This week in 1844 – Samuel Morse tapped out the message, “What hath God wrought”, in the code that now bears his name. The message was sent from the Old Supreme Court Chamber in the United States Capitol to his assistant in Baltimore, Maryland. The development inaugurated America’s telegraph industry.
1857 – William Channing and Moses Farmer patented the electric fire alarm system in Boston, MA: the first city to adopt the system.
1900 – Edwin Votey of Detroit, MI patented his pianola: a pneumatic piano player. We’ve all seen these in old western films. The roll of perforated paper that runs on the piano. When air hits a hole, the corresponding note is played on that piano.
In 1927 this week – The last Ford Model T rolled off the assembly line after a production run of over 15 million vehicles.
And this week in 2012 – The SpaceX Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous with the International Space Station.