Telegraph Register
date: label: date made
content: ca 1860
name: label: maker
content: Chester, Charles T.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This telegraph register is serial number 80 made by Charles T. Chester of New York. Set on a marble base, the unit was driven by a weight suspended by a string that passed through the hole in the base. Like a clock, the key was used to rewind the mechanism. 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
label: See more items in
content: Telegraph Registers
label: See more items in
content: Communications
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Janet Lewis
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.335587
label: catalog number
content: 335587
label: accession number
content: 323535
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph receiver
label: Object Name
content: telegraph register
label: Other Terms
content: telegraph register; Telegraphy
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: marble (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 6 1/4 in x 8 1/4 in x 13 in; 15.875 cm x 20.955 cm x 33.02 cm