[GreenKeys] 32 and 33's

[Don Robert House]

Like many other things, the applications made all the difference.  We  
had some customers that used their Model 19s, 28s, and 35s from 8  
a.m. to 12 Midnight almost continuously.  Many thought they could  
save some money by replacing them with Model 33s. -- The Bell System  
never used Model 32s.  -- Most of these moderate to heavy users did  
not like the 33 for several reasons.  They do not handle multiple  
copy paper or forms very well.  Teletype eventually did make a  
sprocket feed 33 but there were no vertical or horizontal tabs.

Then there were the high school time-sharing machines.  These 33s  
took a real physical beating with each and every student trying their  
programs over and over, not to mention hitting the machine with their  
fists when the program did not run correctly.  We replaced the 33ASR  
at some high schools before the start of school each year.

The 32s, 33s, and 38s excelled with intermittent usage with regular  
replacement of the ribbons and print hammer heads.
It also helped a lot to have the customer used oiled paper tape and  
loading it correctly for the perforator.

The most frequently occurring problem was due to the keyboard, reader  
and answer-back drum contacts all being in parallel.  Near the end of  
production of the 33 Teletype improved the design of the keyboards to  
keep the contacts from moving out of position and bouncing.

Don
K9TTY

P.S.
Does anyone out there have one of the rare 4 row keyboards for the  
Model 32?  A clever design...


On 6 Oct 2007, at 1:03 AM, David I. Emery wrote:

On Fri, Oct 05, 2007 at 09:11:56AM -0400, Teletypeparts at aol.com wrote:
> They hold up far better than originally thought by design  
> engineers.  I have
> seen some TWX machines with 1500 hours on the meter.  Oil em every  
> 100 hours
> or so.

	That figure surprises me.   I am old enough to have been around
the minicomputer engineering world back in the 70s when 33s were still
quite common as consoles and low volume output and paper tape punching
devices - we often kept them running at least 10-12 hours a day and
sometimes 24 and while they weren't typing much during most of this
time, the motor was running all that time and of course all the
associated shafts, clutches and gears.

	I certainly saw many 33s last several years in this kind of
service, which is certainly more than 2000-3000 hours a year.   Now
granted most of those machines probably  sat idle with the motor on for
a hour or even several hours, typed a few lines and accepted a few
keyboard commands and maybe then printed 3-4 yards of paper at most and
then went to sleep for the rest of the day with a couple of breaks to
print brief two or three line messages.   And every once in a while
maybe they'd be used to punch a tape or print something more extensive
but not normally.

	But still I don't remember many breaking down in this service
and I don't remember armies of TTY repair folks around maintaining them
either.

	This of course is very different from say a wire service model
15 banging away news stories virtually 24/7 or a weather service 28
grinding out PIREPs and aviation weather reports and TAFs and so
forth... one of those machines might easily chew through a roll of
yellow paper in a day or more, while an engineering lab 33 even though
running an equivalent number of hours might grind through a standard
roll of paper in a month or even two or three.

	Most were retired when CRT based terminals replaced them or in a
few cases higher speed dot matrix terminals such various DecWriters.

	

-- 
   Dave Emery N1PRE/AE, die at dieconsulting.com  DIE Consulting,  
Weston, Mass 02493
"An empty zombie mind with a forlorn barely readable weatherbeaten
'For Rent' sign still vainly flapping outside on the weed encrusted  
pole - in
celebration of what could have been, but wasn't and is not to be now  
either."

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