FORCONTRACT CANCELLATION (41%)
Top destinations are Vivint, Wyndham Resorts, Empire Today, Kirby, Armando Montelongo, Erie Construction, Blue World Pools, Sears, Monterey Bay Matchmakers, Power Home, Solarcity, Hansons Windows, Whitney Education Group, Elite Legacy Education, AT&T, Castle the Window People, Easy Rest, 24 Hour Fitness.TELEGRAMS TO APO/FPO (25%)
Please check DoD Directive 4525.6. Always use the country “USA” even if you know the geographical location of the APO/FPO.SYMPATHY AND BEREAVEMENT (23%)
The best option is to send your sympathy message to the funeral home. They will know how and when to present the telegram. If you only have the church address, please add the funeral date to the address field. Or, just send it to the family’s home address, especially if you are running late.WEDDINGS AND CELEBRATIONS (7%)
Using the business address of the celebration venue (hotel, restaurant, chapel, etc.) is recommended. Make sure you include the last name of the recipient couple or individual. You can add a requested delivery date below the address (“DELIVER ON [date]”).POPULAR DESTINATIONSDOMESTIC: USA
Delivery to business addresses is same-day, to residential addresses, next-day. Telegrams are delivered by a courier in a sealed envelope.
You can track the telegram online. Free copy with submission time stamp is included.
OVERSEAS
For example, delivery to UK, Italy, Japan, or the former Yugoslavia is same-day in cities, next-day in rural areas. Delivery is by a courier of a state-designated service (local telecom/post).
SHIPS AT SEA
Cruise ships are especially popular ship destinations. Telegrams are transmitted over satellite link within six hours. They are then delivered to the recipient by the crew. Please include the cabin number, if available. If the recipient is part of a group, please add “c/o [name of the principal booker]”.
GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES
With the White House being the top address, many telegrams are delivered to state and federal representatives. For the latter, you can use either a Washington or local address. A telegram stands out, so there is a better chance the recipient will pay attention to your message than if you send an email or letter.
About us
SendTelegram.com provides the international telegram service formerly provided by the FTCC, which was founded in 1895 with the objective of laying a transatlantic telegraph cable. As part of its legacy, SendTelegram.com is now using the FTCC’s historic telegraphic country prefix. SendTelegram.com is regulated by the FCC as an enhanced service provider under Title I (FCC Registration Number (FRN): 0025305764).
Initially, while Western Union was handling domestic delivery, the FTCC was responsible for international, financial, and government traffic. Since the Internet Division was opened in 1995, a telegram can be sent through this website to any destination—domestic, international, or on the high seas.
What is the cost of sending a telegram?
The cost depends on the length and destination, and starts at around $30 for a short telegram.
You can click on “Price and Send Now” and test the pricing interactively—change the text as many times as you like before proceeding to payment.
How fast are telegrams delivered?
The delivery speed depends on the destination. Please consult “Resources.. Delivery information by country” for details. Some examples: USA business address: same day; USA residential address: same or next day; Japan: same day, remote islands next day; Italy: same or next day. The cut-off time for same-day delivery is noon at the destination.
I did not complete the telegram order—I stopped before paying. How do I cancel my telegram?
Unfinished (not paid-for) telegram submissions are canceled by the system automatically after five days. If you still wish to proceed, please follow the payment link in the e-mail receipt. The original submission date will stand.
The receiving company claims they did not receive the telegram—what can I do?
Please contact us and a delivery specialist will take care of the problem.
It is not unusual for companies to refuse acknowledgment of receipt, especially of cancellation telegrams. However, for 20 years, we have had a 100% cancellation success rate.
I would like the telegram to be delivered on a specific date (for a ceremony, funeral, celebration, etc.). Can I do that?
Yes. Please add “DELIVER ON [date]” beneath the address.
Will I receive confirmation of the delivery?
Email confirmations are not sent, but you can check delivery information through the tracking system.
Is it possible to send a telegram to a ship at sea, such as a cruise ship?
Yes. Delivery is performed over satellite link within six hours. Please include the cabin number, if available.
I did not receive an email receipt. What should I do?
Please check the separate payment receipt for the tracking number. Enter the tracking number on our website to see the delivery status.
I would like to make a change in the telegram I sent.
How can I do that?Please use the contact form below to send your changes.
