Pantèlègraph is a portmanteau from pantograph, an instrument that copies handwritten words and sketches, plus "telegraph", an electrical system that sends messages through a normal wire over long distances that could be mechanically synced. Caselli devoted much of his research into the technology of telegraphic transmission of sketches as well as handwritten words when he was teaching at the University of Florence. Inventor Alexander Bain was working on this technology as was physicist Frederick Bakewell. The major problem of the time was to get perfect synchronization between the transmitting and receiving parts so they would work together correctly. Caselli developed an electrochemical technology with a "synchronizing apparatus" (regulating clock) to make the sending and receiving mechanisms work together that was far superior to any technology Bain or Bakewell had.