Everything has a beginning somewhere, some time by someone. While the invention of the 'ticker tape' may be thought of as Thomas Edison's idea, that is not the case. Edison's first successful invention was an improved stock ticker, the "Universal Stock Printer".
On November 15, 1867, the first stock ticker was unveiled in New York City. The event was a show stopper which made up-to-the-minute prices available to investors around the country. Up until that point information from the New York Stock Exchange, which opened its doors in 1792, traveled by mail or messenger.
The ticker was invented by Edward Calahan, who worked for Gold & Stock Telegraph and configured a telegraph machine to print stock quotes on streams of paper tape. This is the same paper tape used later on in ticker-tape parades. The ticker, got its name from the sound its type wheel made. Read MORE...
[The image is the ticker tape parade in New York City for presidential candidate Richard Nixon in 1960. The long streamers are entire spools of ticker tape. Image Credit: en.wikipedia.com]The ubiquitous 'they' say a picture says a thousand words. Take stock of the images below that say enough about the ticker tape...
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Ticker tape was used to transmit stock price information over telegraph lines from 1870 to 1970. A paper strip ran through a machine was called a stock ticker, which printed abbreviated company names followed by numeric stock transaction price and volume information. 1930s brokers are pictured in the above image. |
Check out the 'modern' Twittertape Machine...
The Twittertape Machine is a prototype standalone networked device that prints a feed of your tweets and mentions on Twitter! The design is inspired by the ticker tape machines of the late 1800's that kept the rich and famous up to date with the movement of their stocks and shares.
How cool is that?!.
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