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Catalog Data

Maker:
Morse, Samuel Finley Breese  Search this
Measurements:
overall: 7 1/2 in x 7 in x 36 3/4 in; 19.05 cm x 17.78 cm x 93.345 cm
Object Name:
Telegraph Instrument
telegraph transmitter
Date made:
1837
Description:
This is the prototype Morse telegraph transmitter made by Samuel F. B. Morse and exhibited in New York in 1837. Called a Port Rule,Morse and assistant Alfred Vail set lead slugs representing letters in the carriage that was then cranked under a rocker arm. The arm made and broke contact with two cups at one end that contained mercury thus opening and closing the circuit. The current activated an electromagnet on the receiver.
Samuel F. B. Morse and assistant Alfred Vail constructed this telegraph transmitter in 1837 to prove messages could be sent with electricity. Morse and Vail called this device a Port Rule. They set lead slugs that represented letters and numbers in the carriage cranked under a rocker arm. The arm moved up and down dipping a wire on the end into two cups filled with mercury. That action opened and closed the circuit and sent an electrical pulse from a battery to an electromagnet mounted on the receiver.
Credit Line:
from Western Union Telegraph Co.
ID Number:
EM.181250.02
Catalog number:
181250.02
Accession number:
31286
See more items in:
Work and Industry: Electricity
Communications
Exhibition:
Inventing In America
Exhibition Location:
National Museum of American History
Data Source:
National Museum of American History
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746aa-51c2-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:nmah_1192941