Morse "Canvas-stretcher" telegraph receiver
Object Details
- Description
- This is the prototype of the Morse telegraph receiver made by Samuel F. B. Morse and exhibited in New York in 1837. A clockwork mechanism draws a roll of paper under a pencil. The line thus drawn moves to the right or to the left depending on whether an electromagnet is active. The shape of the line represents the coded message.
- Samuel F. B. Morse gained modest public attention as an artist in the 1820s. Seeking a more profitable venture, he converted this artist’s canvas stretcher into a telegraph receiver in 1837. The weight hanging off the right side of the piece powered a clockwork mechanism that pulled a strip of paper under a rocker arm. Electrical pulses from the transmitter activated an electromagnet that pulled a rocker arm to one side while a spring pulled the arm back when the power was off. A pencil mounted on the rocker arm drew a wavy line on a strip of paper as the arm moved left or right. The shape of the line represented the coded message.
- Credit Line
- from Western Union Telegraph Co.
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- Date made
- 1837
- ID Number
- EM.181250.01
- catalog number
- 181250.01
- accession number
- 31286
- maker
- Morse, Samuel Finley Breese
- Object Name
- telegraph receiver
- Telegraph Instrument
- Measurements
- overall: 41 1/2 in x 39 1/4 in x 7 3/4 in; 105.41 cm x 99.695 cm x 19.685 cm
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: Electricity
- Communications
- Exhibition
- Inventing In America
- Exhibition Location
- National Museum of American History
- Record ID
- nmah_1191648
