Alfred Vail

Vail's parents were Bethiah Youngs (1778–1847) and Stephen Vail (1780–1864). 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. Their other son George Vail, Alfred's brother, was a noted politician. Alfred attended public schools before taking a job as a machinist at the iron works. He 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. ==Involvement with Morse's telegraph==

Visiting his alma mater on September 2, 1837, Vail happened to witness one of Samuel Morse's early telegraph experiments. He became fascinated by the technology and negotiated an arrangement with Morse to develop the technology at Speedwell Ironworks, at his own expense, in return for 25% of the proceeds. Alfred split his share with his brother George Vail. After having secured his father's financial backing, and being a skilled machinist, Vail refined Morse's crude prototype telegraph to make it suitable for public demonstration and commercial operation. The first successful completion of a transmission with this system was at the Speedwell Iron Works on January 6, 1838, across two miles (3 km) of wire. The message read "A patient waiter is no loser." Over the next few months Morse and Vail demonstrated the telegraph to Philadelphia's Franklin Institute, members of Congress, and President Martin Van Buren and his cabinet. Demonstrations such as these were crucial to Morse's obtaining a Congressional appropriation of $30,000 to build his first line in 1844 from Washington to Baltimore. ==Retirement from telegraphy==

When Morse took on an influential congressman as a partner, Morse cut the Vail brothers' share to one-eighth, although the other partners' shares were not reduced. Morse retained patent rights to all the apparatus and the alphabetic code-system that Vail had developed. Vail retired from the telegraph operations in 1848 and moved back to Morristown, where he spent his last ten years researching genealogy. Since Alfred and his brother George shared a one-eighth interest in Morse's telegraph patents, Vail realized far less financial gain from his work on the telegraph than Morse and others. His papers and equipment were subsequently donated by his son Stephen to the Smithsonian Institution and New Jersey Historical Society. Alfred Vail's cousin, Theodore N. Vail, became the first president of American Telephone & Telegraph. ==Morse code==

Alfred Vail and Samuel Morse collaborated in the invention of Morse code. The "Morse code" that went into operational use after Vail had become involved was very different from Morse's original plan. A controversy exists over the role of each in the invention. The argument for Vail being the original inventor is laid out by several scholars. In an 1845 book Vail wrote describing Morse's telegraph, he also attributed the code to Morse. He died in 1859 at the age of 51. ==Honors==

A U.S. Army base was named in Vail's honor: Camp Vail in Eatontown, New Jersey, later temporarily renamed Fort Monmouth, was an Army housing complex. After World War II the families of servicemen and civilian Army employees negotiated with the Army to purchase the development, which they incorporated as the "Alfred Vail Mutual Association". Due to the diligent efforts of the town clerk, the rights of the charter of the original Shrewsbury Township (est. 1693) were transferred to the residents. The housing development exists under that name to this day. An elementary school in Morristown, New Jersey, near the site of the Speedwell Iron Works, is named Alfred Vail Elementary School in his honor. ==Footnotes==