[GreenKeys] Sound of the Teletype

[Nick England]

For your amusement - From Jan 1959 USN "All Hands" magazine
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Sound of the Teletype is Music to Teleman's Ears

Although John E. Blair,. TE
(RM) 1, USN, knew how to play
the trumpet, guitar and harmonica,
people laughed when he sat down
at the keyboard to play a tune.
Since the keyboard was on a teletype
machine, you can't much
blame them.
Now, however, Blair not only
makes music with the machine,
but he has also taught it to draw.
The notes of the "tele-musictypewriter"
are actually electronic
buzzes produced when a key is
struck. Ordinarily, the buzzes can't
be heard, but Blair has rigged a
five-inch speaker on the machine
to amplify them. Through various
settings he has given each buzz
the quality of a musical note and
each note a different pitch in the
musical scale. The machine's range
covers two octaves. It took Blair
two weeks of spare-time tinkering
to turn the machine into a musical
instrument.
Teaching the machine to draw
also requires quite a bit of work.
By punching X's that make up the
outlines of a design, Blair works
out the drawings on an ordinary
typewriter. The design, together
with an appropriate tune, can then
be transferred to a code strip, he
says, and in turn is fed into
the teletypewriter. The punched
"memory strips" guide the machine
through its performance.
The first tune he taught the
machine to play was "Anchors
Aweigh." At the same time, it
drew an anchor, complete with
USN across the shank. The machine
also plays the Marine Corps
Hymn while drawing an appropriate
insigne. For an encore it
can draw the Statute of Liberty
while playing "God Bless America."
Blair is an instructor at the
Teletype Maintenance School,
Naval Schools Command, at the
Naval Base, Norfolk, Va. Incidentally,
he is a top typist, and has
a reputation for being an ace
maintenance man, keeping equipment
in singing condition.