Alfred Vail made this key, believed to be from the first Baltimore-Washington telegraph line, as an improvement on Samuel Morse's original transmitter. Vail helped Morse develop a practical system for sending and receiving coded electrical signals over a wire, which was successfully demonstrated in 1844.

Morse's telegraph marked the arrival of instant long-distance communication in America. The revolutionary technology excited the public imagination, inspiring predictions that the telegraph would bring about economic prosperity, national unity, and even world peace.

National Museum of American History

demonstrator

Morse, Samuel Finley Breese

Vail, Alfred

Vail, Alfred

Morse, Samuel Finley Breese

Credit Line

from Western Union Telegraph Co.

Physical Description

wood (overall material)

brass (overall material)

Measurements

overall: 3 in x 2 in x 6 3/4 in; 7.62 cm x 5.08 cm x 17.145 cm

See more items in

Work and Industry: Electricity

Industry & Manufacturing

Work

National Treasures exhibit

Artifact Walls exhibit

Communications

Government, Politics, and Reform

Computers & Business Machines

Engineering, Building, and Architecture

American Enterprise

Exhibition

American Enterprise

Exhibition Location

National Museum of American History

Place Made

United States: New Jersey, Morristown

used

United States: Maryland, Baltimore

United States: District of Columbia, Washington

1844

used date

1844

Object Name

telegraph transmitter

telegraph key

ID Number

EM.181411

catalog number

181411

accession number

31652

Related Publication

Kendrick, Kathleen M. and Peter C. Liebhold. Smithsonian Treasures of American History

National Museum of American History. Treasures of American History online exhibition

Related Web Publication

http://americanhistory.si.edu/treasures