[CW] A question on Vibroplexes

[John]

I really enjoy using my old Vibroplex's OTA (usually 40M) and have several
oldies dating back to 1914.  It's a lot of fun to speculate on their
history and I  always like to think the original owners would be happy
they're still making Morse.

I believe  in carefully cleaning them so they don't stick to me and are
functional , but not much beyond that.  I'm working on a 1920 VIbroplex
that was apparently owned by a heavy smoker. I'm removing the slimy sticky
mess with warm water, cloths and mild soap.  It'll be cleaner but always
look like a 101 yr old instrument, which suits me. This slow cleaning gives
me an opportunity to inspect the parts carefully.

One thing I've noticed is that there's often a variety of knurling on the
various hardware.  While I know that rope knurls were usually used, several
of my older keys have a variety of rope, diamond and straight cut knurls on
the hardware.  I'm guessing that this mixture  comes from owners making
"field replacements" of missing pieces rather than Vibroplex mixing their
hardware manufacture process (I'm also guessing they built, not bought
their components) .

Does anyone know ? I suppose the supply of NIB century-old Vibroplexes is
pretty low to check for sure, but it's fun to speculate.

dit dit

John K5MO
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