Dr Wildman Whitehouse and his ‘Iron Oscillograph’; Electrical Measurements Relating to the First Transatlantic Cable
Allan Green · International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology · 2012
Wildman Whitehouse is popularly remembered as the surgeon turned ‘dabbler’ in telegraphy responsible for damaging the first Atlantic telegraph cable in 1858 by use of his high voltage induction coils. He is also known for his disagreement with the electrical theories of William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) and being sacked as electrician to the operator of the transatlantic cable, the Atlantic Telegraph Company. Over the past 150 years commentators have marked him down as insignificant, a loose cannon in the annals of telegraphy, a ‘non-engineer’ and certainly a ‘non-scientist’. This paper, after a brief account of his whole career, looks specifically at Whitehouse’s work associated with submarine telegraph cables prior to the laying of the 1858 Atlantic cable. During this period he was making electrical measurements at the manufacturer’s works and also on long underground cables, in order to try to establish the viability of communications along the proposed 2000-mile transatlantic link.By reappraising historical accounts against primary sources and examining hitherto unresearched artefacts held in museums, the paper endeavours to outline Whitehouse’s approach to measurements of telegraph signal pulses using his magneto-electrometer. This was one of his principal measuring instruments, decried by most historians as heavy-duty and sluggish, yet it would appear to have allowed Whitehouse to make extraordinarily sensitive comparative measurements. The results of such work are illustrated in a contemporary diagram preserved by the Science Museum and perhaps indicate that Whitehouse’s achievements in telegraphy may have been more merit-worthy than previously understood.