Let’s take a look at the architecture of a Morse Key, its components and how this device works. The Morse Key is the device that is used to send a message. The process of sending a message, starts by pressing the knob when the current goes through. The knob is a plastic or Bakelite button used by the operator to move the lever and send Morse code. That causes a process known as the “touch and release” of the anvil and the hammer. When the upper contact (hammer) touches the lower contact (anvil), the circuit is closed, and a dot or dash is sent, depending on how long the circuit is held closed when pressing the key. The circuit closer, when engaged, it shorts the wiring posts to each other. For landline telegraphy, this was used to allow electricity to flow to the sounder so messages (telegrams) could be received. In radio work, closing this switch sends a constant tone over the air in a process called tuning-up. The spring tension adjustment regulates how much the lever resists being rotated on the trunnions to make the contacts meet each other, closing the circuit. It also influences how quickly the contacts separate when the operator stops pressing down on the knob. The contact gap adjustment, is a screw which is used to adjust the distance between the lower and upper contacts. The gap affects the distance that the knob travels. This in turn has an impact on the sending speed of the message. All the parts of the key are held together by the frame, a heavy stamped or cast metal piece.
For electrical telegraphs, once the key was pressed and the message was sent, the message traveled over electrical wires to reach the other telegraph. Samuel Morse was the first to receive funding from Congress to set up glass insulators to poles alongside a railroad to send telegrams.
A single-circuit telegraph worked by pushing the operator key down to complete the electric circuit of the battery. This action sent the electric signal across a wire to a receiver at the other end. All the system needed was a key, a battery, wire and a line of poles between stations for the wire and a receiver. As the telegraph became a more popular technology, more wires and cables were set up to send telegrams.
Once the Morse code was transmitted over the telegraph system and went successfully through the wires or cables, it was rendered as marks on a piece of paper that the telegraph operator would then translate back into English. However, it became apparent that the operators were able to hear and understand the code just by listening to the clicking of the receiver, so the paper was replaced by a receiver that created more pronounced beeping sounds.
Morse’s telegraph marked the arrival of instant long-distance communication in America. This revolutionary technology excited the public imagination, and made possible for people to communicate across the country and across the ocean.
