What specific limitation of the telegraph system were inventors attempting to solve with the harmonic telegraph?
Answer
The inability to send multiple messages simultaneously over a single wire
The telegraph was highly successful but inefficient due to its capacity constraints, as a single wire could only carry one message at a time. The harmonic telegraph was envisioned as a solution to this problem, allowing multiple messages to be multiplexed and transmitted at once. The goal was to increase the utility of existing infrastructure by separating individual signals based on different electrical frequencies, rather than just sequential clicking.
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