The Telegraph Samuel F. B. Morse received a patent for the telegraph in 1840. With a series of taps on a telegraph key like this, operators sent short and long pulses of electricity that translated into letters and numbers. Stimulated by the railroad industry by 1861, telegraph wires webbed the nation. Cheap, efficient, and fast communication changed American businesses, newspapers, government, and everyday life. Division of Work & Industry, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution