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Huge Haul of Teletype Equipment on the Way!

Started by DavePEI, January 19, 2013, 08:53:08 AM

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DavePEI

Hi All:

I had an email the other day from a lady who bought a couple of storage units in Ontario, and who found a pile of teletype equipment, manuals, parts, and ephemera in it, and who offered to donate it all to the museum. As I do include teletype equipment in the museum, since the Telephone companies in Canada (Bell, Trans Canada Telephone System, and CN-CP Telecommunications),  distributed them, so I quickly said yes.

Included are three huge boxes of parts for Model 14, 15, 28 and 33 ASR teletypes, many service manuals, test equipment, signs, a model 14 teletype, etc. She sent me about 40 photos of items in the lot.

Then came the problem of getting it all to the Island. I mentioned it in a weekly newsletter I put out, and about an hour after I sent it our, a gentleman who visits the Island several times a year, emailed me and wondered where she was, in case he might be able to help. Sure enough, she lived not far away from him. He is going to go there, and pick it all up, then bring it down to the Island on his several trips this year.

Incredible. And there is stuff that she hasn't photographed, including more parts, and possibly even a model 43 teletype as well.

I am amazed it is all coming together, and very thankful she thought of the museum. It has saved this very important equipment from landfill!

These are only some of 40 photos I have of the equipment, but it will give you an idea of the extent of what is coming. Included is a round button key system phone, which is either a severely discolored moss green, or a very unusual olive drab colour, perhaps army issue. I won't know for sure until it is here!

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

DavePEI

More:
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

DavePEI

#2
More!

And these are only a few out of 40 photos, plus she also has some in other storage that will be coming!

I have just heard from my "agent" in Ontario, and he has arranged to pick it all up in the next couple of weeks. He says she tells him she may have as much again!

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

AE_Collector

The model 43 (from the picture on the manual) looks to be what I recall being at the frames in all of our CO's. if we heard it fire up, jumper running work was "incoming".

You've been on a roll lately Dave!

Terry

DavePEI

#4
Quote from: AE_Collector on January 19, 2013, 11:16:36 AM
The model 43 (from the picture on the manual) looks to be what I recall being at the frames in all of our CO's. if we heard it fire up, jumper running work was "incoming".

You've been on a roll lately Dave!

Terry
Hi Terry:

For sure! This one sort of came out of the blue! We aren't sure if we can save the model 43 - she had begun disposing of some of the stuff, but she thinks she can get it back - at least I will have its manual! Now, if only the phone on top of the filing cabinet with the Teletype magnetic sign comes too.

Brian told me that I should take everything I can get - that he'd figure out a way to get it here! Pretty amazing when just two nights ago, I wondered if I would be able to find a way to get any of it here!

I asked him first of all to bring down the parts and anything telephone related, as I want to inventory the parts and make them available to other teletype collectors. Its going to be like Christmas!

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

Owain

Crumbs.

You may need some storage units of your own.

DavePEI

#6
I currently have a number of teletypes which can be demonstrated working in the museum. This began with the KSR-33 shown below, which was given me by Island Tel for my Ham Radio station in 1984. I used it for about a year, then when I had computerized RTTY going, I loaned it to a friend. There is sat in his barn for 20 years, only to be recovered and rebuilt a couple of years ago. It has been infested with squirrels and mice, the platen broken, and mechanism rusted, but I managed to restore it with a lot of TLC.

Model 28:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL1RnE-WPrM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J881T6Dtb50

KSR-33:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMvs1t1CEH8

ASR-33:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqTzvpYumQs

Model 15:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv9rrd3DYZM

Back in "the Day", teletype service was provided by two sources; the Trans Canada Telephone System, a consortium of Bell and local telephone companies, and by CN-CP Telecommunications. A branding plate is shown below for the TCS. You will note a similar plate on the Model 14 in the photos above.

Dave



The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

LarryInMichigan

I remember the Teletype Corporation building on Touhy Ave in Skokie, IL, not far from where I grew up and a mile from my grandparents' house.  Years ago, it was converted to a shopping center.

Larry

DavePEI

#8
Quote from: LarryInMichigan on January 19, 2013, 07:23:03 PM
I remember the Teletype Corporation building on Touhy Ave in Skokie, IL, not far from where I grew up and a mile from my grandparents' house.  Years ago, it was converted to a shopping center.

Larry
A lot of people don't know that Teletype Corp. became a subsidiary of AT&T/Western Electric from the 1930 onward. That is why the later Teletype documents are covered in BSPs.

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

AE_Collector

Do you know anything Dave about the TWX brand or marketing name (?) used by the Telco's? And was the TWX name used by US Telco's as well?

Terry

DavePEI

#10
Quote from: AE_Collector on January 20, 2013, 01:36:32 AM
Do you know anything Dave about the TWX brand or marketing name (?) used by the Telco's? And was the TWX name used by US Telco's as well?

Terry

At the risk of being too brief, teletype type instruments were first made by Morkrum and also Kleinschmidt Corps. which then merged to become Morkrum-Kleinschmidt Corp., which eventually became Teletype Corp. Teletype became a subsidiary of Western Electric in 1930.

In November, 1931 the Bell System inaugurated the teletypewriter exchange service, often called the TWX (pronounced "twicks", Teletypewriter Exchange Service) service (which is the major motivation for AT&T/Western undertaking the union with Teletype Corp. the previous year).

