Telegraph Register
name: label: maker
content: Phelps, George M.
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: George M. Phelps at Western Union designed this telegraph register, one of many types he designed for the company. 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 Corporation
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.331492
label: catalog number
content: 331492
label: accession number
content: 294351
label: collector/donor number
content: 37-05
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph register
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 8 in x 12 3/4 in x 5 1/2 in; 20.32 cm x 32.385 cm x 13.97 cm