Telegraph Sounder
date: label: date made
content: ca 1860
name: label: user
content: Henry, Joseph
label: maker
content: Chester, Charles T.
label: maker
content: Chester, J. N.
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.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Telegraph Sounder, marked: "Charles T & J.N. Chester, New York". Wooden base on which is mounted a brass plate supporting a brass frame and lever, and a 2-pole electromagnet. The lever is disconnected and the wiring disorganized.
label: Description (Brief)
content: This telegraph sounder belonged to Joseph Henry, the physicist who served as founding Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Henry made significant accomplishments in developing electromagnets that directly affected telegraph equipment design. The "Charles T. & J. N. Chester, New York" inscription refers to Charles T. Chester (d. 1880) and his brother John N. Chester (d. 1871), who in the 1860s advertised as telegraph engineers and suppliers of telegraph apparatus.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Reference: Charles T. & J. N. Chester, <i>Catalogue of Telegraph Material</i> (New York, 1867).
label: Description (Brief)
content: Charles T. Chester, <i>Catalogue of Telegraph Material</i> (New York, 1873).
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
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content: Telegraph Sounders
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from the Smithsonian Institution Collection of Apparatus, thru William C. Winlock
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.181450
label: catalog number
content: 181450
label: accession number
content: 2006.0177
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph receiver
label: Object Name
content: telegraph sounder
label: Other Terms
content: telegraph sounder; Telegraphy
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: copper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cloth (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: lead (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 in x 4 5/8 in x 8 1/2 in; 10.16 cm x 11.7475 cm x 21.59 cm