You will find a lot more detail on this history on:

http://www.thocp.net/hardware/history_of_teletype_development_.htm

And:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telex

A little bit of Teletype history little known outside of Canada:

Many don't realize it, but some teletypes were made in Canada under license from Teletype Corp.; first by Northern Electric, then by Marsland Engineering, which was then acquired in 1969 by Leigh Instruments who continued the manufacture of these machines. This was to get around import duties and taxes at the time which doubled the cost of a teletype imported from the US.

Leigh Instruments acquired Marsland Engineering in 1969 as part of an expansion. Leigh closed their manufacturing facility completely in 1983 to concentrate on other ventures. Unknown to many, Northern Electric manufactured these for a few years  before Marsland started building them, but the quality was poorer due to inferior hardening of metal parts as compared to made by Teletype, Marsland and Leigh. For some reason, despite their expertise in manufacturing, Northern Electric never got the hardening process right.

My KSR-33 is a Leigh manufactured unit, but is still Teletype design, only built in Canada.  Other than its nameplate, it is virtually identical to the U.S. manufactured units. I have only discovered one difference. Print "bumpers"  used on the hammers of print assemblies in the U.S. on Model 32 and 33s were made of a rubber which degrades over time, and the units will destroy the print wheel once they go soft. However, even NOS bumpers  still existing in their original bags have gone soft and gummy, making them useless today. Here is where the difference comes, and I discovered it quite by accident.

Here, in Canada, these were manufactured in Canada, and Leigh used a slightly different rubber compound for theirs. It does not degrade like the American counterparts. A couple of years ago, I was given two of these, and have one in use on one of my machines. The other I sent down to the US to use as a sample for a group that was trying to get some manufactured. That still hasn't happened yet, but neoprene tubing slid over the print hammer arm works as an acceptable substitute but still not original, but preventing damage to the soft metal print wheels. Hopefully eventually, the bumpers will be re-manufactured, and they will become available again!

It was a tiny part, but which made a very big difference!

So, that was straying a bit from the topic, but I think it is an interesting twist to the Teletype story! Many of the details in this story were furnished by Ken Gartland, a retired CN-CP Telecommunications employee who was living in Nova Scotia, who has advised me in some of my teletype rebuilds.

Dave

Leigh KSR-33 machine in the museum, given me by Island Tel in 1984, shown after I refurbished it in 2011:
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

LarryInMichigan

Quote from: DavePEI on January 19, 2013, 07:33:04 PM
Quote from: LarryInMichigan on January 19, 2013, 07:23:03 PM
I remember the Teletype Corporation building on Touhy Ave in Skokie, IL, not far from where I grew up and a mile from my grandparents' house.  Years ago, it was converted to a shopping center.

Larry
A lot of people don't know that Teletype Corp. became a subsidiary of AT&T/Western Electric from the 1930 onward. That is why the later Teletype documents are covered in BSPs.

Dave

By the end of its life, the Teletype facility had become an AT&T Bell Labs facility.  In earlier years, the sign in front said "Teletype Corporation" and had the old square wave logo.

Larry

DavePEI

#12
Quote from: LarryInMichigan on January 21, 2013, 07:10:18 AM
Quote from: DavePEI on January 19, 2013, 07:33:04 PM
Quote from: LarryInMichigan on January 19, 2013, 07:23:03 PM
I remember the Teletype Corporation building on Touhy Ave in Skokie, IL, not far from where I grew up and a mile from my grandparents' house.  Years ago, it was converted to a shopping center.

Larry
A lot of people don't know that Teletype Corp. became a subsidiary of AT&T/Western Electric from the 1930 onward. That is why the later Teletype documents are covered in BSPs.

Dave

By the end of its life, the Teletype facility had become an AT&T Bell Labs facility.  In earlier years, the sign in front said "Teletype Corporation" and had the old square wave logo.

Larry

Yep, and sadly, even that is gone now! Just like AE in Brockville - it is now a business center housing dozens of small businesses!

I have been thinking, that it is odd that more don't collect teletypes, as they were definitely part of telephone history, but I suppose a lot of it has to do with the complexity of the machines, and their size and weight. You need a lot of room to properly display them! I am thankful I had room to represent them in the museum, and I love working on them.

But so sad to see former huge corporations belonging to Bell, that if they exist at all today, are now only a vestige of their former prominence. I guess good things never last forever!

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001

paul

Quote from: DavePEI on January 21, 2013, 07:22:06 AM
I have been thinking, that it is odd that more don't collect teletypes, as they were definitely part of telephone history, but I suppose a lot of it has to do with the complexity of the machines, and their size and weight

Don't forget the noise! The first second computer I ever used was an HP-2000F timesharing system that used (mostly) ASR-33's as terminals. There were probably only 8 in the room but the sound when all of them were going off on output was almost deafening!

DavePEI

Quote from: paul on January 21, 2013, 11:21:47 AM
Quote from: DavePEI on January 21, 2013, 07:22:06 AM
I have been thinking, that it is odd that more don't collect teletypes, as they were definitely part of telephone history, but I suppose a lot of it has to do with the complexity of the machines, and their size and weight

Don't forget the noise! The first second computer I ever used was an HP-2000F timesharing system that used (mostly) ASR-33's as terminals. There were probably only 8 in the room but the sound when all of them were going off on output was almost deafening!

Sort of like working in a Strowger C.O.!

Dave
The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!
C*NET 1-651-0001