Morse filed a petition for a patent in October and admitted his colleague Gale; as well as Alfred Vail, to partnership.
Experiments followed at the Vail shops, all the partners working day and night in their enthusiasm.

The apparatus was then brought to New York and gentlemen of the city were invited to the University to see it work before it left for Washington.

The visitors were requested to write dispatches, and the words were sent round a three-mile coil of wire and read at the other end of the room by one who had no prior knowledge of the message.
* Prime, p.

311.
In February, 1838, Morse set out for Washington with his apparatus, and stopped at Philadelphia on the invitation of the Franklin Institute to give a demonstration to a committee of that body.

Arrived at Washington, he presented to Congress a petition, asking for an appropriation to enable him to build an experimental line.