Summary
A typewriter used to transmit Morse character signals to a transceiver and used as part of a pedal-powered radio (or wireless) set, developed by Alfred Hermann Traeger (1895-1980) for the Australian Inland Mission aerial ambulance service (later named Royal Flying Doctor Service).
Alf Treager invented this typewriter accessory for his pedal radio (or wireless) set in 1931, specifically for people living on remote outback homestead stations, who had difficulty learning Morse code. When the keys are operated, a metal bar (with impressions) beneath them strikes a metal shaft which sounds the corresponding Morse code for that letter to the transmitter.
This set is believed to have been used at Mulka Station in the north of South Australia, on the main Birdsville-Maree route to Adelaide. It was named the 'Mary Margaret Kemp Set' in 1931 after the founding President (from 1925-1930) of the Western Division of the Queensland Country Women's Association (CWA).
Physical Description
Black typewriter keyboard.
More Information
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Collecting Areas
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Acquisition Information
Donation from Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, 13 Feb 1956
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Inventor
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Place Used
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Classification
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Category
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Discipline
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Type of item
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Exhibition Collection Management
311 mm (Length), 318 mm (Width), 204 mm (Height), 7.7 kg (Weight)
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References
John Behr, 'Traeger, Alfred Hermann (1895-1980)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, [Link 1] published first in hardcopy 1990, accessed online 24 March 2023. [Link 2] Australasian Radio Relay League (1933-12-14). Only Radio Has Made Possible the FLYING DOCTOR One-man-power Wireless Network in Far North Links Oupost and Enables Telegraphic Communication With World (14 December 1933). In The wireless weekly : the hundred per cent Australian radio journal. 22 (24), 24. 1933 'COUNTRY WOMEN'S ASSOCIATION.', The Charleville Times (Brisbane, Qld. : 1896 - 1954), 3 November, p. 2. , viewed 24 Mar 2023, [Link 3]
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Keywords
Flying Doctors, Morse Keys, Radios, Telegraph Equipment, Telegraphy, Typewriters, Innovation, Innovation & Design, Inventions
