Hamilton telegraph repeater patent model
date: label: date made
content: 1865
name: label: maker
content: Chubbuck, Arinaldo S.
label: maker
content: Hamilton, William H.
notes: label: Description
content: 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.
label: Description
content: 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.
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
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.251261
label: catalog number
content: 251261
label: accession number
content: 48865
label: patent number
content: 49875
objectType: label: Object Name
content: repeater
label: Object Name
content: telegraph relay
label: Object Name
content: telegraph repeater
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
label: Other Terms
content: telegraph relay; Telegraph; Receiver
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: copper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cloth (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: silver (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 1/2 in x 11 7/8 in x 7 3/4 in; 8.89 cm x 30.1625 cm x 19.685 cm