03.1

//Source(s): Peck and Snyder's Catalog (aka "Price List of Out & Indoor Sports and Pastimes") 1886, reprinted 1971 by Pyne Press (LC# 75-24886, ISBN 0-87861-094-4)// Peck and Snyder offered toy versions of the major electrical media of 1886 -- toys clearly aimed at the children's market, but also available in workable adult versions for the hobbyist or experimenter. A later epoch might have called these devices "personal telegraphy" and "personal telephony." It is well to let the Peck and Snyder copywriters speak for themselves. My comments in (((triple parens))). THE BLISS TELEPHONE. CHEAP ENOUGH FOR A TOY AND GOOD ENOUGH FOR PRACTICAL USE. This simple little instrument is sure to meet a general want in supplying the place of Speaking Tubes and Electric Bells at less than one quarter of the cost. While it may safely be warranted to work a mile, its principal recommendation lies in the readiness with which it may be put to practical use in connecting separate rooms in the same or adjoining buildings, such as Manufactories, Shops, Stores, Dwellings, Offices, &c., &c. It has been thoroughly tested and its satisfactory working, together with the low price at which it is offered, must insure its general use. Complete directions for setting up, also 100 feet of composition wire accompany each Telephone. Additional wire will be furnished by us at the rate of twenty five cents per hundred feet. Price complete, $1.00. (((To judge by the illustration, this "Telephone" was simplicity itself. At each end of the wire, a single diaphragm unit, apparently about the size and shape of a hockey puck, served as both speaker and microphone. There was no off switch, no way to hang up, no switchboard and no central office. The Bliss Telephone was simply a permanently open telephone line between two devices at two different locales, the electric equivalent of a speaking tube. There is no indication of the power source for this device.))) THE POCKET TELEGRAPH. No battery, acid, or wire needed for operating this little wonder. With this little instrument any person can learn the art of Telegraphing, and messages may be sent and received after a few hours' practice. The instrument, blued steel, with Morse's Alphabet and full instructions, will be mailed. Blued steel, 25 cents. Nickel plated, 50 cents. (((This cheap and utterly simple pocket device simply makes metallic clicking noises that mimic the sound of a telegraph key. The nickeled version, however, might have been quite the status item for the technically inclined boy genius of the period. One imagines two friends mystifying adults in class and church with cricketlike clicks of Morse code from a hidden hand in the pocket.))) INSTRUCTIVE AND AMUSING. MINIATURE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. This Telegraph consists of a sending and a receiving instrument, a spool of wire for connecting them together, and the elements of a galvanic battery for working them, the whole contained in a box with directions. The term is that known as the single needle instrument, and is used with the ordinary Morse Alphabet, which is composed of dots and dashes. A movement of the needle, on the dial, to the right indicates a dot, and a movement to the left a dash. It is very simple, and easily arranged, and any child can understand and operate it. Price each. $1.50, $2.50, $5.00 (((Oddly, the accompanying illustration shows a needle dial on an upright board, with a double circular rim displaying all the letters of the alphabet, the numerals zero through nine, and their Morse equivalents. The ad copy, however, states that the needle moves only to the right and left, rather than indicating specific letters on the dial. This "term" looks wonderfully impressive, but apparently it was mere window-dressing It appears to be French, as it bears the work DE'POSE on the face of the dial. Perhaps these fancy terminals were left over from some failed earlier version of telegraphy.))) THE ECLIPSE TELEGRAPH. PRICE $4.00 OUR NEW TELEGRAPH OUTFIT. The only low priced instrument that is made entirely of BRASS, all others are merely cast-iron painted or japanned black. This outfit consists of a full-size Morse Key and Sounder, a cell of Gravity battery, a package of Blue Vitriol, a coil of insulated office wire, and instructions for learners, the whole forming a complete FIRST-CLASS outfit for learners, home practice, or for short-line service. The key is of the latest approved style, with long curved lever, and switch circuit closer. The Sounder has rubber headed magnets, and perfect adjustments. Both Key and Sounder are made entirely of brass, finished and lacquered, and are mounted on a polished mahogany base. The whole outfit, complete with battery and 50 feet of insulated wire, is carefully packed in a light wood box for shipping .... By express, $4.00 The Telegraph complete, except battery ... By mail, 3.75 Prices of extra parts and fixtures of the Eclipse Telegraph Lightning Arrester .... each, 0.75 (((A later century would definitely have devoted more attention to the surge protector and the prospect of electrocution.))) Battery... 0.50 Insulated wire, per 100 feet, 50 cents; extra zinc .... 0.25 Persons when buying the outfit, without Battery, can use any ordinary tumbler. (((If, that is, the person buying the outfit doesn't mind having an open tumbler of Blue Vitriol battery acid in his home. Let's hope the children are snug in their beds this Christmas.)))