I need to send a cancellation form (a document)—would you be able to deliver it?
There is no need to use the pre-printed cancellation form. Just send a telegram, stating that you would like to cancel your contract. Include the organization’s reference information, such as your contract number.
How do I send a telegram to an APO/FPO military address?
Instead of using a street address, enter the APO/FPO address. Always use the country “USA” even if you know the geographical location of the APO/FPO. Please check the DoD Directive 4525.6 on this website for addressing standards and further details. Please note that internal distribution may be subject to current security regulations.
How do you safeguard privacy?
We take the privacy of our customers very seriously. We comply with global security and privacy standards, including PCI-DSS, HIPAA, EU Privacy Directive and more.
Please see our Privacy Policy page for details.
Are you affiliated with Western Union?
No. Until the late 1980s, Western Union was handling domestic delivery of telegrams, and the FTCC was responsible for international, financial and government traffic. After closure of retail operations by Western Union, we effectively replaced them in the domestic market. Our mode of operation and regulation by the FCC are identical to Western Union’s.
MISCELLANEOUSSend A Telegram - SendTelegram.com
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To (recipient's name and address):
For example:
John Doe
Star Inc.
190 5th Ave., Suite 600
New York, NY, 12345
This is a residential address
-- destination country -- USAShip at seaAlbaniaAlgeriaAndorraAngolaAnguillaAntiguaAntillesArgentinaArmeniaArubaAscencionAustraliaAustriaAzerbeidzjanAzoresBahamasBahrainBangladeshBarbadosBelarusBelgiumBelizeBeninBermudaBoliviaBosniaBosnia-HerzegoviniaBotswanaBrazilBruneiBulgariaBurkina FasoCambodjaCameroonCanadaCape VerdeCayman IslandsCentral African Rep.ChileChinaChristmas IslandsCocos IslandsColombiaComorosCook IslandsCosta RicaCroatiaCubaCuracaoCyprusCzech RepublicDenmarkDjiboutiDominicaDominican rep.Easter Island (Chile)EcuadorEgyptEl SalvadorEquatorial GuineeEstoniaEthiopiaFalkland IslandsFaroe IslandsFiji IslandsFinlandFranceFrench GuianaFrench PolynesiaGabonGalapagos IslandsGeorgiaGermanyGhanaGreeceGrenadaGuadeloupeGuamGuineeGuyanaHawaiHondurasHong KongHungaryIcelandIndiaIndonesiaIranIrish RepublicIsraelItalyIvory CoastJamaicaJapanJordanKazakhstanKenyaKiribatiKorea, SouthKuwaitKyrgyz rep.
LaosLatviaLebanonLesothoLibyaLiechtensteinLithuaniaLuxembourgMacaoMacedoniaMadeiraMalagasy (Madagascar)MalawiMalaysiaMaldivesMaliMaltaMartiniqueMauritaniaMauritiusMayotteMexicoMoldaviaMonacoMongoliaMontenegroMontserratMoroccoMozambiqueMyanmarNamibiaNauruNepalNetherlandsNew CaledoniaNew ZealandNigerNigeriaNiue IslandNorfolk IslandsNorwayOmanPakistanPalestinian TerritoryPanamaPapua New GuineaParaguayPeruPhilippinesPolandPortugalPuerto RicoQatarReunionRodriguesRomaniaRussiaSan MarinoSaoudi ArabiaSenegalSerbiaSeychellesSierra LeoneSingaporeSlovakiaSloveniaSouth AfricaSouth AntarcticaSpainSpanish Northrn AfricaSri LankaSt. CroixSt. HelenaSt. Kitts and NevisSt. LuciaSt. Pierre & MiquelonSt. ThomasSt. Tome and PrincipeSt. VincentSudanSurinamSvalbard and Jan MayenSwazilandSwedenSwitzerlandSyrian Arab RepublicTaiwanTajikistanTanzaniaThailandTogoTrinidad and TobagoTristan da CunhaTunesiaTurkeyTurkmenistanTurks and Caicos Isl.TuvaluUgandaUkraineUnited Arab EmiratesUnited KingdomUruguayUSAUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuelaVietnamVirgin IslandsWallis en FutunaYemenYugoslaviaZambiaZimbabwe-Not listed, enter above-
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Telegraph to close in Belgium by the end of the year
- Kevin Connolly
- BBC Brussels
Image copyright, Getty Images
Image caption,"Telegram for you"
171 years ago, the first electronic message was sent over the telegraph line connecting Brussels and Antwerp.
