Object Details
- Western Electric
- Description (Brief)
- Telegraph sounders convert electrical pulses into audible sounds and are used to receive Morse code messages. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. Short pulses make a dot, slightly longer pulses make a dash. The sequence of dots and dashes represent letters and numbers. The pulses energize the sounder’s electromagnets which move a lever-arm. The arm makes a loud “click” when it strikes a crossbar and the operator translates the pattern of sounds into the original language. A resonator like this wall-mounted unit was used to amplify the sound, making it easier for an operator to hear his or her own sounder when working in a room filled with these devices.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- from Western Union Corporation
- ca 1913
- ID Number
- EM.333368
- accession number
- 294351
- catalog number
- 333368
- Object Name
- telegraph resonator
- telegraph receiver
- telegraph sounder
- Other Terms
- telegraph sounder; Telegraphy
- Physical Description
- wood (overall material)
- brass (overall material)
- rubber (overall material)
- iron (overall material)
- Measurements
- sounder: 4 1/2 in x 5 1/2 in x 3 in; 11.43 cm x 13.97 cm x 7.62 cm
- resonator open: 15 in x 7 in x 26 1/2 in; 38.1 cm x 17.78 cm x 67.31 cm
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Electricity
- Communications
- Telegraph Sounders
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_713668
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ac-7a78-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
