Thread by @funwithfundas

Tick… Tick… Tick…
On this day, 155 years ago, the first #stockticker was unveiled. Here's a 🧵on the stock ticker, the device, invented by #EdwardACalahan, that helps stock markets to function efficiently.
#onthisday #inventions @InventorsHOF 1/n

Back in the day, brokers would get to know price movements through pageboys who would run to and fro between the #stockexchange and the offices of brokers. 2/n

Enter Calahan. A school dropout, he was employed as a telegraph operator with #WesternUnion and had a lot of tech-savvy. 3/n

He rigged up a simple yet elegant solution - a #telegraph machine to print stock quotes on strips of paper tape. Voila! The markets were transformed. 4/n

The invention was a revelation in the late 19th century. Investors and brokers were thrilled. They now had access to information a lot quicker than before. 5/n

It soon attracted the attention of that giant among inventors, #ThomasAlvaEdison. He improved on this invention and patented his own four years later. 6/n

Fast forward 20 years. France 🇫🇷 had gifted the USA this massive statue that was put together by the likes of #GustaveEiffel 🗽 7/n

The dedication of the Statue of Liberty 🗽 was a grand affair. #NewYorkers stepped out in droves to witness the occasion. 8/n

Soon enough, someone else came up with another inventive thought. Why not celebrate such events with confetti showers? That’s how the “ticker-tape” parade was born. 9/n #tickertapeparade

It soon became a thing. NYC has held more than 200 ticker-tape parades in more than 100 years. At the end of World War II, when #Armstrong, #Aldrin and #Collins returned from the Moon and so on... 🌘 10/n

The ticker even found its way into art. The artist #DorothyWrightLiebes, the “mother of weaving”, used ticker tapes in her textiles 11/n

To reduce the amount of info on a tape ticker, symbols were soon introduced. Using just K for #Kellogg made more sense 12/n

Companies began to think innovatively. #HarleyDavidson has the clever symbol HOG 13/n

The #CheesecakeFactory uses CAKE and @Sothebys symbol is BID 14/n

One of the aptest symbols is that of the amusement park company #CedarFairEntertainment. They have the symbol FUN. 15/n

The old mechanical tickers have been sunset but their digital counterparts continue to serve exchanges worldwide. 16/n

Thanks to: Sahana RK who helped with research on what makes these devices tick. Ref: invent.org/inductees/edwa…; Edison by Edmund Morris; n/n