Telegraph Sounder
date: label: date made
content: ca 1915
name: label: maker
content: L. S. Brach Manufacturing Co.
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. this sounder was made by the L. S. Brach Co., Newark, N.J., around the time of the First World War. The only Brach sounder in the collection, this unit has the electromagnets mounted horizontally instead of the more common vertical orientation. We do not know if this was simply a design feature or if the company believed the sounder worked better with the electromagnets in that configuration.
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.332359
label: collector/donor number
content: 06-11
label: accession number
content: 294351
label: catalog number
content: 332359
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 5/8 in x 2 3/4 in x 5 3/8 in; 9.2075 cm x 6.985 cm x 13.6525 cm