On December 29, the last telegram will be sent here.
In the era of Instagram and Snapchat, it may seem strange that Belgium is still using this technology from the 19th century.
In Britain, where the telegraph was invented in the 1830s, it was abandoned as early as 1982.
The US followed the British lead much later, ending telegraph service in 2006. And even India, the world's largest telegraph user, abandoned it in 2013.
- The last telegrams in the history of the country were sent to India
- India closes telegraph agency due to losses
- "Beware, people!": the last telegram in the world
Photo credit, Getty Images
Image caption,WWII British telegram: "Let there be many happy memories and sunny days. Post Office Girls"
The Belgian Telegraph has recently been used by only 10 companies and a few individuals.
They were mainly bailiffs who needed a system in which the fact of sending and receiving messages could be legally recorded.
In order to send a telegram, you had to call a special number and dictate your message, which was then sent by mail.
But given that a standard 20-word telegram costs 23 euros 75 cents in Belgium (plus 90 cents for delivery in Brussels and suburbs), it is not surprising that in the era of unlimited text messages, telegrams had a hard time competing with modern technology.
Image copyright Viktor Budan/Valentin Mastyukov/TASS
Image caption,Messages sent using the telegraph had to be deciphered
Brevity is key
Before the invention of the telephone, the telegraph was the only means of transmitting information over long distances in real time.
Telegraph operators mainly used Morse code. At the other end, it was translated into ordinary language, first by operators, and later by special machines.
The text was then printed out and delivered to the addressee. Thousands of telegram deliverers worked at post offices around the world.
Image copyright, Empics
Image caption,19th-century telegraph
Since the sender had to pay for each letter, a particular style of writing developed, somewhat reminiscent of modern text messages.
For example, the use of the word "stop" was necessary in order for the recipient to understand where the end of the sentence was. And since telegrams were expensive, people began to come up with as short phrases and abbreviations as possible.
Famous Telegrams
- British writer Evelyn Waugh worked as a correspondent for the Daily Mail in the 1930s and reported on the war in Abyssinia. Once, while composing a telegram, he demonstrated the ability to handle the word, inherent in this English master of the pen.
Evelyn Waugh decided to put an end to the unsubstantiated stories that an American nurse was allegedly blown up by a mine during the hostilities in Adova. He did this with two words, one of which he invented himself. "Nurse Unupblown", - said the writer, which can be translated as "Nurse Unblown". - Brevity is the sister of talent, the absence of which could not be blamed on Oscar Wilde. One day a famous writer sent a very short telegram to his publisher asking how his book was selling. The entire telegram consisted of a single question mark: "?" The publisher answered just as briefly: "!".
- In the 19th century, British General Charles Napier was ordered to defeat the rebels operating in the then Indian province of Sindh (now Pakistan). However, the general greatly exceeded his powers, completely capturing the province. After which, as they said, he sent a one-word telegram to the commander: "Peccavi". It means "I have sinned" in Latin.
In English, the phrase "I have sinned" (I have sinned) sounds exactly the same as "I captured Sindh." Later it turned out that the author of this pun was an English schoolgirl who sent it to the satirical magazine Punch. Nevertheless, he is still often attributed to General Napier.
Evelyn Waugh worked as a correspondent for the Daily Mail newspaper in the 1930s and reported on the war in Abyssinia
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The End of History Podcast
With the advent of telephone communications, the telegraph became an increasingly archaic, expensive, and inconvenient system.
But the telegraph and telegrams existed in our lives for a long time, primarily thanks to cinematography.
Not so long ago, in Hollywood films, there was almost an obligatory scene when the bride or groom at the wedding read aloud the telegrams of the guests who could not come to the celebration.
More recently, a Briton or a British woman received a congratulatory telegram from the Royal Palace on her 100th birthday.
And, of course, the British know from war films that during the years of the two world wars, telegrams brought terrible news: after all, this was the way in Britain that the death of a soldier was reported to his relatives.
Yes, the world will not turn upside down after Belgium gets rid of its telegraph.
But just 100 years ago, it was amazing and seemed like the most advanced technology that completely changed the lives of the people of that time.
