Talk:Needle telegraph

Redirecting to Electrical telegraph
Redirecting this page to electrical telegraph is not so useful to the reader. It might be if there was a specific section to redirect to, but there isn't and the reader is likely to feel lost and confused. I don't agree that sources don't support "needle telegraph" being a thing. The two main systems that arose, the Morse system and the Cooke and Wheatstone system, used distinct methods of receiving messages. Cooke and Wheatstone was exclusively a needle telegraph. The Morse system never was. SpinningSpark 17:51, 20 December 2018 (UTC)


 * This page currently only links to one telegraph system. Electrical telegraph shows that many systems used needles, indeed I would say that a needle was an intrinsic part of many electrical telegraphs. However this page implies that "Needle telegraph" is a distinct thing, whereas what it should be more properly be titled is Telegraphs that used needles, and the best place to discuss "telegraphs that used needles" is Electrical telegraph where we say things like:
 * "Hans Christian Ørsted discovered in 1820 that an electric current produces a magnetic field which will deflect a compass needle."
 * "In 1835, Joseph Henry and Edward Davy invented the critical electrical relay. Davy's relay used a magnetic needle which dipped into a mercury contact"
 * "The telegraph invented by Baron Schilling von Canstatt in 1832...consisted of six galvanometers with magnetic needles, suspended from silk threads."
 * "In 1833, Carl Friedrich Gauss...was able to make the distant needle move in the direction set by the commutator on the other end of the line."
 * etc...
 * In my opinion that's the best place to send people who want to read about needle telegraphs.--Pontificalibus 18:06, 20 December 2018 (UTC)
 * All your examples above, except Schilling, are not examples of needle telegraphs. They are more general applications of magnetic deflection of needles, of which there are indeed many.  The "many systems" discussed at Electrical telegraph are mostly different Cooke and Wheatstone systems which are all discussed in much more detail in the specific article.  You may think that "telegraphs that used needles" is a more proper title, but there are no reliable sources that agree with you, whereas there are thousands that use the phrase "needle telegraph".  Cooke and Wheatstone and other systems are repeatedly referred to as "needle telegraphs". SpinningSpark 20:13, 20 December 2018 (UTC)
 * Do you not agree that this is an improvement on the redirect to Cooke and Wheatstone which is where it used to go? SpinningSpark 20:17, 20 December 2018 (UTC)
 * I don't think a dab-style page is useful if it only links to one telegraph system and a couple of biography articles. However perhaps if this was developed more into an article and then summarised in Electrical telegraph that might an improvement. I've just found a couple of extensive sources about this so will see if I can't expand this over the next week or two.--Pontificalibus 20:30, 20 December 2018 (UTC)