Telegraph Sounder
date: label: date made
content: ca 1856
name: label: maker
content: Clark, James J.
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. This very early sounder, made only a dozen years after Morse's "What Hath God Wrought" message, is ornate and features a marble base plate.
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
label: See more items in
content: Telegraph Sounders
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Western Union Telegraph Co.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.181424
label: catalog number
content: 181424
label: accession number
content: 31652
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph receiver
label: Object Name
content: telegraph sounder
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: marble (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: steel (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 in x 8 in x 5 in; 12.7 cm x 20.32 cm x 12.7 cm