Communications

WANN Microphone

Tools of communication have transformed American society time and again over the past two centuries. The Museum has preserved many instruments of these changes, from printing presses to personal digital assistants.

The collections include hundreds of artifacts from the printing trade and related fields, including papermaking equipment, wood and metal type collections, bookbinding tools, and typesetting machines. Benjamin Franklin is said to have used one of the printing presses in the collection in 1726.

More than 7,000 objects chart the evolution of electronic communications, including the original telegraph of Samuel Morse and Alexander Graham Bell's early telephones. Radios, televisions, tape recorders, and the tools of the computer age are part of the collections, along with wireless phones and a satellite tracking system.

Date: 1860s

Patent Model of a Platen Printing Press

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a platen jobbing press with stationary vertical type bed below a flat ink distributing surface in the same plane as the type. The lower part of the ink table shifted sideways, for better distribution.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a platen jobbing press with stationary vertical type bed below a flat ink distributing surface in the same plane as the type. The lower part of the ink table shifted sideways, for better distribution. The invention was granted patent number 86064.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1869
patent date
1869-01-19
maker
Forbush, Walter H.
ID Number
GA.89797.086064
patent number
086064
accession number
89797
catalog number
GA*89797.086064

Patent model for bank note printing: method of making plates of requisite hardness

This patent model demonstrates an invention for bank note printing which was granted patent number 41724.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for bank note printing which was granted patent number 41724. In the steel transfer process used for intaglio security printing, it was difficult to make a plate that was both soft enough to receive an impression and hard enough to resist distortion in the transfer process. By this invention, a hard steel plate was faced with a sheet of soft iron.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1864
patent date
1864-02-23
maker
Sellers, Alfred
ID Number
GA.89797.041724
patent number
041724
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.041724

Patent Model of a Lithographic Printing Press

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a lithographic printing press which was granted patent number 87950.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a lithographic printing press which was granted patent number 87950. The flatbed cylinder press included an adjustable bed, an apparatus to lift the rollers from the stone, and a receiving cylinder with grippers to take the sheet from the impression cylinder. Marinoni, a leading French press builder, assigned these patent rights to R. Hoe & Co.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1869
patent date
1869-03-16
maker
Marinoni, Auguste H.
ID Number
GA.89797.087950
patent number
087950
accession number
89797
catalog number
GA*89797.087950

Threadless Chester / U.S. Tel. Co. Glass Insulator

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1865
maker
Chester, Charles T.
ID Number
EM.231782.1
catalog number
231782.1
accession number
43532

Telegraph Sounder

Telegraph sounders convert electrical pulses into audible sounds and are used to receive Morse code messages. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. Short pulses make a dot, slightly longer pulses make a dash.
Description (Brief)
Telegraph sounders convert electrical pulses into audible sounds and are used to receive Morse code messages. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. Short pulses make a dot, slightly longer pulses make a dash. The sequence of dots and dashes represent letters and numbers. The pulses energize the sounder’s electromagnets which move a lever-arm. The arm makes a loud “click” when it strikes a crossbar and the operator translates the pattern of sounds into the original language.
This sounder was made using US Patent #92284, issued July 6, 1869 to William Davis of Jersey City, NJ. Davis' idea was to make the sounder produce a "clear tone" by using a hollow resonating chamber made of hard rubber. The chamber can be seen mounted on the base next to the electromagnet. The anvil with its adjusting screws is mounted on top of the chamber. When the lever strikes the anvil the resonating chamber amplifies the sound.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1869
ID Number
EM.331979
accession number
294351
catalog number
331979
collector/donor number
100-038

Wooden Covered Wade's Glass Insulator

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1860
ID Number
EM.181024
catalog number
181024
accession number
25099

Patent Model of a Hand Stamp

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a hand stamp which was granted patent number 45000. The stamp has a sliding bed covering an ink pad. One of the two hand levers pressed the type to the bed.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a hand stamp which was granted patent number 45000. The stamp has a sliding bed covering an ink pad. One of the two hand levers pressed the type to the bed. The other pulled the bed back as the type was re-inked at the ink pad.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1864
patent date
1864-11-08
patentee
Whipple, Cullen
ID Number
GA.89797.045000
patent number
045000
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.045000

Arabes Assis (Arabs Sitting)

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1860
original artist
Fortuny y Carbo, Mariano
graphic artist
Amand-Durand, Charles
ID Number
GA.16755
catalog number
16755
accession number
119780

Patent model for printers' sidesticks and quoins

This patent model demonstrates an invention for paired sidesticks, grooved and tapered on the inside surfaces to take matching quoins; the invention was granted patent number 87339. The sticks were held together loosely by dowels.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for paired sidesticks, grooved and tapered on the inside surfaces to take matching quoins; the invention was granted patent number 87339. The sticks were held together loosely by dowels.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1869
date made
ca 1869
patent date
1869-03-02
maker
House, Thomas J.
ID Number
GA.89797.087339
patent number
087339
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.087339

Independence Hall

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1861
maker
Wells, Charles H.
Neagle, J. B.
ID Number
2014.2050.55
accession number
2014.0250
catalog number
2014.0250.55

Patent model for engraver's vice

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a vise that held the engraving plate firmly, while offering the yielding surface that the engraver needed; the invention was granted patent number 27253.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a vise that held the engraving plate firmly, while offering the yielding surface that the engraver needed; the invention was granted patent number 27253.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1860
patent date
1860-02-21
maker
Wood, A. H.
ID Number
GA.89797.027253
patent number
027253
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.027253

