Telegraph Register
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This telegraph register, purportedly from Japan, came to the Smithsonian in 1911 from the U. S. Department of the Interior. While the electromagnets and tape reel appear conventional, there is no obvious tape drive mechanism so perhaps a separate weight or spring-mechanism was used. 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.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: web subject
content: Communication, telegraph
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Telegraph Registers
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content: Communications
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: fom Department of Interior, Bureau of Education
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.261267
label: catalog number
content: 261267
label: accession number
content: 51116
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph register
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 1/2 in x 4 1/8 in x 8 5/8 in; 13.97 cm x 10.4775 cm x 21.9075 cm