Foote, Pierson, and Co. Type C Punched Tape Register and Receiver

On display is a Foote, Pierson, and Company Type C Punched Tape Register and Receiver, with a Tape Register being the larger of the two artifacts and the Receiver being the smaller artifact. The brass made artifacts have beveled glass windows to view the internal gears to move a punched tape between the two reels on register and receiver (as seen below). The register has a rectangle box with a hole puncher which the tape passes through, both the register and receiver have rods poking out to keep tension on the tape. Two rollers on the register move the tape forward. Punched tape or perforated paper tape which the dice use is a form of data storage that consists of a long strip of paper through which small holes are punched. The machines are most likely from the late 1890s to 1920s, and potentially storage date for telegraphs or phone calls.

Originally founded around 1855 in New York, Foote, Pierson & Company was a manufacturer of telegraph and electrical equipment, notably Morse code keys and relays. Foote, Pierson & Co. emerged as a successor to L.G. Tillotson & Cmapny. and E.S. Greeley & Company., beginning operations under its own name in 1896. They were involved in the manufacture of the Chester battery (Smee type), which was widely used on American telegraph lines from 1857 to 1865. Foote, Pierson & Co. was well-known for producing telegraph keys, including the "Twentieth Century Key" (also known as the "Pump Handle Key"), introduced in 1900. They also manufactured different types of telegraph relays, such as "main line" relays for major intercity circuits and "pony" relays for private lines and shorter branch circuits. The company produced telegraph sounders as well, including a Railroad Telegraph Sounder that was used by Western Union. They ended operations around 1928 to 1934