Francis Ronalds - The Ronalds Telegraph

The Ronalds Telegraph

It was at Kelmscott House that Sir Francis Ronalds set up a primitive telegraph in 1816. He ran eight miles (13 km) of cable (encased in glass tubing) through his back garden suspending it from two wooden lattices. and succeeded in getting an electrical signal along the full length using static high voltage electricity. At both ends there were clockwork operated dials with numbers and letters of the alphabet. Without patenting it, he offered his electrical telegraph to the British government where his invention was rejected. Many telecommunications technologies such as Ronald's electrical telegraph were not necessary for governments at the time and therefore many were never pursued. He contacted the secretary of the Admiralty, Mr. Barrow, on the 11th of July describing his invention as "a mode of conveying telegraphic intelligence with great rapidity, accuracy, and certainty, in all states of the atmosphere, either at night or in the day, and at small expense", but they were not interested at that time saying "telegraphs of any kind are now wholly unnecessary."