Drury telegraph mallet perforator
date: label: date made
content: ca 1910
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: A mallet perforator used around 1910 to make message tapes for an automatic transmitter. A brass housing with three steel plungers along the front edge, and a brass-covered perforating mechanism toward the back. The plungers connected to mechanism by steel levers, visible under the unit. A spring-loaded wooden roller arm in the right side maintains tension on the paper tape. Rubber pads on the keys damp the sound of stamping. Perforator stamped "Drury Bros., London. No. 54". Casing is stamped "Drury Bros. / London. / No. 31". Unit is missing the brass cover over the tape feed sprocket. The operator would use two rubber-tipped wooden mallets to punch the keys, creating perforations along three rows on the paper tape that represented coded characters.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from the Estate of Major General George O. Squier, thru Jason A. Purcell
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.311203.A
label: catalog number
content: 311203.A
label: accession number
content: 143739
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph perforator
label: Object Name
content: perforator
label: Object Name
content: mallet perforator
label: Other Terms
content: Perforator, Mallet; Telegraphy
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 in x 4 1/2 in x 6 1/2 in; 7.62 cm x 11.43 cm x 16.51 cm