Digital Telegraphy

Where is the place for telegraph technology in the modern digital world? Abraham Brecher has been answering that question for forty years. As president and founder of Digitize, he has created fire and alarm monitoring systems which integrate existing telegraph systems.

Since 1977 Digitize has served communities across the country and abroad. Philadelphia was the first city to install such a system. Baltimore, Newark, Chicago, Sacramento, Boston, and Providence have all followed suit.

While telegraphs might seem antiquated for emergency communication, location and time are the most important pieces of information to first responders. Fire alarm telegraph boxes provide precisely that information. They work by creating or interrupting an electrical current in a pattern that corresponds with the number for that specific box.

Digitize works by digitally decoding signals that were previously decoded using a mechanical punch tape register. Last month, Mr. Brecher was kind enough to donate one of his latest models to the Fire Museum. This addition launches our Fire Alarm Office into the 21st century.

The museum is sincerely thankful to Mr. Brecher for making such a significant donation to the story we tell. This allows us to tell the complete story of fire alarm telegraphs, which began in Boston in 1852 and continues today thanks to Digitize.