The birth, flourishing and death of the telegraph / Sudo Null IT News
A few decades ago, the telegram was a real event.
The postman rang the doorbell, announced the message, handed over the envelope. But only the head of the family could read the telegram. They looked for glasses for him for several minutes while he stood with this telegram, then he first silently, and then read the message aloud. By telegram they informed about death, about birth, congratulated on holidays. Today it is easier to do this - you can send a text message or a message on social networks. It’s just that paper media was sometimes kept longer than our phones now live.
Let's remember how it all began and how the telegraph became one of the best and fastest means of communication.
Telegram to the parents of cosmonaut German Titov. GS Titov Museum
Europe
Swiss physicist Georges Louis Lessage in 1774 assembled one of the first operating models of an electric telegraph. Information was transmitted between two rooms of his house, and each of the 26 letters of the alphabet corresponded to a separate wire.
Another inventor, Lomon, used a single wire to transmit information. This is an excerpt from an article published in Dublin in 1793: "Paris, October 16, 1787. In the evening I was with Monsieur Lomont, a very witty and inventive mechanic who improved the cotton spinning machine ... In electricity, he made a wonderful discovery. You write two or three words on paper, he takes the sheet into the room and turns on the machine Locked in a cylindrical case, on top of which is an electrometer - a small cork ball, a wire is connected to a cylinder and an electrometer in another room, and Lomon's wife, noticing the corresponding movements of the ball, writes down the words. It follows that the inventor formed an alphabet of movements. Since the length of the wire does not affect the effect, correspondence can be carried out at any distance within the city or outside its walls, or for purposes more worthy. However this machine is used, it is a wonderful invention. "
Telegraph of Jean Louis Lessage
On February 22, 1804, Francisco Salvá presented an electric telegraph based on the Volta battery at the Academy of Sciences in Barcelona.
The system consisted of six small containers of water. Two wires are lowered into the liquid, and depending on the change in their polarity, each tank shows two signals due to the release of hydrogen.
More detailed information, including the alphabet for decoding signals, has not reached us.
Telegraph Francisco Salva
Five years later, a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Sömmerring, at the behest of King Maximillian, invents the telegraph, again using electrolysis and a voltaic column. An aquarium was placed on the receiving side, in which hydrogen bubbles were emitted from the electrode corresponding to the desired letter. Half as many oxygen bubbles formed from the second letter - that is, two symbols went along the wires at the same time.
Sömmering telegraph
In 1820, the Danish physicist Hans Christian Oersted sent out a pamphlet "Experiments concerning the action of electric conflict on a magnetic needle" to accessible scientific institutions and journals.
At lectures at the university, he demonstrated the heating of a wire by electricity from a voltaic column. During the experiment, a marine compass lay on the table, over the top of which a wire passed. When the scientist closed the electrical circuit, the compass needle deviated. According to legend, one of those present in the audience noticed this. Another legend says that the scientist himself noticed this deviation. Oersted, in the course of his experiments, found that when the distance from the wire to the arrow is less than 3/4 inch, the deviation is 45 °, and as the distance increases, the angle decreases proportionally. The amount of deviation varies depending on the power of the device. Oersted tested the effect on a wire made of different materials, tried to shield the arrow with wood, glass, resin, and placed it in water.
In an 1820 pamphlet, he writes: “The main conclusion from these experiments is that the magnetic needle deviates from its equilibrium position under the action of the voltaic apparatus and that this effect occurs when the circuit is closed, and it does not appear when the circuit is open.
Precisely because the circuit remained open, attempts of the same kind, made a few years ago by famous physicists, were not crowned with success.
The discovery of Hans Christian Oersted served as the basis for electromagnetic telegraphs.
Deflection of a magnetic needle under the influence of electric current
Russia
In 1832, Paul Schilling, a Russian diplomat and historian, a participant in the Patriotic War, assembled an electromagnetic telegraph in St. Petersburg. Telegraph technology was based on the effect of deflection of a magnetic needle when interacting with an electromagnetic field from electrical wires. The background of this invention is extremely interesting: Schilling five years earlier blew up underwater mines by means of an electric current flowing through rubber-insulated wires.
Three or four keys were pressed simultaneously to transmit one letter. On the receiving apparatus, the conductors were connected to an electromagnet with a magnetic needle hanging above it, which turned when current flowed through the wire.
