Cooke and Wheatstone telegraph
The Cooke and Wheatstone telegraph was an early electrical telegraph system dating from the 1830s invented by English inventor William Fothergill Cooke and English scientist Charles Wheatstone. It was the first telegraph system to be put into commercial service. The receiver consisted of a number of needles which could be moved by electromagnetic coils to point to letters on a board. This feature was liked by early users who were unwilling to learn codes, and employers who did not want to invest in staff training.
Algernon Fuller
Born on 30 March 1885, Algernon Fuller was educated at Bedford School and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He received his first commission in the Royal Engineers in 1904. He served during the First World War and, in 1916, he invented the Fullerphone, which enabled telephony and telegraphy to be used simultaneously on the same line, rendering the telegraphy secret. It was used widely during the First World War and thereafter, and Fuller was appointed as Experimental Officer at the Signals Experimental Establishment, Woolwich, between 1916 and 1920. He was Deputy Director of Mechanisation at the War Office, between 1938 and 1940, Director of Engineer and Signals Equipments at the Ministry of Supply, between 1940 and 1941, and Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Supply, in 1941.