Telegraph Register
date: label: date made
content: ca 1860
name: label: maker
content: Clark, James J.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: In 1853 James J. Clark received U. S. patent 9514 for his “telegraphic register.” This may be the model Clark submitted to the Patent Office to demonstrate his invention, related to his work on self-winding registers. Most registers used wind-up springs or a weight-driven mechanism to pull the paper under the pen or embossing stylus. Like a mechanical clock, either type of mechanism would occasionally need to be rewound. Clark filed several patents for self-winding devices and this patent covered his method of shutting off current from the mechanism when the spring was completely rewound.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Telegraph registers are electrically-activated printers that receive Morse code messages. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. The pulses energize the register’s electromagnets which move a lever-arm holding a pen or stylus. A clockwork mechanism pulls a strip of paper across the pen or stylus, recording the message. Short pulses draw or emboss a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The sequence of dots and dashes represent letters and numbers.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: web subject
content: Communication, telegraph
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
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content: Telegraph Registers
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content: Communications
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.320016
label: accession number
content: 243907
label: catalog number
content: 320016
label: patent number
content: 9514
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph receiver
label: Object Name
content: telegraph register
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: ivory (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: copper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 1/2 in x 12 in x 6 1/2 in; 21.59 cm x 30.48 cm x 16.51 cm