Electric telegraph line Bremen – Bremerhaven
The Bremen – Bremerhaven electrical telegraph line , which went into operation in 1847, was Germany's first long electrical telegraph line . It connected the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven over a length of 65 kilometers .
prehistory
After experimenting with various techniques for transmitting messages using electricity at the beginning of the 19th century , Carl Friedrich Gauß and Wilhelm Weber set up the world's first two-kilometer telegraphic connection between the physics institute and the observatory in Göttingen in 1833 Used transmission of astronomical data. Gauss, who already foresaw the application over long distances, reported about it to his friend Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers in Bremen in November 1833 :
“This way of telegraphing has the pleasant thing that it is completely independent of wind and weather. Everyone who gives the signal and who receives the same stays in his room, if he wants, with the shutters closed. I am convinced that with the use of sufficiently strong wires it would be possible to send telegrams from Göttingen to Hanover and from Hanover to Bremen in one fell swoop. "
A first commercial electrical telegraph connection with a length of 13 miles was established on April 9, 1839 for the Great Western Railway between Paddington Station (London) and West Drayton by Charles Wheatstone and William Fothergill Cooke . In 1843 the Bremen captain and businessman Johann Wilhelm Wendt visited the telegraph line, which had meanwhile been extended to Slough , and began to consider using this technology in Germany as well.
The telegraph line established in 1838 between Hamburg and Cuxhaven was an optical telegraph .
Construction and operation of the line
Together with the watchmaker and mechanic Friedrich Heinrich Brüggemann, Wendt first built a two-needle telegraph in 1844 and set up a short-distance connection between two rooms of the Museum Society - the Museum am Domshof - for demonstration purposes . While the members of the learned societies and the Bremen merchants were very interested in this technical innovation, the press reported cautiously about the electric telegraph:
“It is possible that the striving human spirit will once again succeed in securing a general practical application for the balloon, the electromagnetic machine and the telegraph based on the same principles. For the time being, common sense will still be right when it comes to the steam engine and the signal telegraph , content with locomotives, wagons and ships. "
Regardless of these doubts, a consortium was formed under the chairmanship of Senator Justin Friedrich Wilhelm Iken (1785–1866) , which drove the planning for an electric telegraph line between Bremerhaven and Bremen and raised money for such a company. In a letter to the Senate in 1845, Iken emphasized the importance of such a fast and weather-independent connection between the two cities - especially for the purpose of communicating ship arrivals that are important for merchants:
"[The telegraph would] fully meet the previous need for uninterrupted communication, and indeed produce the most surprising results for Bremen's trade and shipping."
In 1846, the members of the consortium founded the Bremer Telegraphen-Verein stock corporation with 64 shares of 250 thalers each . After the company had received a license from the Bremen Senate and the government of the Kingdom of Hanover to set up an electromagnetic telegraph between Bremen and Bremerhaven, construction of the 65 km long route began. The wires were laid porcelain-insulated on 5-meter-high, white-painted posts, the route led from the museum in Bremen via Lesum , Hagen and Geestendorf to Bremerhaven.The double-needle telegraph required two circuits, since the earth served as a return line, only two lines were required. The telegraph operator operated two latches on the transmitter, the movement of which caused corresponding deflections of the magnetic needle on the receiver. The direction, number and duration of the combined signals formed a letter code. Platinum-zinc batteries served as the power source. In November 1846 the line was completed and the first telegram was transmitted from Bremen to Bremerhaven with the following wording:
"May this telegraphic system always prove itself to the general benefit, the good news bring a lot, the bad news as little as possible, and thus help and contribute to Bremen's flourish and prosperity."
The lines officially went into operation on January 1, 1847 - curiously, almost at the same time as the Bremen – Bremerhaven optical telegraph line set up by Johann Ludwig Schmidt , which soon had to cease operations due to competition. The electric telegraph was in operation from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and there was a night service for urgent reports. Members of the Bremen Stock Exchange , shipowners and merchants received the messages directly against payment of a fee, and they were also displayed in the reading room. In the first year, 6,802 ship messages and 3,944 other messages were transmitted, which gave the stock corporation a high return in a short time . The public was initially skeptical of this innovation - they feared, for example, that the overhead lines could trigger thunderstorms - but the telegraph office soon attracted a large number of curious people who came to the museum in the morning to hear the incoming reports read and discussed. This led to a "media scandal" when an editor of the Weser newspaper copied and published the incoming (confidential) news, whereupon a ban on the public dissemination of the news was issued. In 1849, after the letter telegraph of the Leipzig mechanic Emil Stöhrer had been tested but not used, the transmitting and receiving devices were replaced by those of the Morse system . As early as 1850, the German telegraph network had expanded to such an extent that Bremen was connected to Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden, Frankfurt and Cologne. In 1855 the company Museum terminated the contract with the operating company of the line and delegated the task of operating the station to the Chamber of Commerce .
For 35 years, the telegraph line remained the undisputed fastest news medium in the region. In 1882 an exchange for telephony was set up in the new Bremen post office . The Bremen - Bremerhaven connection was also progressive again: when it went into operation on October 15, 1883, it was the longest telephone line in Germany.
Individual evidence
- ^ The club in Bremen . Carl Schünemann Verlag, Bremen 2009, p. 156.
- ^ Andreas Schulz: Guardianship and Protection: Elites and Citizens in Bremen 1750-1880 . Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2002, p. 377.
- ^ Göttingische learned advertisements , 1834, p. 1272.
- ^ The club in Bremen . Carl Schünemann Verlag, Bremen 2009, p. 155.
- ^ In: The Club of Bremen . Carl Schünemann Verlag, Bremen 2009, p. 157.
- ^ In: The Club of Bremen . Carl Schünemann Verlag, Bremen 2009, p. 156.
- ^ E. Jacobi: The Royal Hanoverian Railway and Telegraph Administration . C. Meyer, 1862, p. 449.
- ↑ The Focke-Museum Bremen exhibits: the original transmitting and receiving devices from 1844/47, battery elements and insulating sleeves
- ↑ Harry Gabcke and others: Bremerhaven in two centuries . I. Vol .: 1827-1918, Nwd-Verlag, Bremerhaven 1989, p. 52.
- ^ The club in Bremen . Carl Schünemann Verlag, Bremen 2009, p. 156.
- ↑ Löhr, electrical communications engineering (see lit.) pp. 317–318, notes 19, 20 and 29. One copy has been preserved in the Focke Museum
- ↑ Historic telephone technology at Bayern-online
literature
- Alfred Löhr, Electrical communications engineering , in: Jörn Christiansen (Ed.) Bremen will be bright, 100 years of living and working with electricity, Hauschild: Bremen 1993, pp. 301–310.
- The club in Bremen . 1783-2008 . Carl Schünemann Verlag, Bremen 2009, ISBN 978-3-7961-1935-4 .
- Harry Gabcke and others: Bremerhaven in two centuries . Volume I: 1827-1918, Nwd-Verlag, Bremerhaven 1989.
- Historical society of the artists' association (ed.): Bremen biography of the 19th century . Winter, Bremen 1912, reprint: Schünemann Verlag , Bremen 1976. (Article by JW Wendt)