British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company
The British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company (also called the Magnetic Telegraph Company or the Magnetic) was founded by John Brett in 1850. The Magnetic was the principal competitor to the largest telegraph company in the United Kingdom, the Electric Telegraph Company (the Electric). The Magnetic was the leading company in Ireland, while the Electric was the leading company in mainland Britain. Between them, they dominated the market until the telegraph was nationalised in 1870.
The Magnetic's telegraph system differed from other telegraph companies. They favoured underground cables rather than wires
The Magnetic laid the first
Company history
The English and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company (which was known as the Magnetic) was established by John Brett in 1850.[1] John Pender also had an interest[2] and Charles Tilston Bright was the chief engineer.[3] The company's initial objective was to connect Britain with Ireland following the success of the Submarine Telegraph Company in connecting England with France with the first ocean cable to be put in service.[4] The British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company was formed in 1857[note 1] in Liverpool through a merger of the English and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company and the British Telegraph Company (originally known as the British Electric Telegraph Company).[5][6]
The main competitor of the Magnetic was the
The company had a close relationship with the Submarine Telegraph Company who laid the first cable to France and many subsequent
Another company with a close relationship was the
The Magnetic founded its own
Telegraph system
The telegraph system of the Magnetic was somewhat different from other companies. This was largely because the Electric held the patents for the
In later years, the Magnetic used other telegraph systems. After the takeover of the British Telegraph Company, the Magnetic acquired the rights to the needle telegraph instrument of that company's founder, Henry Highton. This instrument was the cheapest of any of the instruments produced at the time, but like all needle telegraphs, was slower than audible systems due to the operator having to continually look up at the instrument while transcribing the message. Some companies moved to needle instruments with endstops making two different sounds when the needle struck them (an innovation of Cooke and Wheatstone in 1845)[18] to solve this problem. The Magnetic instead used an 1854 invention of Charles Tilston Bright on its more busy lines. This was the acoustic telegraph (not to be confused with the acoustic telegraphy method of multiplexing) known as Bright's bells. In this system, two bells placed either side of the operator are rung with a hammer made to strike the bell by a solenoid driven by a relay. They are so arranged that the right and left bells are struck according to whether a positive or negative pulse of current is received on the telegraph line. Such bells make a much louder sound than the clicking of a needle.[19]
The Magnetic found a method of overcoming the problem of
The Magnetic played a part in solving the dispersion problem on the
Telegraph network
First connection to Ireland
The company's first objective, in 1852, was to provide the first telegraph service between Great Britain and Ireland by means of a submarine cable between Portpatrick in Scotland and Donaghadee in Ireland.[27] The cable core was gutta-percha insulated copper wire made by the Gutta Percha Company. This was armoured with iron wires by R. S. Newall and Company at their works in Sunderland. Before this could be achieved, two other companies attempted to be the first to make the connection across the Irish Sea.[28]
Despite having the contract to lay the Magnetic company's cable, Newall also secretly constructed another cable at their
In July of the same year, the Electric Telegraph Company of Ireland tried using an insulated cable inside a
For their cable, Magnetic were more careful in testing the insulation of batches of cable than Newall. Coils of cable were hung over the side of the dock and left to soak before testing. They used a new type of battery for
Magnetic were successful with a new cable in 1853 over the same route, with Newall this time using the chartered Newcastle collier William Hutt.[38][39] This was a six-core cable and heavier than the 1852 cable, weighing seven tons per mile. At over 180 fathoms (330 m) down, it was the deepest cable laid to that date.[40] Repairs to the cable in 1861 required 128 splices. Tests on pieces of retrieved cable found that the copper wire used was very impure, containing less than 50% copper, despite the Gutta Percha Company specifying 85%.[41]
Land network
The Magnetic's network was centred on northern England, Scotland, and Ireland, with its headquarters in
