Telegraph Key
date: label: date made
content: ca 1920
name: label: maker
content: J. H. Bunnell & Co.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Telegraph keys are electrical on-off switches used to send messages in Morse code. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. The operator pushes the key’s lever down briefly to make a short signal, a dot, or holds the lever down for a moment to make a slightly longer signal, a dash. The sequence of dots and dashes represent letters and numbers. According to the Western Union catalog this key was used by baseball reporter Edson S. Brewster of New York to telegraph play-by-play accounts of games from 1899 to 1938.
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
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.332379
label: accession number
content: 294351
label: catalog number
content: 332379
objectType: label: Object Name
content: key
label: Object Name
content: telegraph key
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: lead (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cloth (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/4 in x 4 1/4 in x 6 1/2 in; 5.715 cm x 10.795 cm x 16.51 cm