Telegraph Sounder
name: label: maker
content: Charles Williams, Jr.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Telegraph sounders convert electrical pulses into audible sounds and are used to receive Morse code messages. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. Short pulses make a dot, slightly longer pulses make a dash. The sequence of dots and dashes represent letters and numbers. The pulses energize the sounder’s electromagnets which move a lever-arm. The arm makes a loud “click” when it strikes a crossbar and the operator translates the pattern of sounds into the original language. Charles Williams, Jr. of Boston began making telegraph instruments in the late 1850s and by the 1870s had diversified into a full range of electrical devices. Well regarded as a craftsman, he made many early telephone instruments for Alexander Graham Bell in the late 1870s.
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 Sounders
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Western Union Corporation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.332366
label: accession number
content: 294351
label: catalog number
content: 332366
label: collector/donor number
content: 06-13
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph receiver
label: Object Name
content: telegraph sounder
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 3/8 in x 4 3/4 in x 3 1/4 in; 8.5725 cm x 12.065 cm x 8.255 cm