Flame-proof Telegraph Key
date: label: date made
content: 1918
name: label: maker
content: International Radio Telegraph Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Telegraph keys are electrical on-off switches used to send messages in Morse code and can spark when the circuit opens. Flame-proof telegraph keys, like this one made by International Radio Telegraph Company, were designed to contain the spark within a sealed chamber. These keys were necessary on early aircraft and in confined spaces such as aboard ships and submarines where the spark might ignite flammable gasses.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Marked on plate: "Flame-proof Key and Winker / Type CA-1213 Serial 48080 / International Radio Telegraph Co." Reference: Clark Collection: Navy Type Numbers, 1918, page 106.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Telegraph Keys
label: See more items in
content: Communications
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Franklin Wingard
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.320856
label: catalog number
content: 320856
label: accession number
content: 241556
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph key
label: Object Name
content: wireless key
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 3/8 in x 2 3/4 in x 8 in; 8.5979 cm x 6.985 cm x 20.32 cm