Samuel Morse
In addition to the telegraph, Morse invented a marble-cutting machine that could carve three-dimensional sculptures in marble or stone. He could not patent it, however, because of an existing 1820 Thomas Blanchard design.
John P. Kennedy
While serving in the United States Congress, John Pendleton Kennedy was the primary and decisive force in Congress in securing 30,000 dollars (an enormous sum at the time) for testing Samuel Morse's telegraph communications system. This was the first electronic means of long distance communication in human history. The government tests corroborated Morse's invention and led to federal adoption of the technology and the subsequent establishment of the American telegraph communications system, which revolutionized communications and the economic development of the United States. Federal acceptance of the telegraph had a major impact on Abraham Lincoln's management of the Civil War as well.