Automorse Key, circa 1920.


Australia is known for its unusual animals and odd telegraph "jiggers." This is a scarce, vintage three-lever bug from the land down under, made by Hitchcox Bros. for K.P. Thomas of Adelaide. The upper levers operate similar to a Vibroplex two-lever (automatic dots and manual dashes); I think the third (lower) lever is intended to give automatic dashes.

Found on a self of a small Country Victoria Museum, K.P. Thomas of Adelaide SA. Automorse key made by Hitchcox Bros Pat No. 7025 . 14.

This is the first one I have ever had in our hands and I think that maybe one of the weights from the rear could be missing but the rest appears to be all there. I have included some web links of another one currently in a collection and a link that shows a copy of the original advertisement.


Link to Automorse Transmitter Advertisement:
http://home.iprimus.com.au/oseagram/jigger.html


Automorse Transmitter in a Collection:
http://www.mtechnologies.com/n1fn/keys