for numerals were added.

The expense of multiwire systems rapidly led to single-signal-wire systems becoming the norm for long-distance telegraph. Around the time earth return was introduced, the two most widely used systems were the Morse system of Samuel Morse (from 1844) and the Cooke and Wheatstone one-needle telegraph (from 1843). A few two-signal-wire systems lingered on; the Cooke and Wheatstone two-needle system used on British railways, and the Foy-Breguet telegraph