Telegraph Register

Description (Brief):

This telegraph register was made in the shop of Charles Williams, Jr., in Boston. Williams was an important maker of telegraph equipment and also early telephones designed by Alexander Graham Bell. Telegraph registers are electrically-activated printers that receive Morse code messages. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. The pulses energize the register’s electromagnets which move a lever-arm holding a pen or stylus. A clockwork mechanism pulls a strip of paper across the pen or stylus, recording the message. Short pulses draw or emboss a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The sequence of dots and dashes represent letters and numbers.

Date Made: ca 1870

Maker: Charles Williams, Jr.

Location: Currently not on view

Web Subject: Communication, telegraph

Subject:

See more items in: Work and Industry: Electricity, Telegraph Registers, Communications

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: from The Freeman Family

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1981.0696.01Accession Number: 1981.0696Catalog Number: 1981.0696.01

Object Name: telegraph registerOther Terms: telegraph register; Telegraphy

Physical Description: wood (overall material)brass (overall material)copper (overall material)Measurements: overall: 18 cm x 12.5 cm x 32.5 cm; 7 3/32 in x 4 29/32 in x 12 25/32 in

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a5-513f-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_713420

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