What Are They Carrying?

[Chasemuseum]

 

On 04/08/2022 at 09:45, FROGSMILE said:

military telegraph morse key.

The military morse code key was the standard GPO (General Post Office) key. The example in the photo is a GPO single current key, (the army also used double current keys.) This is about 15xm x 10cm x 4cm and is mounted on a wood board so that it can be screwed down onto the table. They were originally issued as loose stores but about 1908 the issue practice changed and the issue was as "Baseboards". This is where the key, sounder, relay, galvanometer and any other components are all issued screwed down to the baseboard, pre-wired together and ready for the communications wires and power supply wires to be attached. Baseboards are issued with a travel box and slide into the box from the end, with a hinged door.

 

The box in the photo is too big to be for the single current key baseboard, but is about the right size for the double current key board. However, baseboards are quite heavy and the box in the photo does not appear heavy enough.

WW1 single current key, baseboard box.

 

 

Single current key on baseboard, the galvanometer has been removed and the sounder has been re[placed with a  WW2 period sounder.

 

 

A commercial (non millitary) single current key baseboard from the WW1 period with a GPO key, GPO sounder and galvanometer. This is very similar to the military pattern (virtually identical)

 

Baseboard "Simplex" with a GPO Double Current key, GPO Sounder, GPO relay "A", metal case galvanometer and the switch to change from single to double working (S&D Switch)

Baseboard Duplex (Imperial War Museum collection) with a GPO double current key, the  S&D switch behind this and then a wood case galvanometer (GPO cathedral style). On the left side is a spare parts box (lightning coils), behind this is a "Rheostat Mk II" and the box at the back holds capacitors with a plug switching connection board (official name is "Condenser 7.25 Microfarads). This board would be used with a second baseboard fitted with a relay (A or B and a sounder).

The box to house this was bigger than the box in the original photo

 

[FROGSMILE]

37 minutes ago, Chasemuseum said:

 

The military morse code key was the standard GPO (General Post Office) key. The example in the photo is a GPO single current key, (the army also used double current keys.) This is about 15xm x 10cm x 4cm and is mounted on a wood board so that it can be screwed down onto the table. They were originally issued as loose stores but about 1908 the issue practice changed and the issue was as "Baseboards". This is where the key, sounder, relay, galvanometer and any other components are all issued screwed down to the baseboard, pre-wired together and ready for the communications wires and power supply wires to be attached. Baseboards are issued with a travel box and slide into the box from the end, with a hinged door.

 

The box in the photo is too big to be for the single current key baseboard, but is about the right size for the double current key board. However, baseboards are quite heavy and the box in the photo does not appear heavy enough.

WW1 single current key, baseboard box.

 

 

Single current key on baseboard, the galvanometer has been removed and the sounder has been re[placed with a  WW2 period sounder.

 

 

A commercial (non millitary) single current key baseboard from the WW1 period with a GPO key, GPO sounder and galvanometer. This is very similar to the military pattern (virtually identical)

 

Baseboard "Simplex" with a GPO Double Current key, GPO Sounder, GPO relay "A", metal case galvanometer and the switch to change from single to double working (S&D Switch)

Baseboard Duplex (Imperial War Museum collection) with a GPO double current key, the  S&D switch behind this and then a wood case galvanometer (GPO cathedral style). On the left side is a spare parts box (lightning coils), behind this is a "Rheostat Mk II" and the box at the back holds capacitors with a plug switching connection board (official name is "Condenser 7.25 Microfarads). This board would be used with a second baseboard fitted with a relay (A or B and a sounder).

The box to house this was bigger than the box in the original photo

 

It’s interesting to see the different types and reflect on their dimensions.  It doesn’t seem possible to identify precisely the item in the box, but like some others I think it likely that the box contains a communication device.  Thinking back to long personal experience of establishing communications for headquarters, or observation posts, it was routine for two men to carry compatible cable and field communication devices.  Principles that went back decades, changing only in the sense of what was the latest technology.

Edited 4 August , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[Chasemuseum]

For anyone interested in the operation of military telegraphy, get a copy of the British Army manual "Instruction in Army Telegraphy and Telephony - Vol 1 - Instruments" Reprinted with corrections 1914, printed 1916. An electronic pdf copy is available as a free download on line (cannot remember where, probably GoogleBooks), I use an original copy. Originals are not hard to find and comparatively inexpensive. The material on telephony is not good, its effectively out of date, as the 1914 cut-off on corrections misses the numerous other phones introduced during the war (GPO No44C, GPO No92A, No 100, No 108, No 110, GPO Type G, FullerPhones Mks I to V. The only important WW1 field phone covered is the Portable D Mk III (pages 168 to 171), and this reads like a last minute addition to the manual. 

By comparison the material on telegraphy, the various instruments in use and options in wiring configurations is excellent. It even has a whole chapter on the Wheatstone high speed automatic systems. At the time the manual was printed, these were seen as a high speed tool for the Post Office, but not really something the Army would use. In practice, they were used and the Marconi company even developed wireless adaptation of the system for use with spark gap  transmission technology. 

 

It also gives a full chapter to the Vibrator telephone system, which most people confuse with a straight telegraphy system.

 

If you are interested in signals technology of the BEF this manual is a must.

[MaureenE]

17 hours ago, Chasemuseum said:

For anyone interested in the operation of military telegraphy, get a copy of the British Army manual "Instruction in Army Telegraphy and Telephony - Vol 1 - Instruments" Reprinted with corrections 1914, printed 1916. An electronic pdf copy is available as a free download on line (cannot remember where, probably GoogleBooks), I use an original copy.

It is available on Archive.org

https://archive.org/details/instructioninarm01grea/page/n9/mode/2up

Instruction in Army Telegraphy and Telephony - Vol 2- Lines 1909, reprinted with corrections 1914 is also available

https://archive.org/details/instructioninarm02greaiala/page/n9/mode/2up

Maureen