Media consumption
Eventually communication reached an electronic state, and the telegraph was invented. Harrison Dyar, who sent electrical sparks through chemically treated paper tape to burn dots and dashes, invented the first telegraph in the USA. The telegraph was the first piece of equipment that allowed users to send electronic messages. A more developed version came from Samuel Morse, whose telegraph printed code on tape and was operated using a keypad and an earpiece. The pattern of communication soon became known as Morse code.
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.