Telegraph Register
date: label: date made
content: 1853
name: label: maker
content: Clark, James J.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: In 1853 James J. Clark received U. S. patent 10,128 for his “self-winding telegraph register.” Clark submitted this model to the Patent Office to demonstrate his invention, an electromagnet and set of cogs that would automatically wind the spring of a telegraph register. Most registers used wind-up springs or a weight-driven mechanism to pull the paper under the pen or embossing stylus. Like a mechanical clock, either type of mechanism would occasionally need to be rewound. Ultimately, Clark’s invention became unnecessary as more operators switched from printing registers to audible sounders as telegraph receivers.
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
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content: Communications
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.308854
label: catalog number
content: 308854
label: accession number
content: 89797
label: patent number
content: 10128
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph receiver
label: Object Name
content: telegraph register
label: Object Type
content: Patent Model
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 1/2 in x 10 in x 5 in; 21.59 cm x 25.4 cm x 12.7 cm