Post office - telegrams

The life and death of telegrams

A telegram is a message sent by telegraph. 

 

The first telegraph was sent more than 150 years ago. 

 

 

 The prototype of the telegraph was demonstrated by Joseph Henry in 1830.

 

This device was refined and developed by Samuel F. B. Morse. On May 1, 1844, the first official telegraph message was sent.

 

The telegraph was one of the two most important technological advances that contributed to U.S. settlement of North America west of the Mississippi River. (The other was the railroad.)

The telegraph is still occasionally used for communication, but the Internet and the telephone are employed far more often.  Western Union, a U.S. based financal  and communications service company, was founded in the 1850s to take advantage of  the then new technology. Since then, Western Union  conveyed telegrams all over the world. However, as the Internet and e-mail have become increasingly prevalent around the globe, the telegram has been less frequently used and considered  more and more anachronistic. In January 2006, Western Union announced on the Internet that it would no longer be sending telegrams.

prototype – prototípus
to be demonstrated – bemutatva lenni
device – berendezés, eszköz
to refine - finomít
to develop – fejleszt
technological advances – technikai vívmányok
to contribute – hozzájárul
occasionally – esetenként
to be founded – alapítva lenni
to take advantage – előnyt szerez
to convey – hord, szállít, átad
however – ennek ellenére
increasingly – egyre növekvően
prevalent – gyakori, elterjedt
to be considered – valamit valaminek tartanak
anachronistic - korszerűtlen
to announce – bejelent