Muirhead telegraph mallet perforator
date: label: date made
content: ca 1905
name: label: maker
content: Muirhead & Co. Ltd.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: A mallet perforator used around 1910 to make message tapes for an automatic transmitter. A brass housing with three plungers along the front edge, and a brass-covered perforating mechanism toward the back. A spring-loaded roller arm in the right side maintains tension on the paper tape. Rubber pads on the keys damp the sound of stamping (one key is missing its pad). Unit is mounted on a wooden display plaque along with two rubber-tipped mallets. (The tip from one unit is missing.) Stamped on unit: "Muirhead & Co. Ltd. Westminster / No. 29276"; cover stamped: "Patent No. / 2904 of 1897 / 25346 of 1899." The operator would use the two mallets to punch the keys, creating perforations along three rows on the paper tape that represented coded characters. Western Union Museum display label reads: "Mallet Perforator / #29276 / Mfd. by Muirhead & Co. / Ltd. of Westminster."
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
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.332075
label: accession number
content: 294351
label: catalog number
content: 332075
label: collector/donor number
content: 30-01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Perforator, Mallet
label: Object Name
content: telegraph perforator
label: Other Terms
content: Perforator, Mallet; Telegraphy
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (part: material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (part: material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 1/2 in x 8 3/4 in x 10 in; 8.89 cm x 22.225 cm x 25.4 cm