The electrical telegraph is a telegraph that uses electric signals. This is a signalling system where an operator makes and breaks an electrical contact with a telegraph key which results in an audible signal at the other end produced by a telegraph sounder which is interpreted and transcribed by a human operator.

Carl Friedrich Gauss and Wilhelm Weber installed a 1,200m long wire above the town of Göttingen's roofs. They were allowed to do this on 6 May 1833. Carl August Steinheil was able to build a telegraph network in 1835–1836. He installed a telegraph line along the first German railroad in 1835.

The telegraph had a transmitting device which had a keyboard with 16 black-and-white keys. These served for switching the electric current.

Dr. David Alter created it one year before the much more popular Morse telegraph was invented. Alter demonstrated it publicly.

In the United States, the telegraph was developed by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail. Morse created an electrical telegraph in 1837. His version was a design that could transmit over long distances using poor quality wire. Vail, his assistant, developed the Morse code signalling alphabet with Morse.

• Telegraph

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Telegraphy.

• 1837 AD Samuel Morse Invents the Electric Telegraph
• The Electric Telegraph (1838–1914)
• Electrical telegraph Archived 2007-03-09 at the Wayback Machine