telegraph receiver
Date: circa 1904
Inventory Number: 1997-1-0562
Classification: Telegraph Receiver
Dimensions:14 × 31.5 × 13.7 cm (5 1/2 × 12 3/8 × 5 3/8 in.)
DescriptionDouble telegraph apparatus mounted on a black rectangular base. The left and right sides of the apparatus are mirror images of one another. The right side consists of a large black cylinder sitting on top of two smaller black cylinders. The cylinders are connected on the right side by several black metal bars. One of these bars is connected to the base by brass legs. Two brass coils run from the plates to a brass post. There are two adjustment dials on the right side of the brass post on the level of the coils. A handle with a dial on the end extends out from the post. A brass bar with a black handle sits on the base below the post. It is secured in the middle and free to pivot over two brass circles on the base.
A thin piece of black metal, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, sits in front of the magnets. One side of it runs between bars attached to the base, each bar having a double adjustment knob on its outer side.
The left side of the apparatus is a mirror image of the right.
Signedunsigned
Inscribedon base, in bottom corners: CUT
FunctionThis apparatus was used to receive telegraph messages from distant locations. When a current ran through a battery, it activated the electromagnets, which in turn exerted a force on the front metal plates. The current was turned on and off by the operator of a signaling apparatus connected to the receiving apparatus by wires. In the manner, a Morse code message could be received.
ProvenanceFrom the Department of Physics, Lyman laboratory, Harvard University.