1. Alfred Lewis Vail was an American machinist and inventor.
10 Facts About Alfred Vail
1. 2.
Alfred Vail was responsible for several technical innovations of Morse's system, particularly the first sending key, which Vail invented, and improved recording registers and relay magnets.
3.
Alfred Vail left the telegraph industry in 1848 because he believed that the managers of Morse's lines did not fully value his contributions.
4.
Alfred Vail's parents were Bethiah Youngs and Stephen Alfred Vail.
5.
Alfred Vail was born in Morristown, New Jersey, where his father was an entrepreneur and industrialist who built the Speedwell Ironworks into one of the most innovative iron works of its time.
6.
Alfred Vail attended public schools before taking a job as a machinist at the iron works.
7.
Alfred Vail enrolled in New York University to study theology in 1832, where he was an active and successful student and a member of the Eucleian Society, graduating in 1836.
8.
Alfred Vail retired from the telegraph operations in 1848 and moved back to Morristown, where he spent his last ten years researching genealogy.
9.
The "Morse code" that went into operational use after Alfred Vail had become involved was very different from Morse's original plan.
10.
The argument for Alfred Vail being the original inventor is laid out by several scholars.