Morse filed a petition for a
patent in October and admitted his colleague Gale; as well as
Alfred Vail, to partnership. Experiments followed at the Vail
shops, all the partners working day and night in their
enthusiasm. The apparatus was then brought to New York and
gentlemen of the city were invited to the University to see it
work before it left for Washington. The visitors were requested
to write dispatches, and the words were sent round a three-mile
coil of wire and read at the other end of the room by one who had
no prior knowledge of the message.
* Prime, p. 311.
In February, 1838, Morse set out for Washington with his
apparatus, and stopped at Philadelphia on the invitation of the
Franklin Institute to give a demonstration to a committee of that
body. Arrived at Washington, he presented to Congress a petition,
asking for an appropriation to enable him to build an
experimental line. The question of the appropriation was referred
to the Committee on Commerce, who reported favorably, and Morse
then returned to New York to prepare to go abroad, as it was
necessary for his rights that his invention should be patented in
European countries before publication in the United States.
Morse sailed in May, 1838, and returned to New York by the
steamship Great Western in April, 1839.
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