Along with the arrow turned a signal circle, black on one side and white on the other. Schilling developed a special code so that six arrows with signal circles would be enough to transmit all the letters of the Russian alphabet. In a minute, ten characters could be transmitted over eight wires.
Schilling's six-point multiplier telegraph machine
In 1841, the first regular telegraph line was opened connecting the Winter Palace with the General Staff. This happened after the death of the inventor in 1837. But Schilling's work was continued by Boris Semyonovich Jacobi, who by 1839 created several telegraph systems, including a writing one.
In Boris Jacobi's writing telegraph, an electromagnet set in motion a pencil that leaves notes on a moving porcelain board. The device worked on the line Winter Palace - General Staff - Tsarskoye Selo. The records were difficult to decipher, which the inventor was not happy about.
Jacobi by 1845 made a synchronous pointer with a horizontal dial, electromagnetic drive and keyboard, and by 1850 - the world's first direct-printing telegraph.
Only his work was considered a military secret by the government, which is why few people knew about the project.
BS Yakobi's pointer telegraph apparatus with a vertical dial
In 1844 Jacobi was invited to build a telegraph line along the railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg. The inventor proposed to include an auxiliary battery in the line, which will allow transmission in case of damage to the insulation of the underground cable. A similar device was then used when laying a cable along the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.
Unfortunately, Jacobi did not complete the line, the order for the construction of a network of telegraph lines was eventually received by the German company "Siemens & Halske"
station in the station building of the St. Petersburg-Moscow railway. On October 1 of this year, the Central Telegraph company begins its history. In 1869 the station moved to Myasnitskaya Street.
By the end of 1855, the telegraph covered the cities of Central Russia and began to connect the country with Europe.
In 1880, several types of telegraph apparatuses and teletypes were used in Russia.
Central Telegraph on Myasnitskaya Street, circa 1900
USA
American inventor Samuel Morse patented his version of the telegraph in 1840. The key or "hammer" closed and opened the electrical circuit, the automatic receiver recorded the signals. Current pulses of a certain duration caused an electromagnetic pen to oscillate, reproducing "dots" and "dashes" on a paper tape. The pen either squeezed out the signals or applied them with ink.
Telegraph key, aka "hammer"
In 1843, Congress passed a bill and granted the inventor a subsidy for the construction of a line between Washington and Baltimore, 65 kilometers long.
The first attempt to lay a cable underground using Ezra Cornell's invention - a special trench plow - was unsuccessful. But in 1844 the line was opened, the wires went along the telegraph poles. So you could save on insulation.
Amos Kendall, a former postmaster general in two cabinets of presidents, immediately realized how useful the telegraph was, with its high speed of information transmission, and attracted investors to the project. Morse began licensing his invention, and by 1851 fifty independent telegraph companies had opened in the United States.
Illustration from Ezra Cornell's cable plow patent. Source
In 1846 Royal Earl House patented a printing telegraph capable of transmitting forty words per minute. The patent for this type of telegraph was owned by Judge Samuel Selden, with whom Hyrum Sibley, Sheriff of Monroe County, New York, founded the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company (NYMVPTC). Seven years later, the name changed to "Western Union" - "Western Union".
Instead of laying new telegraph lines, entrepreneurs began to buy up existing ones and combine them into one system. In three years, the number of Western Union offices increased to 4,000, and capital - from 220 thousand dollars to 48 million.
Sending a telegram across the US in 1854 cost $20 per message. Because of this, there were not so many applicants, and businessmen willingly sold their companies to Hiram Sibley. In 1854 Western Union bought a patent for the Morse telegraph.
Printing telegraph 1900, manufactured by Siemens & Halske, St. Petersburg
In 1861, Western Union connected the West and East coasts of the United States with a single transcontinental line in 112 days. Before this line appeared, messages traveled such a distance for ten days - they were carried by the most courageous and desperate young people on horseback. And not all letters reached because of the constant attacks of bandits.
Laying a transcontinental telegraph line. A Pony Express service employee greets construction workers.
Underwater telegraph lines in Europe
By the middle of the 19th century, telegraph networks connected most of the major cities of Europe and the United States - by land.
