Chester telegraph relay
date: label: date made
content: ca 1860
name: label: maker
content: Chester, Charles T.
notes: label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: This unusual looking relay bears the stamp of Charles T. Chester of New York. Charles and his brother John ran a business manufacturing electrical devices from 1855 to the latter's death in 1871. Charles patented several devices including improvements for batteries however we have not been able to associate a patent with this relay. The unit itself is a production piece with serial number 326.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Communications
label: See more items in
content: Telegraph Relays & Repeaters
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from International Business Machines, Inc., William J. Hammer Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.320525
label: catalog number
content: 320525
label: accession number
content: 241402
objectType: label: Object Name
content: relay
label: Object Name
content: telegraph relay
label: Object Name
content: Chester relay
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ivory (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cloth (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 3/4 in x 5 5/8 in x 12 in; 19.685 cm x 14.2875 cm x 30.48 cm