In 1874, telegraph message traffic was rapidly expanding and in the words of Western Union President William Orton, had become "the nervous system of commerce". Orton had contracted with inventors Thomas Edison and Elisha Gray to find a way to send multiple telegraph messages on each telegraph line to avoid the great cost of constructing new lines. When Bell mentioned to Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders that he was working on a method of sending multiple tones on a telegraph wire using a multi-reed device, the two wealthy patrons began to financially support Bell's experiments. Patent matters would be handled by Hubbard's patent attorney, Anthony Pollok. COUNT 4
QSN1 What business was William Orton in charge of? ANS1 Western Union QSN2 In 1874 the telegraph was known as the what of commerce? ANS2 nervous system QSN3 What was the primary motivation for not building new telegraph lines? ANS3 cost QSN4 Thomas Edison and what other scientist were already asked to work on a better telegraph? ANS4 Elisha Gray