But sending a telegram across the ocean was difficult. Letters continued to travel by steamboat, delivered in twenty days at best. In a world where international relations were becoming more and more intense, the creation of communications between the Old and New Worlds was a matter of time. The idea of laying a telegraph wire along the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean was proposed by Samuel Morse, then it was supported by the English physicist Charles Whitson. But it was rejected as unfeasible. Gutta-percha, discovered in India, came to the aid of entrepreneurs and scientists, which Werner von Siemens proposed to use for isolation.
One of the first submarine lines was laid by English engineer John Brett between France and England. The warship "Vigdeon" showed the ship "Goliath" with a cable on board the path, marking it with buoys with flags. The cable was immersed in water, every 15 minutes a load of 10 kilograms of lead was suspended from it. The first telegram went along the line, but immediately after it the connection stopped working.
A French fisherman accidentally pulled out a piece of cable with a net.
The first cable consisted of two copper wires two millimeters thick covered with a gutta-percha sheath. For the second attempt, four wires were used, each of which was protected with a gutta-percha sheath six millimeters thick. All the wires, together with five round tarred and lard-soaked hemp cords, were twisted into one cable, entwined with a common tarred hemp cord. Another hemp layer was applied on top, and after that the cable was wrapped around with ten galvanized iron wires with a diameter of seven millimeters. The first cable weighed 14 tons, and the second, improved, already 166 tons. Now an accident in the form of a seine thrown into the sea could not interfere with communication between countries.
In November 1852 a direct telegraph service was established between London and Paris, and later connected England with Ireland, Germany, Holland and Belgium. Sweden was connected with Norway, Italy with Sardinia and Corsica.
In 1854-1855, a cable was laid across the Mediterranean and Black Seas.
Transatlantic cable
Entrepreneur Cyrus West Field, using the experience of companies laying submarine cables, raised sufficient investments for the project of laying a cable under the Atlantic Ocean. In 1856, the ships Agamemnon and Niagara departed from the coast of Ireland, each carrying a coil of cable weighing one and a half thousand tons. The cable was made of a seven-wire copper rope with a gutta-percha sheath, the cores of which were covered with tarred hemp, and on the outside the cable was twisted with 18 more cords of 7 iron wires each. The length of the cable was four thousand kilometers.
Transatlantic link route: Ireland - Newfoundland
A few days later, the cable broke and the project had to be shelved. A few months later, a second attempt took place - again a failure. The third attempt took place in 1858, they managed to lay the cable from Ireland to Newfoundland.
On August 16 of that year, Queen Victoria of Great Britain congratulated US President James Buchanan on the successful project, but a few months later the connection was broken.
Cyrus Field did not give up even then. Eight years later, in 1864, he began laying cable with improved insulation using the British steamer Great Eastern, with a displacement of 32,000 tons. The cable broke during installation. In 1866, the same ship made a second attempt - and then it was finally possible to provide a connection between Europe and America. And the previously torn cable was found and fastened with the second fragment, so that it began to function.
Cable break scene on the Great Eastern. The Illustrated London News. Band 47. 1865. Source
Samples of cables that formed the transatlantic communication line
From the US to Europe via Alaska
The American Western Union decided to take a different path - through Alaska. In 1867, Russia sold Alaska to the United States for $7.
2 million, and Western Union received from the authorities the right to lay lines along military and postal routes, including railroad lines.
The project of laying a cable across Alaska was called the "Russian-American Telegraph". He envisioned a line from San Francisco, California to Moscow through Oregon, Washington Territory, Columbia, Alaska, the Bering Strait, and Siberia, connecting the US and Europe.
Although the project failed, it gave impetus to the development of all the territories through which it passed.
Telegraph line in Alaska
Main telegraph lines in 1891
In 1870 a cable was laid to India to link London and Bombay via Egypt and Malta. The map below shows the main telegraph lines in 1891.
Public domain
Remittances
The ability to instantly send messages over long distances opened the way for new types of business. Money by mail in Russia, according to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, has been sent since 1781.
In the 19th century, a modernized service appeared - postal orders. It was not the bills themselves that were sent by mail, but special coupons that the recipient brought to the post office in order to pick up cash. And it was forbidden to put banknotes in envelopes.
An extensive telegraph network in the United States allowed Western Union to begin providing telegraphic money orders in 1871. The service turned out to be so popular that in five years the company held 37 190 transfers of $2.6 million with an average transfer of $70. That's over $56 million in 2016 prices. This service is now the main business for the company. In 2015, Western Union made 262 million customer-to-customer money transfers, totaling $82 billion.
