Morse Key/Signalling Unit

Practice for visual signalling, maybe.

Hmmm all wood and brass so probably WW1 or before. Bullseye lens to produce a concentrated beam. Looks like a switch lever on top so probably a battery inside. But to operate the morse key properly you would have to stand in front of the light - strange. If it's WD it will be labelled and have a broad arrow embossed, if it's railway it will still have a label on it.

DickGraham said:

Hmmm all wood and brass so probably WW1 or before. Bullseye lens to produce a concentrated beam. Looks like a switch lever on top so probably a battery inside. But to operate the morse key properly you would have to stand in front of the light - strange. If it's WD it will be labelled and have a broad arrow embossed, if it's railway it will still have a label on it.

Click to expand...

. Many thanks for your information. No markings visible, will open up to see whether any markings inside.
Regards
Geraint

When you think you've seen them all another strange type pops up!
The handle (if that is what it is) indicates a portable signaling unit but why would the lamp be pointing backward?

I suppose the key could have been put back on backwards after a service?

Could be HW but that handle indicates it carried some weight by presumably a batter pack under the key which would have connecting wires..
Putting the key back to front by it's operator would surely constitute a penalty of fifty lashes or even keel-hauling !
The key appears bog-standard early 20th century and the switch was normally the send/receive on a transmitter key-line that carried a hefty (even lethal) voltage..

I venture to suggest that is simply a switch for the lamp with the key operating a shutter? The afterglow of a filament lamp makes visual signalling rather difficult. I tried using a cassette player and torch bulb to make a practise set for a deckmate. A failure.

May I suggest image #1 is the portable keying unit for a ship's mast-head signaling lamp which would be connected to a socket on either the ship's port or starboard bridge wing ..
The case lense/bulb would give the operator a close-hand visual indicator of his/her morse sending..