stackyFACTS
Technology

Telegraph sets were once toys for children

HERE’S THE INTERESTING PART

Because tapping out Morse code on a crude wooden plank is the perfect gift for a toddler. In the mid-nineteenth century, simplified telegraph clicking sets were marketed directly to kids. It was a bizarre attempt to turn a highly complex, industrial communication tool into a fun parlor trick for youths with entirely too much free time.

Telegraph sets were once toys for children
STACKY / Technology
One discovery leads to another.

Keep exploring facts in this topic.

Technology →
STACKY FOR IPHONE

A bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.

Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.

Download on the App Store
ONE MORE DISCOVERY?

Keep exploring

All in this topic →
Telegraph operators sent insults in Morse code
Technology

Telegraph operators sent insults in Morse code

Before the existence of online comment sections, operators with too much free time used the telegraph wires for extreme petty drama. They would regularly tap…

Discover more
Early telephones required human operators to patch calls
Technology

Early telephones required human operators to patch calls

Before the luxury of simply dialing a number, you had to pick up an earpiece, wait for a disgruntled worker on a switchboard to answer, and kindly ask them to…

Discover more
Before international standards locked it down, a "byte" of computer data was not strictly eight bits, and could legally range anywhere from a single bit up to forty-eight bits depending on the hardware manufacturer.
Technology

Before international standards locked it down, a "byte" of computer data was not strictly eight bits, and could legally range anywhere from a single bit up to forty-eight bits depending on the hardware manufacturer.

Before international standards locked it down, a "byte" of computer data was not strictly eight bits, and could legally range anywhere from a single bit up to…

Discover more
The animator who threw his life's work into the Seine
Technology

The animator who threw his life's work into the Seine

Before Disney monopolized childhoods, Charles-Émile Reynaud was hand-painting hundreds of frames on gelatin squares for his Théâtre Optique in 1892. This…

Discover more
The first drones were built as target practice
Technology

The first drones were built as target practice

Unmanned flight wasn't born out of a desire for aerial pictures. Militaries in the 1930s built early radio-controlled planes specifically so bored gunners…

Discover more
Optical Character Recognition technology was heavily accelerated in the 1960s because the United States Postal Service was desperately trying to stop humans from manually reading…
Technology

Optical Character Recognition technology was heavily accelerated in the 1960s because the United States Postal Service was desperately trying to stop humans from manually reading…

Optical Character Recognition technology was heavily accelerated in the 1960s because the United States Postal Service was desperately trying to stop humans…

Discover more
StackyMore discoveries in the app
Download on the App Store