Morse key and headphones

This Morse key and headphones from 1935 may seem like primitive technology compared to 5G smartphones, but Morse code and the telegraph revolutionised human communication before radio or telephones. ‘What hath God wrought?’ was the first message sent by artist and inventor Samuel FB Morse in 1844.

The code consists of dots and dashes representing the alphabet (also affectionately known as iddy-umpty or dits and dahs) and is sent via a Morse key machine like this one. To enable international communications, long-distance telegraph lines spread like wildfire. As a device that saw people through many wars, no Morse code phrase is more iconic than SOS, a universally recognised distress signal. In international Morse code, ‘S’ is three dots and ‘O’ is three dashes – dot-dot-dot-dash-dash-dash-dot-dot-dot. Thankfully, it’s an easy sequence to remember!