Western Electric telegraph relay
name: label: maker
content: Western Electric
notes: label: Description
content: Telegraph relays amplified electrical signals in a telegraph line. Telegraph messages traveled as a series of electrical pulses through a wire from a transmitter to a receiver. Short pulses made a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The pulses faded in strength as they traveled through the wire, to the point where the incoming signal was too weak to directly operate a receiving sounder or register. A relay detected a weak signal and used a battery to strengthen the signal so that the receiver would operate.
label: Description
content: This telegraph repeater was made by Western Electric Manufacturing Company in Chicago. Better know for their long association with the Bell Telephone System, they also fabricated other electrical devices. The theory and operation of telegraph systems constituted a part of standard physics and electrical engineering curricula in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as at Oberlin College. The Physics Department at that school donated this repeater to the new National Museum of History and Technology in 1964.
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
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content: Telegraph Relays & Repeaters
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Oberlin College, Dept. of Physics, thru David L. Anderson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.324122
label: accession number
content: 253039
label: catalog number
content: 324122
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph relay
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 in x 9 1/2 in x 5 1/2 in; 10.16 cm x 24.13 cm x 13.97 cm