Wires on poles do not need to be electrically insulated (although they may have a protective coating). This is not so with underground lines. These must be insulated from the ground and from each other. The insulation must also be waterproof.[50] Good insulating materials were not available in the early days of telegraphy, but after William Montgomerie sent samples of gutta-percha to Europe in 1843, the Gutta Percha Company started making gutta-percha insulated electrical cable from 1848 onwards.[51] Gutta-percha is a natural rubber that is thermoplastic, so is good for continuous processes like cable making. Synthetic thermoplastic insulating material was not available until the invention of polyethylene in the 1930s, and it was not used for submarine cables until the 1940s.[52] On cooling, gutta-percha is hard, durable, and waterproof, making it suitable for underground (and later submarine) cables. This was the cable chosen by the Magnetic for its underground lines.[53]
In Ireland too, the Magnetic developed an extensive network of underground cables. In 1851, in anticipation of the submarine cable connection being laid to Donaghadee, the Magnetic laid an underground cable to Dublin.[54] Once the submarine link was in place, Dublin could be connected to London via Manchester and Liverpool. In the west of Ireland, by 1855 they had laid cables that stretched down the entire length of the island on the route Portrush–Sligo–Galway–Limerick–Tralee–Cape Clear.[55] The relationship of the Magnetic with Irish railway companies was the exact opposite of that in Britain. The Magnetic obtained exclusive agreements with many railways, including in 1858 with the Midland Great Western Railway. In Ireland, it was the Electric's turn to be forced on to the roads and canals.[56]
In 1856, the Magnetic discovered that the insulation of cables laid in dry soil was deteriorating. This was due to the essential oils in the gutta-percha evaporating, leaving just a porous, woody residue. Bright tried to overcome this by reinjecting the oils, but with limited success. This problem was the main driver for acquiring the unprofitable British Telegraph Company—so that the Magnetic inherited their overhead cable rights. From this point, the Magnetic avoided laying new underground cables except where it was essential to do so.[57]
Atlantic cable
Brett started the fundraising for the Atlantic Telegraph Company's project to build the transatlantic telegraph cable at the Magnetic's Liverpool headquarters in November 1856. Brett was one of the founders of this company and the Magnetic's shareholders were inclined to invest because they expected that the transatlantic traffic would mean more business for the Magnetic's Irish lines. This was because the landing point for the cable was in Ireland and traffic would therefore have to pass through the Magnetic's lines.[58]
Social issues
The Magnetic was an early advocate of employing women as
Notes
References
- ^
- Huurdeman, p. 129
- Hills, p. 294
- ^ Hills, p. 294
- ^ Huurdeman, p. 129
- ^ Smith, p. 21
- ^ Roberts, ch. 5
- ^ Beauchamp, p. 77
- ^ Hills, p. 22
- ^ Kieve, p. 55
- ^ Bright & Bright, pp. 73–74
- ^ Hills, pp. 62–63
- ^ Kieve, pp. 56–59
- ^ Hills, p. 66
- ^
- Bright, p. 110
- Bright & Bright, p. 74
- ^ Mercer, p. 8
- ^ Beauchamp, p. 77
- ^ Shaffner, vol. 1, p. 201; vol. 2, p. 369
- ^
- Shaffner (1855), vol. 2, pp. 163–166
- Nature, p. 111
- ^ Bowers, pp. 150–151
- ^
- Bright & Bright, pp. 67–71
- Morse, pp. 116–117
- ^ Hagen, pp. 300–311
- ^ Bright, p. 26
- ^ Cookson, p. 44
- ^ Bright, pp. 31–32
- ^ Hunt, p. 64
- ^ Bright, pp. 25–26
- ^ Newell, p. 478
- ^ Smith, p. 21
- ^
- Smith, pp. 21–22
- Bright, pp. 13–14
- ^ "The Submarine Telegraph between Holyhead and Howth". Dublin Evening Mail. No. 5221. The British Newspaper Archive (subscription required). 31 May 1852. p. 2. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
- ^ "The Submarine Telegraph between Holyhead and Howth". Dublin Evening Mail. No. 5222. The British Newspaper Archive (subscription required). 2 June 1852. p. 2. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
- ^
- Smith, pp. 21–22
- Bright, pp. 13–14
- ^ Smith, pp. 7–8
- ^ "The Anglo-Irish Submarine Telegraph". Dublin Evening Mail. No. 5247. The British Newspaper Archive (subscription required). 30 July 1852. p. 4. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
- ^ Smith, p. 22
- ^ Smith, pp. 22–23
- ^ "Progress of the Submarine Telegraph". Londonderry Sentinel. No. XXIV/6. The British Newspaper Archive (subscription required). 24 September 1852. p. 1. Retrieved 13 February 2019.
- ^ Smith, p. 24
- ^ Ash, p. 22
- ^ Haigh, pp. 36–37
- ^ Bright, p. 14
- ^ Smith, p. 101
- ^ Beauchamp, p. 77
- ^ Smith, pp. 302–303
- ^ Bright, p. 5
- ^ Beauchamp, p. 77
- ^ Bright & Bright, p. 73
- ^ Bright, p. 5
- ^ Bright & Bright, pp. 74–75
- ^ Bright, p. 5
- ^ Wheen, p. 83
- ^ Haigh, pp. 26–27
- ^ Ash, p. 29
- ^ Beauchamp, p. 77
- ^ Bright, p. 25
- ^ Bright, p. 24
- ^ Kieve, p. 54
- ^ Bright & Bright, pp. 72–73
- ^ Kieve, pp. 106–107
- ^ Beauchamp, p. 77
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