Ted McElroy started a second, separate company, evidently with some
partners, in Chicago. It was called Telegraph Apparatus Company, or TAC.
McElroy made a big deal of its NOT being incorporated. That is somehing
of a puzzle to me. I found a good article on the difference between
incorporating and not incorporating at:
<https://www.legalnature.com/guides/what-are-the-differences-between-incorporated-and-unincorporated-businesses>

     I think this is biased toward incorporating since the firm seems to
be offering legal services for those who want to incorporate their
businesses. It stresses the advantages of incorporating but doesn't say
much about what advantages, if any, a non-incorporated company might
have. It is nontheless very interesting and seems to me to be a good
tutorial on the subject.
    I am not sure if this is the best forum for this so I will also post
to the Morse Code list.
    I suspect McElroy may have had difficulty keeping control of his
company and chose a non-incorporated form because of that and to reduce
paper work. I have seem some mentions of who his partners were or might
have been but don't remember the details right now. Someone else, with
good knowledge of McElroy's history may know much more than I.
    I have two TAC bugs. They look just fine but the machinging is
sloppy. Adjusting is difficult because the screws and stop nuts are
wobbly. Can be done but takes some effort. Very different from Vibroplex
or any J-36 key. I do not have a McElroy bug so don't have a feel for
its quality of construction. TAC also made the "stream key" version of
the J-38. Again, I have a couple, at least one of which came in an
original box marked McElroy. Again, it is quite sloppily made. I think
TAC may have made at least some of the stream keys that have cracked
bases. Evidently, these keys were made on cast zinc which was poorly
done and warped or otherwise changed size.
     TAC did not advertise for long and may not have been in business
for long. The prices were quite low, less than $10 depding on whether
the ke was plated or painted, half to a third of the cost of a Vibroplex
key.
     The only Vibroplex key I have that does not have first class
construction is a 1944 Original, evidently made for civilian use,
perhaps Coast Guard, but it seems to have a few parts that are reworked
but nevertheless work OK. This was during war-time when materials were
scarce.
     If I find anything else out I will post to both lists.
     BTW, this is not being cross-posted, rather a separate post to each
list.
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
SKCC 19998
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