Flame-proof Telegraph Key
date: label: date made
content: ca 1918
name: label: maker
content: General Radio Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Telegraph keys are electrical on-off switches used to send messages in Morse code and can spark when the circuit opens. Flame-proof telegraph keys, like this one made by General Radio, were designed to contain the spark within a sealed chamber. These keys were necessary on early aircraft and in confined spaces such as aboard ships and submarines where the spark might ignite flammable gasses. Stamped on cover of this unit: "Airplane / Flame-Proof Radio Key / Type CAG-1169 Made for Navy Department / BU.of S.E. / General Radio Co. / Cambridge Mass." The knob is missing from this specimen.
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
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2013.0030.02
label: catalog number
content: 2013.0030.02
label: accession number
content: 65022
objectType: label: Object Name
content: wireless key
label: Object Name
content: sending key
label: Object Name
content: telegraph key
label: Other Terms
content: telegraph key; Radio
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 1 1/2 in x 2 3/4 in x 5 in; 3.81 cm x 6.985 cm x 12.7 cm