Scalable Innovation

207

25

Anticipating Control

Problems

The Telegram

before the Train

The Control-related innovation opportunities described previously are

not unique. In the nineteenth century, the rapid growth of railroads cre-

ated opportunities for telegraph technology. Because every town had its

own timekeeping methods, there emerged a need for clock synchroniza-

tion between different train stations, so that timetables worked across the

entire railway network. Also, steam engines and railroads at the time were

prone to breakdowns. Despite attempts by railroad companies to main-

tain coherent train schedules, nobody could gure out where the train

was when multip ...