Morse Telegraph Club, Inc.

07/28/2024

A mural on the side of a building in Steubenville, Ohio:

01/02/2024

Not exactly telegraph related, but this might be of interest to many MTC members due to their past or current employment in the rail industry.

As you know, the basic mechanics of grade crossing gate mechanisms in the U.S. and Canada hasn't changed since the 1930s. This new type of gate mechanism is virtually maintenance free, extremely consistent in its mechanical operation, and it is almost maintenance-free. Check it out!

The gate mechanism used in the railroad industry is a bit like death and taxes; it never changes. Certainly, the basic design is robust and there have been improvements over the years, but the basic methodology has remained the same for the better part of a century. What would happen if someone step...

12/17/2023

The telegraph and the standardization of time are intrinsically linked. Perhaps the most common example of this relationship is seen in the once ubiquitous "Self Winding Clocks," developed in partnership with the Western Union Telegraph Company. Many examples still exist, mostly in the hands of collectors, but now and then, one can be seen in a public space. This one hangs on a wall in the electronics repair and testing shop at Signal and Communications Associates, LLC in Buchanan, Michigan.

06/19/2023

I really hope this happens when that day comes ❤️

12/03/2022

10/01/2022

The Morse Telegraph Club has completed the construction of the telegraph office at the Milwaukee Railroad depot at the Ozaukee County Historical Society Pioneer Village located near Fredonia, Wisconsin. There are still a few additions to complete, but the depot telegraph office is now fully operational and ready for visitors:

This video offers a quick tour of the newly completed telegraph office in the restored Milwaukee Railroad depot at the Ozaukee County, Wisconsin Historical S...

06/25/2022

From a broadcast transcription disk in the archives of the Morse Telegraph Club, this radio broadcast coverage of the 1948 ARRL Field Day event is an interesting look into the past: https://radio-relay.org/arrl-field-day-coverage-in-1948/

01/05/2022

The recent failure of a modern TDR during an attempt to locate a cable fault in a railroad signal system required a "field expedient" solution. In response, this old-style Leeds and Northrup Type U Test Set was pressed into service. Technicians and engineers under a certain age had never seen anything like it, nor had they ever performed a "Murray" or "Varley" loop test!

The device is simply a precision Wheatstone bridge configured for cable testing. If one has data on cable characteristics, such as resistance values along with an understanding of the infrastructure configuration, a bit of simple mathematics and an understanding of the theory behind the device can provide an excellent approximation of where a fault is located.

How many of our Morse Telegraph Club members have used such a device? Certainly, those who worked as a wire chief or in the area of testing and regulating are likely quite familiar with its use.

While it may be old, this Leeds and Northrup test set will likely still be serviceable 50 or 100 years from now (unlike some of its younger cousins)!

11/28/2021

Today, standardized time is taken for granted, but in the course of human history, the ability to standardize time can only be described as revolutionary. The telegraph industry laid the foundation for standardizing time. A complex infrastructure of master clocks, sub-master clocks, and slave clocks supported by telegraph operators and testing and regulating personnel provided a foundation upon which other complex industries, such as rail transportation, the airline industry, radio and television broadcasting, stock and commodities markets, and other infrastructure organizations could operate. At the heart of this network was a partnership between Western Union and the U.S. Naval Observatory, which provided the primary noon calibration pulse based on data from a photographic zenith tube instrument. The clock pictured is currently being restored as a part of a museum project for the Ozaukee County, Wisconsin Historical Society. Designed and built by the "Self Winding Clock Company," these pendulum clocks wind themselves every hour. Meanwhile, an hourly telegraphic impulse via the telegraph network ensures perfect accuracy. The movement pictured was patented in 1898. The basic model 29 self winding clock shown here was introduced in 1905. Here, one can see two versions, one of which is under restoration and testing before installation, and the second of which, with a more ornate, carved cabinet, which was restored about ten years ago and which has been operating daily since that time. So next time you look at your cell phone or "atomic clock," remember that it was the telegraph industry that made standardized time possible throughout much of the 19th and 20th Century.