Telegraph station with relief-writer telegraph for Morse code

Cross-border telegraph connections required standardization. The Austro-German Telegraph Union, founded in 1850, made the Morse telegraph mandatory. Other countries followed; the needle and pointer telegraphs disappeared. In 1851 the "Hamburger Morse Alphabet" as revised by Clemens Gerke became the international telegraphic language. The Morse undulator was not yet patented, allowing manufacturers such as Bénèche & Wasserlein to enter the growing market.