In chapter 1, Standage explains the early evelopment of the telegraph. It discusses Claude Chappe’s invention of the “visual telegraph”. Some of the first telegraphs were the optical telegraph and the shutter telegraph. Both of these could send messages, but the message had to be seen by someone over a short distance. None of the earliest telegraphs could be used for long distances. The chapter also discusses the electrical experiments being done with the new system of sending messages. Because of these experiments the inventors were able to make crucial discoveries in the development of the electric telegraph. They discovered that electricity can be sent over long distances and that sending electricity over the long distances takes only seconds. With this they learned that this could be done using wires. This was much more efficient than the previously used form of visual telegraph that could only be used in daylight, in good weather, and they took a lot of time. The new electric method took almost no time at all. In different parts of the world, different men were working on the same idea of the fastest way to send messages. Early in the 19th Century, the first electric telegraph was constructed.
Summary by Eric A, Alex E., Saleh A., Lei T
Tom Standage's The Victorian Internet 