Seems like it would have been easier to just take the paper tape and punch either circles (dots) or ovals (dashes) and have conductors pushed up against the tap

Seems like it would have been easier to just take the paper tape and punch either circles (dots) or ovals (dashes) and have conductors pushed up against the tape. Whenever the conductors touch (through cut-out gaps in the paper), they transmit tone. No need for compound levers, just some springs. And a mechanism to pull the paper at a fixed rate