Telegraph keys are electrical on-off switches used to send messages in Morse code. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. The operator pushes the key’s lever down briefly to make a short signal, a dot, or holds the lever down for a moment to make a slightly longer signal, a dash. The sequence of dots and dashes represent letters and numbers. Keys can be quite simple devices. This key was hand-made by W. W. Shock, a Union operator at Point Of Rocks, MD, in 1864. Confederate troops had destroyed the regular key so Shock made this "perfectly practicable and serviceable" replacement.
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