# Canonical recap data for Morse Code Telegraph Patent (1840)
# Source: https://recap.at/1840/morse-telegraph-patent
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: morse-telegraph-patent
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1840/morse-telegraph-patent"
title: Morse Code Telegraph Patent
subtitle: Samuel Morse's telegraph patent established the first practical electrical communication system, enabling instantaneous long-distance messaging.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1840-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1840
decade: 1840
country:
name: United States
slug: united-states
summaryShort: |-

  Morse code is a telecommunications method which encodes text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called dots and dashes, or dits and dahs. It is named after Samuel Morse, one of several developers of the system. Morse's preliminary proposal for a telegraph code was replaced by an al
summaryLong: |-

  Morse code is a telecommunications method which encodes text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called dots and dashes, or dits and dahs. It is named after Samuel Morse, one of several developers of the system. Morse's preliminary proposal for a telegraph code was replaced by an alphabet-based code developed by Alfred Vail, the engineer working with Morse. Vail's version was used for commercial telegraphy in North America. Friedrich Gerke simplified Vail's code to produce the code adopted in Europe, and most of the alphabetic part of the (ITU) "Morse" is copied from Gerke's revision.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Morsetaste.jpg/1280px-Morsetaste.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Morse code"
importance: 84
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts: []
timeline: []
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code"
  title: Morse code
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- tech-launch
metaDescription: |-

  Morse code is a telecommunications method which encodes text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called dots and dashes, or
wikidataQid: Q79897
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260627114122/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-27
  label: Morse code
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code"
taxonomy:
domain: technological
eventTypes:
- tech_launch
- scientific_breakthrough
canonicalClasses:
- creation
- discovery
impactRadius: global
velocity: gradual
predictability: scheduled
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
