The electric telegraph is a now obsolete communication system that was used to transmit electrical signals over cables from one place to another which resulted in a message from the people at the stations. The non-electric telegraph was invented by Claude Chappe in 1794. This system was visual and used a semaphore, an alphabet based on the language of flags, and depended on a line of sight for communication. This "optical telegraph" was eventually replaced by the electric telegraph. In 1809, a crude telegraph was invented in Bavaria by Samuel Soemmering. He used 35 wires with gold electrodes immersed in water and at the receiving end at 2000 feet the message was read by the amount of gas caused by the electrolysis. In 1828, the first telegraph in the United States. it was invented by Harrison Dyar who sent electric sparks through a chemically treated paper tape to burn off dots and dashes. Electromagnet In 1825, British inventor William Sturgeon (1783-1850) revealed an invention that laid the foundation for an immense breakthrough in electronic communications: the electromagnet. William demonstrated the power of his electromagnet by lifting nine pounds with a seven-ounce piece of iron wrapped in wires through which the current from a single-cell battery was sent. However, the true power of the electromagnet lay in its role in creating countless future inventions. Read on to find out more. The Three Telegraphs In 1830, an American named Joseph Henry showed the potential of William Sturgeon's electromagnet for long-distance communications by sending an electronic current over a mile of wire to activate an electromagnet that rang a bell. In 1837, British physicists William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone patented the......medium of paper......em.Telephone Rivals TelegraphUntil 1877, all rapid long-distance communications depended on the telegraph. A slower and more tedious form of long-distance communication was sending letters. It was precisely that year that a rival technology was developed, this device would (again) change the face of communication: the telephone. In 1879, the patent dispute between Western Union and the nascent telephone system ended in an agreement that largely separated the two services. Since the telephone was a faster and less tedious way of sending information, more and more people, who previously used the telegraph, began to use it instead. Telegraph companies were losing business, and fast, because of the thing you and I can't live without. The growing popularity of the telephone would eventually end the use of the device that had changed the world before, its predecessor, the telegraph..