3 ms·

Telegram for America (1956) [video]

32 points by eigenvalue 3y ago

eigenvalue 3y ago
This promotional film made for Western Union shows some very cool "high tech" equipment from before the computer age. The machines for automatically transmitting and decoding telegrams, the desktop "fax" machine for a business executive, and in particular, this very impressive automatic "store and forward" switching machine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_55-A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_55-A This last one presaged many ideas which later appeared in the design for the Arpanet, and the analysis of queuing delays with the system was part of the Phd dissertation by Len Kleinrock, who helped come up with many of the ideas that contributed to the invention of the internet. It seems like these earlier systems are not really talked about much anymore since they quickly became obsolete as a result of digital computers, but it's fascinating to think about what they could have evolved into had the transistor never been invented.
- bombcar 3y ago
  The one of those I love the best is analog firing computers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_I_Fire_Control_Computer https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_I_Fire_Control_Computer
  - eigenvalue 3y ago
    Yes, these are awesome. There is another one of these old films about them which is a great explainer: https://youtu.be/s1i-dnAH9Y4 https://youtu.be/s1i-dnAH9Y4
- Animats 3y ago
  Message switching did evolve. The next step for Western Union was InfoMaster, using RCA mainframe computers in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and San Francisco. There was a Western Union international gateway in Mawah, NJ, with UNIVAC mainframe computers. The best known successor to Plan-55A was Sendmail, which is a store and forward message switch for email. It serves the same basic function, forwarding entire messages as a unit from station to station until they reach the delivery point.
wkat4242 3y ago
Lol I read the headline and I thought of the app. So weird because I am actually a ham radio operator and I have done morse in the past. I still do ham but I never enjoyed morse, I do a lot of digital now. I was just learning it to get the more capable license but then the requirement ended up dropped anyway. It's funny how a mindset can change so quickly and terms can change their meaning completely. But 1956 is a bit weird of a date for telegrams, as it was invented way before that. I'll watch it later because it sounds interesting.
wanderingstan 3y ago
You have to guess that some of the people at the time saw that this film was also a prophecy of the end of telegrams: telephones, television, and movies existed and were improving year by year. The film itself is an example of a medium that would displace telegrams. The video promotes how important the telegraph was to sports fans by showing summer clips from football and baseball followed by shots of the Telegraph operators; but of course sports fans would rather watch than read a telegram! I wonder if this film was produced precisely as a “we’re still relevant!” PR strategy?
xeromal 3y ago
How cool is that telegram receiving car!

32 points by eigenvalue 3y ago

This promotional film made for Western Union shows some very cool "high tech" equipment from before the computer age. The machines for automatically transmitting and decoding telegrams, the desktop "fax" machine for a business executive, and in particular, this very impressive automatic "store and forward" switching machine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_55-A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_55-A This last one presaged many ideas which later appeared in the design for the Arpanet, and the analysis of queuing delays with the system was part of the Phd dissertation by Len Kleinrock, who helped come up with many of the ideas that contributed to the invention of the internet. It seems like these earlier systems are not really talked about much anymore since they quickly became obsolete as a result of digital computers, but it's fascinating to think about what they could have evolved into had the transistor never been invented.

bombcar 3y ago
The one of those I love the best is analog firing computers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_I_Fire_Control_Computer https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_I_Fire_Control_Computer
- eigenvalue 3y ago
  Yes, these are awesome. There is another one of these old films about them which is a great explainer: https://youtu.be/s1i-dnAH9Y4 https://youtu.be/s1i-dnAH9Y4
Animats 3y ago
Message switching did evolve. The next step for Western Union was InfoMaster, using RCA mainframe computers in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and San Francisco. There was a Western Union international gateway in Mawah, NJ, with UNIVAC mainframe computers. The best known successor to Plan-55A was Sendmail, which is a store and forward message switch for email. It serves the same basic function, forwarding entire messages as a unit from station to station until they reach the delivery point.

wkat4242 3y ago

Lol I read the headline and I thought of the app. So weird because I am actually a ham radio operator and I have done morse in the past. I still do ham but I never enjoyed morse, I do a lot of digital now. I was just learning it to get the more capable license but then the requirement ended up dropped anyway. It's funny how a mindset can change so quickly and terms can change their meaning completely. But 1956 is a bit weird of a date for telegrams, as it was invented way before that. I'll watch it later because it sounds interesting.

wanderingstan 3y ago

You have to guess that some of the people at the time saw that this film was also a prophecy of the end of telegrams: telephones, television, and movies existed and were improving year by year. The film itself is an example of a medium that would displace telegrams. The video promotes how important the telegraph was to sports fans by showing summer clips from football and baseball followed by shots of the Telegraph operators; but of course sports fans would rather watch than read a telegram! I wonder if this film was produced precisely as a “we’re still relevant!” PR strategy?

xeromal 3y ago

How cool is that telegram receiving car!