Cooke and Wheatstone's five-needle telegraph, 1837.

The five-needle telegraph was the first succesful electric telecommunication device and was patented by Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875) and William Cooke (1806-1879). It first saw service on the newly-developing railways, and by 1838 the telegraph was sending public telegrams as well as Great Western Railway mesages between London and West Drayton, a village 21km (13 miles) to the west.