[GreenKeys] Alexander Graham Bell System Electric Motor 12-AL - eBay (item 110296287858 end time Dec-03-08 17:34:04 PST)

[gil smith]

Hi Doug:

Yes, it's from a model 12 -- I have one almost like it (a 12AH 
Receiving Distributor).  The one I have is in pretty good condition, 
and I think I paid $25 on ebay for it years ago.  It is the oldest 
bit of tty machinery I have, but there is no way I would pay the $200 
that seller is asking.  It is only a small part of a model 12 printer.

He has been listing that same rusty distributor on ebay for at least 
the last few years, with no takers.  I think his asking price has 
varied from about $150 to $250.  I must have seen at least a dozen 
auctions of the same piece.  He says it is related to the invention 
of the telephone --  God knows why.  He also says something about the 
Bell System being in competition with the Telex Corp. -- does he mean 
the folks that make contemporary microphones 'n stuff, or is he 
really just confused?

His is a 12-AL -- I don't know the differences in the suffix.  Don 
House likely does, as he has a model 12.  So does Doug Alderdice and 
Gerry Block.  Those lucky buggers!

Yes, I would love to have a complete model 12, but that is pretty 
unlikely today.  Gerry got the most pristine one I have seen.  I 
think those three are the only ones in existence (that we know about).

gil


At 12:12 PM 11/6/2008, Douglas W. Jones wrote:

>On Nov 6, 2008, at 1:04 PM, Larry Tighe wrote:
>
>>Can anyone tell me what this did...once upon a time?
>
>Looks like it generated some kind of timing signals.  The
>contacts sliding on the face of the flywheel at one end
>would produce a constant pulse stream.  The drum on the other
>end with the row of 7 contact fingers looks like it would
>have had an insulating sleeve on it with, probably, holes or
>slots cut in it to produce a programmed series of pulses, but
>only when enabled by a start pulse to the coil a the
>bottom -- the presence of this coil suggests that the
>"music box" mechanism must have been driven by a slip clutch
>from the right-angle gear driven by the motor.
>
>All of this, taken together, suggests something like a special
>purpose machine to respond to WRU (ENQ) requests, comparable
>to the music-box mechanism of later teletypes.
>
>It's similar to some Kleinschmidt gear I've seen, designed
>to slide into a mounting frame, with a "card edge" connector
>made of individually screwed-down contact fingers.
>
>                 Doug Jones
>                 jones at cs.uiowa.edu
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