Communications
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.
2,908
Page 1 of 146
-
Celluloid Letter Opener
- Description (Brief)
- The blade is cream celluloid. The handle is carved or molded in the shape of an animal head and painted. The animal's teeth protrude from its mouth like tusks. It may be a Muntjac deer. The opener is unmarked.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.1568
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.1568
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Letter opener
- Description (Brief)
- A letter opener made of cream celluloid. The handle is blow-molded and has a motoring scene in relief. It is unmarked.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.1105
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.1105
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Radio log
- Description (Brief)
- Radio Log with celluloid cover. The front cover is red, with an applied relief of a bird. The back cover is black. The pages are paper, with call letters and cities for various radio stations. The book is bound at top by two black rings.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1930
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.1367
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.1367
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Franklin Institute medal awarded to J. J. Clark
- Description (Brief)
- In 1852, having applied for a patent for his new self-winding telegraph register, James J. Clark (1828-1919) showed an example of his invention at the annual fair of the Franklin Institute and received this medal. The obverse has portrait bust of Benjamin Franklin and “FRANKLIN INSTITUTE OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA / 1824.” The reverse has “REWARD OF SKILL AND INGENUITY” and “To / J. J. Clark / Philada Pa / For Self winding / Telegraph Register / 1852.” The following year, the Franklin Institute Committee of Science and the Arts examined Clark’s telegraph register in greater detail, and recommended that he be given a first prize.
- Ref: “Report on James J. Clark’s Self-Winding Telegraph Register,” Journal of the Franklin Institute 57 (1854): 69-71.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1852
- associated date
- 1852
- associated person
- Clark, James J.
- ID Number
- EM.310422
- catalog number
- 310422
- accession number
- 119205
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Telegraph Register
- Description (Brief)
- This is a small telegraph register of that shows the harp design made by James Clark of Philadelphia. The electromagnets and embossing lever are included but there is no tape drive mechanism.
- 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Clark, James J.
- ID Number
- EM.310423
- catalog number
- 310423
- accession number
- 119205
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Patent model for loose leaf binder
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a loose leaf binder with adjustable sides; the invention was granted patent number 787353.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1905
- patent date
- 1905-04-18
- maker
- Carlson, Charles A.
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.05
- patent number
- 787353
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.05
- patent number
- 787353
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Patent model for sidesticks and quoins
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a combination of quoins and sidesticks which was granted patent number 218518. The quoins swiveled on the ends of wide screws that turned into the sides of the metal sidesticks. A guage in the center of each sidestick told the compositor how far the quoin could be extended.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1879
- patent date
- 1879-08-12
- maker
- Gosorn, George T.
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.09
- patent number
- 218518
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.09
- patent number
- 218518
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Patent model for printers' sidesticks and quoins
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for sidesticks with several tapering sections, and grooves or steps to guide the quoins on their path; the invention was granted patent number 145574.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1873
- patent date
- 1873-12-16
- maker
- Keehn, Francis
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.10
- patent number
- 145574
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.10
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Patent model for printers' sidesticks and quoins
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for sidesticks made with two symmetrical series of inclined surfaces; the invention was granted patent number 133948. Matching quoins were adjusted by turning a double-threaded screw.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1872
- patent date
- 1872-12-17
- maker
- McGrath, Thomas
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.12
- patent number
- 133948
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.12
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Patent model for printers' quoins
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a screw quoin, adjustable with any common wrench; the invention was granted patent number 167780.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1875
- patent date
- 1875-09-14
- maker
- O'Shea, Andrew Jackson
- ID Number
- 1996.0062.13
- patent number
- 167780
- accession number
- 1996.0062
- catalog number
- 1996.0062.13
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Patent model for lathe (?)