In the Soviet Union, money transfers were one of the important public telegraph services.
Wire transfer form, USSR
Stock market quotes
In the middle of the 19th century, the stock market began to emerge in the United States.
Securities were traded on the stock exchanges themselves. It would be much more convenient to find out the current quotes while sitting in a brokerage office and make purchases and sales directly from it. This opportunity was opened by the telegraph, bringing paper trading closer to real time.
Royal Earl House in 1846 patented a printing telegraph that produced text as output. It was the great-great-great-grandfather of modern printers. The first model was fragile, often the synchronization between the sender and receiver was broken. Several current pulses were needed to print one letter, and the system did not work at long distances. The model, improved by David Hughes, worked with the help of watch mechanisms - this was how the synchronization of the devices was achieved. This model was used in Russia from 1865 until the beginning of the Great Patriotic War.
Ready-to-print telegraph messages, without the need for lengthy deciphering of dots and dashes, made it possible to create ticker machines for transmitting stock quotes.
In 1869, Thomas Edison introduced such a machine, capable of printing one character per second.
Thomas Edison ticker machine
Time
Now our smartphones and computers synchronize time by radio. In the 1930s in the US, you could rent a watch that synchronized with a Western Union master clock so you always knew exactly what time it was. In 1877, a time ball was installed on the roof of the company's headquarters in New York, by which the inhabitants of the city could compare their watches. Five minutes before noon, the ball was raised to the very top of the spire, to a height of 96 meters above the street. The ten-story building of the company at that time was the tallest in New York and the United States. Two minutes before noon, a signal was sent by telegraph to the US Naval Observatory in Washington about the status of the positive readiness of the balloon for descent.
At noon, an operator from the observatory activated the trigger and the ball fell seven meters down.
After the balloon descent, a signal was sent to the observatory. Thanks to this service, the company was the "Keeper of the Nation's Time" for almost the entire 20th century.
Western Union accurate time clock
The ability to quickly send messages has opened up new business opportunities. Large companies with a developed branch network, thanks to telegraph communications, and then to the teletype, began to work as a single entity, transmitting information in real time.
The encoded telegraph signal was difficult to read and transmit without special training, so from the very beginning, scientists tried to invent a device that was more "friendly" to users. So it was with the writing telegraph of Boris Jacobi and the apparatus of Werner von Siemens, and this was the reason for the appearance of the teletype.
In 1872, the French inventor Jean Baudot developed a telegraph machine that allowed two or more messages to be transmitted simultaneously on the same line.
At the same time, the device transmitted messages using the letters of the Latin alphabet, and after the work of Russian craftsmen, the letters of the Russian alphabet. Devices of this type are called start-stop. In addition, Bodo created the Bodo telegraph code, which was transmitted on perforated tapes. The first Bodo apparatus began to be used in 1877 on the Paris-Bordeaux line. Until the end of the 20th century, double devices were used, capable of transmitting up to 760 characters per minute. In addition to the apparatus, Bodo made a distributor, a decoder and a printing mechanism, which simplified the work of specialists.
Two or six telegraph operators were coding messages, trying not to stray. They used two fingers of the left and three fingers of the right hand, sending signals in turn. But the most interesting thing happened on the other side - letters were printed on paper tape, not a code.
In 1901, after the creation of the keyboard for the telegraph machine, the code was finalized, the order of characters was changed and additional characters were added.
The 5-bit encoding and the use of letter and numeric case remained.
Baudot machine: keyboard and dispenser
The invention of Baudot and the ticker machine were the forerunners of the teletypewriter. A teletypewriter is an electromechanical printing machine for transmitting text messages.
In the 1920s, the global Telex Network was created, reaching 600,000 subscribers in 100 countries. Documents sent through this network had legal force. The network was actively used by commercial companies until the teletype was replaced by fax, and then by the Internet.
Only pale traces of the once common device's popularity remain, such as the traditional tty prefix (from TeleTYpe) for Unix text terminals. Some departmental radio stations still broadcast in teletype mode, transmitting information such as weather reports.
Teletype, which was part of the Telex network
The American "Western Union" sent the last telegram in 2006, completely switching to money transfer.
