When John Casale was a kid, his dad, who worked for the D&H Railroad, brought home some old telegraph equipment for him to experiment on. This perked his interest, and at age 15, John received his ham radio license. It's not surprising that today he's a communications expert for Niagara Mohawk, and that he would discover and bring to light one of Troy's forgotten inventors, George M. Phelps. The Smithsonian says Phelps "developed what became the standard printing telegraph in American offices." Locally, most never heard of him.

According to Casale, Phelps invented and improved printing telegraph systems, set design standards for many telegraph instruments, invented stock tickers and telephone instruments, and built the patent models for some of Edison's early inventions.

Phelps became an apprentice machinist working for his uncle Jonas H. Phelps in Troy as a mathematical instrument maker. Jonas Phelps, who with William Gurley, became one of the leading makers of high quality surveying instruments (now Gurley Precision Instruments).

Nephew George worked for them as a machinist learning the trade, and in 1850, at age 30, set up his first shop on the corner of First and Adams working on light machinery, paper-sorting machines, and safe locks.

During the 1840's, Phelps followed the evolution of the telegraph. In 1845, the Albany & Buffalo Telegraph Company built a line from NY to Buffalo; Ezra Cornell erected a portion of it between NY and Albany. Two years later Cornell erected a telegraph line from Troy through Vermont to Montreal, under contract with the Troy & Canada Junction Telegraph Company. During those days, telegraph companies came and went, and by 1852 the telegraph industry was highly competitive between companies using conventional Morse technology and those using printing telegraph systems.

According to research by Casale, the expansion and growth caused by this competition created a shortage of instruments, and of skilled workmen to make them. Phelps was hired to build a printing telegraph used throughout the US based on the design of Royal E. House. It was efficient for its day (transmitted up to 40 words per minute), but very complicated. Phelps teamed up with Jarius Dickerman, who funded Phelps and his "House's Printing Telegraph Instrument Manufacturer," at 41 Ferry St. Phelps built these for at least four years and his reputation as a man who could solve problems spread.

In 1855, a young Kentucky music teacher David E. Hughes, accidentally came up with a design for a new type of printing telegraph. The printer had some shortcomings but a new company, the American Telegraph Company (ATC), purchased the North American rights and they gave it to Phelps to tackle. He made two improvements, and it was quickly placed into service on some of ATC's lines where it proved successful. A year later, ATC purchased the Phelps and Dickerman factory in Troy and George became superintendent.

He continued working on improvements on printing telegraphs and by 1859 eventually evolved into one of his most notable inventions, The Phelps Combination Printer, or American Combination Printer; he took certain features of the House and Hughes printer and added his own improvements. It became recognized as the most successful type printing telegraph in the world.

In 1861, ATC made Phelps superintendent of their largest factory in Brooklyn and purchased the rights to his more important patents. After the Civil War, ATC, along with Phelps, was acquired by Western Union. In addition to being the superintendent of Western Union's New York factory, he also became their chief machinist.

In 1870, he designed a stock ticker that helped Western Union force a merger of the Gold and Stock Telegraph Company. In 1875, he introduced the last in his series of large, fast, printing telegraph machines. He built what is his most significant achievement in printing telegraphy called The Phelps Electro-Motor Telegraph, achieving speeds of up to 60 wpm. Western Union and Thomas Edison eventually worked together with Phelps designing and building some of Edison's inventions that helped improved telegraphy and even worked on some of his early telephone designs.

In 1877, two million New York City residents set their timepieces to a daily noon time event that occurred on top of Western Union's headquarters at 195 Broadway (then the tallest building). A ball dropped precisely at noon triggered via telegraph by an operator at the National Observatory in Washington. This system, including ball and discharging apparatus, was designed and built by Phelps. The Time Ball stayed in use until 1913 when its view was becoming obstructed by New York's growing skyline.

Phelps died in 1888 and buried at Oakwood. In 1999, John Casale 'adopted' his gravesite. He's maintained it ever since and in 2001 added a bronze plaque inscribed with a quote from the Smithsonian.

One Trojan looking after another!