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Antique Bunnell Telegraph Relay and Sounder

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:25.00 USD Estimated At:100.00 - 200.00 USD
Antique Bunnell Telegraph Relay and Sounder
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You are bidding on two antique telegraph instruments made by J.H. Bunnell & Co., New York. The instrument on the gray wood base is called a telegraph sounder. A telegraph sounder is an electromechanical device used as a receiver on telegraph lines. It was invented in 1850 and was the new technology replacing the old Morse register. The sounder worked by producing audible clicking sounds as a message came in; the sounds were the dots and dashes of Morse code, which the operator translated. The second instrument, with the black base, is a telegraph relay. The relay acted as an amplifier if the became too weak as they passed through the wire. Jesse Bunnell was a young telegraph operator in the Civil War with the Union Military Telegraph Service. In 1878, Jesse created J.H. Bunnell and Co.