Telegraph Key
date: label: date made
content: 1869
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 key has a switch on the side called a circuit-closer that takes the key off-line when not in use. The straight lever was used in the mid nineteenth century. This key was used in the 1870s on the Railroad Overland Telegraph Line.
place: label: used
content: United States: California
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
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content: Telegraph Keys
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content: Communications
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content: America on the Move
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content: Transcontinental Railroad
label: Exhibition
content: America On The Move
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from A. E. Roome
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.231787
label: catalog number
content: 231787
label: accession number
content: 43532
objectType: label: Object Name
content: telegraph key
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (handle material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 in x 3 1/2 in x 6 1/2 in; 7.62 cm x 8.89 cm x 16.51 cm