Science Fact Finder | General Science and Technology - What Is The Origin Of The Fire Alarm Box?

What is the origin of the fire alarm box?

Early fire alarms were quite primitive. Fires were announced by ringing church bells, blowing whistles, or shooting firearms. In 1839, William F. Channing of Boston revolutionized alarm systems using the technology of the telegraph. (A telegraph is a communication system that transmits and receives electronic impulses through wires.) He devised a set of fireboxes, each of which contained a telegraph key. A person would activate the alarm by cranking an attached handle. This would send the number of the box to a central alarm station. The central station would then telegraph the box's location to the local fire department.

Channing's fire alarm did not catch on quickly. He soon sold his patent (a government document that grants an inventor the sole right to manufacture his or her invention for a certain period of time) to John N. Gamewell of South Carolina, who was much more...

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