Telegraph Key
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Object Details
- Spies Electric Works
- Description (Brief)
- 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 to select which side of a battery to connect to a line, the positive or negative terminal, and is called a pole-changing key.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- from Western Union Corporation
- ca 1890
- ID Number
- EM.331428
- maker number
- 1-B
- collector/donor number
- 100-825
- accession number
- 294351
- catalog number
- 331428
- Object Name
- key
- polechanger key
- telegraph key
- Physical Description
- brass (overall material)
- plastic (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 2 in x 3 1/2 in x 6 in; 5.08 cm x 8.89 cm x 15.24 cm
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Electricity
- Telegraph Keys
- Communications
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_890775
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a7-1c76-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
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