Muirhead telegraph mallet perforator
date: label: date made
content: ca 1905
name: label: maker
content: Muirhead & Co. Ltd.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: A mallet perforator used around 1910 to make message tapes for an automatic transmitter. A brass housing with three plungers along the front edge, and a brass-covered perforating mechanism toward the back. The plungers are connected to the mechanism by parallel leaf-spring assemblies, visible under the unit. A spring-loaded roller arm in the right side maintains tension on the paper tape. Rubber pads on the keys damp the sound of stamping. Stamped on unit: "Muirhead & Co. Ltd. Westminster / No. 28925"; cover stamped: "Patent No. / 2904 of 1897 / 25346 of 1899." The operator would use the 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 Western Union International
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.329975
label: catalog number
content: 329975
label: accession number
content: 283729
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph perforator
label: Object Name
content: submarine telegraph component
label: Other Terms
content: Perforator, Mallet; Telegraphy
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 in x 4 1/4 in x 6 3/8 in; 7.62 cm x 10.795 cm x 16.1925 cm