Garde de la Casbah a Tetuan

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
c. 1860
original artist
Fortuny y Carbo, Mariano
publisher
Goupil & Cie.
graphic artist
Delatre
ID Number
GA.16762
catalog number
16762
accession number
119780

Independence Hall

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1861
maker
Neagle, John B.
ID Number
2014.0250.55
accession number
2014.0250
catalog number
2014.0250.55

Drawing made by a Comanche Indian

Unknown artist, about 1869“Drawing made by a Comanche Indian”[Title given by collector Dr. Edward Palmer]Media: Colored inks on paperThis drawing of a Comanche warrior was likely prepared and collected in 1869 at the Kiowa and Comanche Agency in present-day Oklahoma.
Description
Unknown artist, about 1869
“Drawing made by a Comanche Indian”
[Title given by collector Dr. Edward Palmer]
Media: Colored inks on paper
This drawing of a Comanche warrior was likely prepared and collected in 1869 at the Kiowa and Comanche Agency in present-day Oklahoma. The artist’s representation of a warrior on horseback follows a tradition of pictographic imagery which presents the subject on one plane without the illusion of depth. Here both of the warrior’s legs and leg sashes are imaged on the viewer’s side of the horse.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1880
ca 1868
ca 1882
ca 1868
original artist
unknown
ID Number
2008.0175.50
catalog number
2008.0175.050
accession number
2008.0175

Rare Bennington Style Threaded Porcelain Insulator

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca. 1862
ca 1862
ID Number
EM.181016.1
catalog number
181016.1
accession number
25096

Patent Model of a Lithographic Printing Press

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a cylinder press, in which a carriage bearing the flat stone moved through an arc of a circle and under the rotating cylinder; the invention was granted patent number 46390.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a cylinder press, in which a carriage bearing the flat stone moved through an arc of a circle and under the rotating cylinder; the invention was granted patent number 46390.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1865
patent date
1865-02-14
maker
Reynolds, Edwin
ID Number
GA.89797.046390
patent number
046390
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.046390

Washington press, A. B. Taylor

This press was made by A. B. Taylor of New York in about 1860. The tympan and frisket were made in the Museum.
Description (Brief)
This press was made by A. B. Taylor of New York in about 1860. The tympan and frisket were made in the Museum. The press has a height of 77 inches a width, at cheeks, of 38 inches and a length of 88 inches; its platen measures 25 inches by 39 inches.
Alva Burr Taylor, a blacksmith by trade, worked with the R. Hoe & Company of New York from 1822 until 1842 when he formed his own company. Taylor produced cylinder presses, Washington presses,
and a few jobbing presses, as well as steam engines.
The oval ornament on this press, an eagle with drums and banners, is found in combination with other ornaments on presses made by various manufacturers, such as the Cinncinati Type Foundry (CTF) Washington press (see 1978.2124.01).
Donated by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Hennage, 1969.
Citation: Elizabeth Harris, "Printing Presses in the Graphic Arts Collection," 1996.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
circa 1860
date made
ca 1860
maker
Taylor, Alva Burr
ID Number
GA.23008
catalog number
GA*23008
accession number
285336

Officer and Laughing Girl after Vermeer

Le Soldat et la Fillette Qui Rit is the only painting by Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) that Jules Jacquemart etched. His first attempt to etch a painting in 1861 was a failure, as apparently he had been unable to work directly from the subject.
Description
Le Soldat et la Fillette Qui Rit is the only painting by Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) that Jules Jacquemart etched. His first attempt to etch a painting in 1861 was a failure, as apparently he had been unable to work directly from the subject. Not until five years later in 1866 did he make a second attempt at etching a painting, this print after Vermeer. It was considered to be one of the best reproductive etchings of the time. The Vermeer painting now hangs in the Frick Collection, New York. But when Jacquemart etched it for the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, it was in the collection of Léopold Double, a French artillery officer, bibliophile, and art collector.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1866
original artist
Vermeer, Jan
graphic artist
Jacquemart, Jules
printer
Delâtre
publisher
Gazette des Beaux-Arts
ID Number
GA.14601
catalog number
14601
accession number
94830

Sunday In New Orleans - The French Market

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1866
graphic artist
Harper & Brothers
original artist
Waud, A. R.
ID Number
GA.311495.02
accession number
311495
catalog number
311495.02

At the Market, Richmond, Virginia

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1868
original artist
Sheppard, W. L.
graphic artist
Harper & Brothers
ID Number
GA.311495.03
accession number
311495
catalog number
311495.03

Patent Model of a Hand Operated Printing Press

This patent model demonstrates an invention for a hand-operated printing press which was granted patent number 32242. This press, the Chatauqua Jobber, was a self-inking bench-top press along the lines of the A. and B.
Description (Brief)
This patent model demonstrates an invention for a hand-operated printing press which was granted patent number 32242. This press, the Chatauqua Jobber, was a self-inking bench-top press along the lines of the A. and B. Newbury Mountain Jobber of 1859 (Patent 24655).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1861
patent date
1861-05-07
maker
Dean, George R.
ID Number
GA.89797.032242
patent number
032242
accession number
089797
catalog number
GA*89797.032242

Hand stamp

Date made
1867
circa 1867
patent date
November 19, 1867
maker
Willbur, J. M.
ID Number
1971.293320.2983
accession number
293320
patent number
071105
catalog number
1971.293320.2983
1971.293320.2983

Brooks Ramshorn Insulator

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1864
ID Number
EM.181017
catalog number
181017
accession number
25096

Threadless U.S. Tel. Co. / Chester Glass Insulator

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1865
maker
Chester, Charles T.
ID Number
EM.231782.2
catalog number
231782.2
accession number
43532

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