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a lathe (?). Maker, patent number, and date are unknown.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1870
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1997.0198.03
- catalog number
- 1997.0198.03
- accession number
- 1997.0198
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Patent model for folding concertina rack
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a folding concertina rack. Maker, patent number, and date are unknown.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1870
- maker
- unknown
- ID Number
- 1997.0198.11
- catalog number
- 1997.0198.11
- accession number
- 1997.0198
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Bulkley telegraph repeater patent model
- Description
- Telegraph repeaters amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The pulses faded in strength as they traveled through the wire, limiting the distance a message could travel. Repeaters remedied that problem by detecting a weak signal and using a local power source to re-energize and re-transmit the signal down the line.
- This working model of a repeater was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office by inventor Charles S. Bulkley only six years after Samuel Morse sent "What Hath God Wrought." In November of 1850 he received patent #7769 for his "Double-Acting Telegraphic Repeater." Bulkley, of Macon, Georgia, had conducted experiments in 1848 to send messages between New York and New Orleans using repeaters.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1850
- maker
- Bulkley, Charles S.
- ID Number
- EM.251253
- catalog number
- 251253
- accession number
- 48865
- patent number
- 7769
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Hicks telegraph repeater patent model
- Description
- Telegraph repeaters amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The pulses faded in strength as they traveled through the wire, limiting the distance a message could travel. Repeaters remedied that problem by detecting a weak signal and using a local power source to re-energize and re-transmit the signal down the line.
- This working model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office by inventor George Hicks of Cleveland, Ohio, along with his application for a patent. In March 1862 he received patent #34574 for his "Improvement in Telegraphic Relays." This was not Hicks' first repeater but an improved version of one he had designed four years before that also modified a design patented by James Clark in 1860. This magnetic adjusting repeater used a circuit changer with permanently magnetized cores and armatures. Charles Davis and Frank Rae warned operators in 1877 to be certain they used "strong batteries" connected with the correct polarity. The repeater armature on this unit is stamped "E. M. Pierson."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1862
- maker
- Hicks, George B.
- ID Number
- EM.251255
- catalog number
- 251255
- accession number
- 48865
- patent number
- 34574
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Hamilton telegraph repeater patent model
- Description
- Telegraph repeaters amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The pulses faded in strength as they traveled through the wire, limiting the distance a message could travel. Repeaters remedied that problem by detecting a weak signal and using a local power source to re-energize and re-transmit the signal down the line.
- This model was submitted to the U.S. Patent Office by inventor William Hamilton of Albany, New York, along with his patent application. On 12 September 1865, he received patent #49875 for his "Improvement in Telegraphic Repeaters." Hamilton's idea was to improve automatic repeaters that could switch between lines without the aid of an operator. He modified the two sounders by lengthening the lever arms so they could activate a new switch and circuit design. The cylinders represent batteries that may be of the Grove type. Hamilton used real relays and sounders made by A. S. Chubbuck of Utica, NY, on his model.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1865
- maker
- Chubbuck, Arinaldo S.
- Hamilton, William H.
- ID Number
- EM.251261
- catalog number
- 251261
- accession number
- 48865
- patent number
- 49875
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Williams-Farmer duplex telegraph patent model
- Description
- Telegraph relays amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The pulses faded in strength as they traveled through the wire, to the point where the incoming signal was too weak to directly operate a receiving sounder or register. A relay detected a weak signal and used a battery to strengthen the signal so that the receiver would operate.
- This is the model that inventor Moses Farmer of Salem submitted along with the application that resulted in US Patent #160,581. Issued in 1875 the patent for an "improvement in Duplex-Telegraph Apparatus." A duplex telegraph sends two messages simultaneously through a single wire. Farmer found that on long lines a static charge built up and interfered with the operation of the circuit. He designed this apparatus with a relay, a duplex transmitter, a rheostat and special induction coils to counter that static charge. It is unclear how much of this device Farmer himself actually constructed since the relay bears the marking of Charles Williams, Jr., a noted telegraph and telephone maker in Boston.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1875
- associated person
- Farmer, Moses G.
- Woodman, Asa F.
- maker
- Charles Williams, Jr.
