In 1870 Émile Baudot created a code for telegraphy that used bits in place of dot and dashes. That allowed more words per minute to be transmitted than was possible with morse code.
With Baudot code machines could be built that would automatically decode the signal and type it out as plain english. This technology would be called the teletype machine.
Teletype machines still used this code or variation until they were replaced over a century later.
This is also where the term Baud rate comes from.
At some point in the '80s someone convinced me that “baud” was an acronym for “bits of actual, usable data” and I believed that for far too long.
Sounds like a backronym
Clever but inaccurate. You can try and convince people that the word “bawdy” also came from Baudot because he was a Frenchman that used his improved telegraphy code to share juicy details about the ladies he courted. I can’t say for sure he didn’t do that, what with being a successful Frenchman and all.