Telegraph Key
date: label: date made
content: ca 1902
name: label: maker
content: Foote, Pierson & Co.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: 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 operator moved the handle back and forth to send the message. Called a pump-handle key, Charles Shirley, Shirley, a British citizen then living in Brooklyn, NY, patented this design in 1901. The heavy, detachable base gave Shirley a portable key that could be quickly placed in operation without clamps or other mounting hardware.
label: Description (Brief)
content: According to collecting curator George C. Maynard, the operator moved the handle back and forth to send the message. "This key is made for the use of operators who have 'lost their grip', or become afflicted with neurasthenia from long practice in the use of the ordinary Morse key which exercises one set of muscles only. This key enables operators to work with the hand and arm in many positions and thus prevent the strain caused by the ordinary key."
label: Description (Brief)
content: Painted floral design on metal base. Marked on key arm: "Patent no 685 co. (/) New York". Painted on top of base: "Patented (/) Dec. 24. 1901 (/) no. 689,426". Painted of side of base: "twentieth century portable key base (/) Foote, Pierson & Co Sole mfrs. (/) New York". "877" stamped on base near yoke.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Telegraph Keys
label: See more items in
content: Communications
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Foote Pierson & Co.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.222139
label: catalog number
content: 222139
label: serial number
content: 877
label: accession number
content: 42158
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph key
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cloth (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 1/2 in x 3 5/8 in x 6 1/2 in; 13.97 cm x 9.2075 cm x 16.51 cm