Telegraph Key
date: label: date made
content: ca 1850
name: label: user
content: Henry, Joseph
label: maker
content: Chester, Partrick & Co.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Telegraph keys are electrical on-off switches used to send messages in Morse code. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. The operator pushes the key’s lever down briefly to make a short signal, a dot, or holds the lever down for a moment to make a slightly longer signal, a dash. The sequence of dots and dashes represent letters and numbers. This is a very early strap key used by Joseph Henry in experiments made at the Smithsonian.
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 the Smithsonian Institution Collection of Apparatus, thru William C. Winlock
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.181441
label: catalog number
content: 181441
label: accession number
content: 2006.0177
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph key
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: copper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cloth (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 2 1/8 in x 3 1/2 in x 6 in; 5.3975 cm x 8.89 cm x 15.24 cm