abstract:

Histories of technology, communications, or infrastructure typically draw few distinctions between the telegraph machine and its network. Yet that vast wired infrastructure not only made telegraph machines socially useful, it established a material foundation for telephone- and electrical-service networks. This article emphasizes American telegraph-network development and argues that the telegraph's needs catalyzed an electrical-wire supply industry with important continuities for later wired-network technologies. This study also shows that when telegraph networks emerged in the mid-1800s, industrial constraints meant the best wire available was still abjectly deficient for network needs. Wire vexed telegraph-line builders everywhere, but especially in the United States, where promoters favored less expensive but more vulnerable overhead lines. This article demonstrates that successfully networking the American nation involved decades of building and rebuilding, hundreds of mechanical inventions, hard-won industrial advances, and considerable individual sacrifice.

摘要：

技术，通信或基础设施的历史通常不会在电报机及其网络之间产生什么区别。然而，庞大的有线基础设施不仅使电报机在社会上有用，而且为电话和电力服务网络奠定了物质基础。本文强调了美国电报网络的发展，并认为电报的需求催化了电线供应行业，并为后来的有线网络技术提供了重要的连续性。这项研究还表明，当电报网络出现在1800年代中期时，工业限制意味着可用的最佳电线仍然严重不足以满足网络需求。电线困扰着各地的电报线路建设者，尤其是在美国，那里的发起人更青睐价格较低但较脆弱的架空线路。