A report on Morse code, Electrical telegraph and American Morse code

American Morse Code — also known as Railroad Morse—is the latter-day name for the original version of the Morse Code developed in the mid-1840s, by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail for their electric telegraph.

Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one of the inventors of the telegraph.

At the sending station, an operator would tap on a switch called a telegraph key, spelling out text messages in Morse code.

This code, first used in 1844, became known as Morse landline code, American Morse code, or Railroad Morse, until the end of railroad telegraphy in the U.S. in the 1970s.

The international Morse code adopted was considerably modified from the original American Morse code, and was based on a code used on Hamburg railways (Gerke, 1848).