"
[Footnote 4: Alfred Vail: he was the son of Stephen Vail (commonly
known as Judge Vail), owner of the Speedwell iron-works, near
Morristown, New Jersey. Judge Vail built the engines of the
_Savannah_, the first steamship which crossed the Atlantic.]
[Footnote 5: Model: a small copy or representation of something.
Professor Morse made a small telegraph and sent it to Washington,
to show what his large telegraph would be like.]
[Footnote 6: Patent: a written or printed right given by the
government at Washington to an inventor to make something; as, for
instance, a telegraph or a sewing-machine. The patent forbids any
one except the inventor, or holder of the patent, from making such
a machine, and so he gets whatever money comes from his work. In order
to get a patent, a man must send a model of his invention to be placed
in the Patent Office at Washington.]
225. Professor Morse asks Congress to help him build a telegraph
line; what Congress thought.--Professor Morse now asked Congress to
let him have thirty thousand dollars to construct a telegraph line
from Washington to Baltimore. He felt sure that business men would
be glad to send messages by telegraph, and to pay him for his work.
But many members of Congress laughed at it, and said they might as
well give Professor Morse the money to build "a railroad to the moon.
Pages:
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229