Telegraph Apparatus

Unknown artist

This telegraph system is a replica of one of the 1844 units used on Samuel Morse’s line between Baltimore and Washington. The replica includes the key, paper tape reel, and register. Telegraph registers are electrically-activated printers that receive Morse code messages. The message travels as a series of electrical pulses through a wire. The pulses energize the register’s electromagnets which move a lever-arm holding a pen or stylus. A clockwork mechanism pulls a strip of paper across the pen or stylus, recording the message. Short pulses draw or emboss a dot, slightly longer pulses a dash. The sequence of dots and dashes represent letters and numbers.