Telegraph Register
date: label: date made
content: 1848
name: label: patentee
content: Morse, Samuel F. B.
label: maker
content: J. Burritt & Son
notes: label: Description
content: This telegraph register, manufactured in accord with the Morse patent, was installed in 1848 in South Bend, reputedly the second telegraph office in Indiana. Stamped on the base is "J. Burritt & Son ithaca." Pulses of electricity caused the two vertical electromagnets to pull against an iron bar attached to the horizontal brass lever arm. The other end of the arm then pressed a metal stylus against a strip of paper (not shown) which was pulled through a pair of rollers by the clockwork mechanism. This caused short and long marks (dots and dashes) to be embossed on the paper. Morse specified this embossing process because he found that pens tended to clog when he tried to use ink. The apparatus also made a clicking noise, and operators soon found that they could "read" messages by ear, making the tape unnecessary. By the 1850s, "sounders" began to replace registers. These simple, rugged instruments were ideally suited to the American situation, where many offices were in isolated locations without easy access to repair facilties.
label: Description
content: The donor reported in 1902 that: "these instruments were first put in use at South Bend, Indiana, in March 1848 on the Erie & Michigan Telegraph line, the first line that ever touched the states of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. This line was constructed under the immediate direction of Ezra B. Cornell (founder of Cornell University) and Col. John F. Speed, with W. B. Wood as superintendent of construction of the Western Division, which extended from Detroit to Milwaukee. Construction began at Detroit and Milwaukee. The builders from the Western end came over into Indiana and established the first office in the state at Michigan City. A few days later the builders from Detroit struck the state at South Bend and there established the second office ever in Indiana. The instruments ... were put in use, my father being operator from March 1848 to June 1861. From the latter date to March 1865 [in] war operation. The instruments remained in use until about 1872 with Thoe. D. Baird as operator since which they were in our family as relics until the date they [came to the Smithsonian]."
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: made
content: United States: New York, Ithaca
label: used
content: United States: Indiana, South Bend
topic: label: web subject
content: Communication, telegraph
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
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content: Telegraph Registers
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content: Communications
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Charles M. Heaton, Jr.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.215496
label: catalog number
content: 215496
label: accession number
content: 39777
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph register
label: Object Name
content: telegraph receiver
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: iron (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: copper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 1/4 in x 4 in x 11 1/2 in; 18.415 cm x 10.16 cm x 29.21 cm