EXHIBITS

FRENCH CABLE STATION MUSEUM ARCHIVE

The Museum's collection contains many artifacts hidden in various closets and drawers throughout the building, which are not seen during our regular tours. You can see many of them here. Artifact Archive

SUPERINTENDENT OFFICE

This office is essentially as it was through the years. Look around and you will see the walls are covered with a few photos and news articles of major events in the history of the station. Some of these were given to the museum by the Smithsonian Institute. By the superintendents desk is an early copy machine (non photographic). Every letter written was copied before being sent.

Historical memorabilia fill the walls of the Superintendents Office	Early Copy Machine

TESTING ROOM

This room contains equipment that was used to determine the location of a fault or break in the cable. Some of the equipment is still operational and can be demonstrated. Also in this room is one of the most unique instruments in the world. It is the Heurtley Magnifier used to amplify the weak signal coming from France. It was developed before there were vacuum tubes. There are only three in existence in the world today.

This equipment was used to locate any break in the cable	Heurtley Magnifier One of three in the world

REPAIR ROOM

This is the room that held the equipment used to repair the cable and equipment. In this room are found samples of the early submarine telegraph cable and cables that have been under the sea for decades. On the walls are photos of a repair operation at sea. In a sealed glass cabinet in the hall are many interesting items including an original Tiffany and Co. Wooden box containing a sample of the 1858 cable. Cyrus Field had sold the cable to Tiffany immediately after the success of the first transatlantic cable in 1858.

Repair equipment and parts were kept in the repair room	This case contains a sample of a Tiffany Box and Cable

OPERATIONS ROOM

This was the heart of the cable station. This was where the messages from France were received, recorded, and retransmitted to rest of the country. Most of the equipment still functions and can be demonstrated.

In this room is a portion of the “Artificial Cable” or “Balancer” which enabled duplex (Two directions at once over a single cable) operation of the cable in an extremely clever manner.

Signals received direct from France were retransmitted to the rest of the United States	The adjustment cabinet for the "Artificial Cable"