Telegraph Register
date: label: date made
content: ca 1845
name: label: maker
content: Morse, Samuel Finley Breese
label: maker
content: Vail, Alfred
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This early telegraph register was designed and made by Alfred Vail, who worked closely with Samuel Morse on the telegraph invention. The beige coils are electromagnets and their large size was typical for early units. Vail’s signature is stamped on the base.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Telegraph registers are electrically-activated printers that receive Morse code messages. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. The pulses energize the register’s electromagnets which move a lever-arm holding a pen or stylus. A clockwork mechanism pulls a strip of paper across the pen or stylus, recording the message. Short pulses draw or emboss a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The sequence of dots and dashes represent letters and numbers.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: web subject
content: Communication, telegraph
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Telegraph Registers
label: See more items in
content: Communications
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.181415
label: catalog number
content: 181415
label: accession number
content: 31652
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph receiver
label: Object Name
content: telegraph register
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: copper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: fiber (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 7 5/8 in x 6 1/4 in x 11 1/2 in; 19.3675 cm x 15.875 cm x 29.21 cm