Telegraph message, printed in Morse code, transcribed and signed by Samuel F. B. Morse. This message was transmitted from Baltimore, Maryland, to Washington, D.C., over the nation's first long-distance telegraph line.
In 1843, Congress allocated $30,000 for Morse (1791-1872) to build an electric telegraph line between Washington and Baltimore. Morse and his partner, Alfred Vail (1807-1859), completed the forty-mile line in May 1844. For the first transmissions, they used a quotation from the Bible, Numbers 23:23: "What hath God wrought," suggested by Annie G. Ellsworth (1826-1900), daughter of Patent Commissioner Henry L. Ellsworth (1791-1858) who was present at the event on 24 May. Morse, in the Capitol, sent the message to Vail at the B&O Railroad's Pratt Street Station in Baltimore. Vail then sent a return message confirming the message he had received.
The original message transmitted by Morse from Washington to Baltimore, dated 24 May 1844, is in the collections of the Library of Congress. The original confirmation message from Vail to Morse is in the collections of the Connecticut Historical Society.
This tape, dated 25 May, is a personal souvenir transmitted by Vail in Baltimore to Morse in Washington the day following the inaugural transmissions. The handwriting on the tape is that of Morse himself. Found in Morse’s papers after his death the tape was donated to the Smithsonian in 1900 by his son Edward, where it has been displayed in many exhibitions.
Flat piece of copper with two 3/8" diameter holes and four legs, may be a stand or platform. Supposed to have been used by Joseph Henry, founding Secretary of the Smithsonian.
This early telegraph register was designed and made by Alfred Vail, who worked closely with Samuel Morse on the telegraph invention. The beige coils are electromagnets and their large size was typical for early units. Vail’s signature is stamped on the base.
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.
No extant maker's markings. Stationary, double, compound horseshoe magnets, revolving armature, horizontal driving wheel and commutator, walnut base. Derrick supports two coils and an iron crank. Unit was made by Charles Grafton Page (1812-1868) and used by Joseph Henry. Reference: Page, "Improvement in the Magneto-Electric Machine, and Application of the Instrument to Operate the Magnetic Telescope," American Journal of Science, volume 48 (1844-45): 392-393. (Magnets look like those on the Sexton machine illustrated in Silliman, Physics, (1869), page 632.
A direct current motor with attached bell. Electro-Magnetic Engine (Bell striking machine), ca.. 1848? A permanent horseshoe magnet is affixed to a wooden base with brass feet. An armature shaft turns in the center of the magnet with an electromagnet rotating between the poles. Brushes are applied to a small commutator, and the armature shaft turns a geared wheel causing a hammer to ring a metal bell. Reference: Daniel Davis, Manual of Magnetism, (Boston 1848), pages 214-15, fig. 147.
From Davis, 1847: "Revolving Bell Engine. This instrument, represented in Fig. 147, is similar in principle to [cat# 323370], the U-magnet, however, being inverted, so that the revolving electro-magnet is near the baseboard; the pole-changer is on the axis below it. There is, in addition, an arrangement for striking a bell, which is fixed above the magnet. To the axis of the revolving bar is attached an endless screw; this screw acts on a toothed wheel, which is provided with a pin projecting laterally, for the purpose of moving the hammer. As the wheel turns, the pin presses upon the handle of the hammer, raising it from the bell until it is released by the pin at a certain point of the revolution; when a spiral spring, fixed to the handle, impels the hammer against the bell.
If the wheel has 100 teeth, as in the cut, the electro-magnet must revolve 100 times in order to produce one revolution of the wheel, and consequently one stroke upon the bell. The velocity of the rotating bar is measured by counting the number of strokes in a given time ; it may make 100 or more revolutions in a second. In order that the motion of the wheel may raise the hammer, it is necessary to transmit the battery current so that the bar shall rotate in the proper direction."
An iron horseshoe for use in the core of an experimental electromagnet. Supposed to have been used by Prof. Joseph Henry, founding Secretary of the Smithsonian.
Old exhibit label reads: "Original Colton Electric Railway Motor, 1846. Made and used by Dr. Gardner Q. Colton, an American physician and lecturer on electrical phenomena. This motor consists of two magnets, so arranged that the metal bears placed on the ends of the rocking arm are attracted as the magnets are alternately energized, imparting a reciprocal motion to the arm. This motion is transmitted through a driving rod to a wheel geared to the driving wheels of the chassis."
Rewiring of chassis appears to have been done with modern solid insulation wire. No extant maker's markings. Pamphlet: "The First Electric Engine Ever Driven On a Track by Electricity;" T. C. Martin, "The Electric Railway Work of Dr. Colton in 1847....The First Use of Track as Circuit," Electrical Engineer Vol. 16., July 19, 1893.
A direct current motor made by Daniel Davis, ca. 1848, no extant maker's markings. A horseshoe type permanent magnet has a winding on each side connected to terminal posts on the base. A brass wheel has 3 iron pieces which rotate in the field of the electromagnet poles. A spoked commutator arrangement is affixed to the wheel shaft with a brush touching the spokes. This motor was supposed to have been used by Joseph Henry. Reference: Davis, Manual of Magnetism, 1848 (Published in Boston by Daniel Davis) pages 208-210.
Experimental electro-magnet with iron core, cloth insulated wires. Used on frame catalog number 181741. Supposed to have been used by Joseph Henry, founding Secretary of the Smithsonian.
Motor (or generator?) similar to Daniel Davis units, ca 1848. No extant maker's markings. A two electromagnet revolving armature turns between a horseshoe magnet's field poles. A split ring on the shaft is utilized as a commutator. Voltage input and brush mechanism is missing from this specimen. Though supposedly used by Joseph Henry, this item probably was designed by Charles Page or Daniel Davis. See, Davis, Manual of Magnetism (Boston 1848) pages 212-213.
In 1849 Samuel F. B. Morse received U.S. patent #6,420 for an “improvement in electric telegraphs.” This patent model demonstrated a refinement Morse made to his original telegraph register. Rather than using electromagnets and a lever arm to emboss or ink the dots and dashes on the paper tape, this unit took advantage of the ability of some salts to make colored marks on paper in response to an electric current. Morse described several methods in his patent using different types of salts. Never widely adopted, Morse’s refinement was mostly intended as a response to rival Alexander Bain’s chemical telegraph invention three years earlier.
Most 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.