- ID Number
- EM.252638
- catalog number
- 252638
- accession number
- 49064
- patent number
- 160581
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Gray telegraph relay patent model
- Description
- Telegraph relays amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The pulses faded in strength as they traveled through the wire, to the point where the incoming signal was too weak to directly operate a receiving sounder or register. A relay detected a weak signal and used a battery to strengthen the signal so that the receiver would operate.
- This relay was constructed early in 1867 by noted electrical inventor Elisha Gray to accompany a patent application. He received US Patent 69,424 later that year for an improved telegraph relay. Gray's idea was to use a second set of electromagnet coils rather than a spring to retract the armature after a signal pulse. He wrote that the pulse's strength could vary so much that a relay's spring needed constant adjustment. His design compensated automatically for the variation in pulse strength.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1867
- maker
- Gray, Elisha
- ID Number
- EM.308870
- catalog number
- 308870
- accession number
- 89797
- patent number
- 69424
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Telegraph Key Patent Model
- Description (Brief)
- 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 sequence and duration of pulses represent letters and numbers. This patent model shows Lucien Crandall's design for an automatic key. His idea involved a key for each letter, number and character, set on a frame like a typewriter. Each key included a ratcheted wheel with conducting and insulated segments around the edge. When the operator pressed a key, the wheel rotated and generated morse code pulses at a regular speed. His goal was to permit operators to send messages, "with greater rapidity, uniformity, and certainty than with the common telegraphic key."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1875
- maker
- Crandall, Lucien S.
- ID Number
- EM.308883
- catalog number
- 308883
- accession number
- 89797
- patent number
- 168144
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Patent Model of a Book-stitching Machine
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a machine for sewing books with two needles and an intermediate looper. The invention was granted patent number 250990.
- date made
- ca 1881
- patent date
- 1881-12-13
- maker
- Smyth, David McConnel
- ID Number
- GA.89797.250990
- patent number
- 250990
- accession number
- 089797
- catalog number
- GA*89797.250990
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Patent Model of a Book-stitching Machine
- Description (Brief)
- This patent model demonstrates an invention for a machine for sewing books using a double-loop stitch. The invention was granted patent number 250991.
- date made
- ca 1881
- patent date
- 1881-12-13
- maker
- Smyth, David McConnel
- ID Number
- GA.89797.250991
- patent number
- 250991
- accession number
- 089797
- catalog number
- GA*89797.250991
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
Pages
Filter Your Results
Click to remove a filter:
- data source
-
topic
- Communications 2908
- Art 1124
- Industrialization 421
- Manufacturing industries 421
- Models (representations) 395
- Patents 395
- Patent Models, Graphic Arts 394
- Tokuno Gift 194
- Copp Collection 185
- Ferris Collection 166
- Marsh Collection 140
- Science 123
- Mathematics 122
- Telegraph Keys 117
- Religion 116
- Portraits 102
- Telegraph Relays & Repeaters 82
- Comic Art 81
- Military 81
- Wood Blocks for early Bureau of American Ethnology Publications, Graphic Arts Collection 77
-
object type
- Prints 711
- Models (representations) 425
- Patents 418
- telegraph relay 344
- relay 281
- Drawings 273
- Correspondence 184
- Lithographs 134
- Engravings (prints) 133
- telegraph receiver 121
- telegraph key 118
- polar relay 108
- Woodcut 99
- Etchings (prints) 98
- woodcut 95
- block 92
- relief printing 88
- Photomechanical Lithographic Processes 85
- Printing presses 84
- Wood Engraving 84
- date
- place
- culture
-
set name
- Work and Industry: Graphic Arts 1885
- Art 1199
- Work and Industry: Electricity 770
- Cultures & Communities 450
- Work 428
- Industry & Manufacturing 423
- Patent Models 397
- Patent Models, Graphic Arts 394
- Tokuno Gift 194
- Cultural and Community Life: Domestic Life 186
- Copp Collection 185
- Ferris Collection 166
- Marsh Collection 140
- Science & Mathematics 122
- Telegraph Keys 117
- Religion 116
- Telegraph Relays & Repeaters 82
- Comic Art 81
- Military 81
