[GreenKeys] USA Teletypesetter in Argentina

[dmm at lemur.com]

Javier wrote:
>I have just seen a teletype in Argentina, and I was wondering what model it is.
>It is a "Teletypesetter", probably from the 60s? News service may be?

and Jeffrey Angus wrote:
>6-level code. Used, I'm fairly sure of, to communicate with the 
>automated typesetting equipment.
>Looks like a tape punch. either from the keyboard, and perhaps also from 
>an incoming line signal.

Yes, it the Teletypesetter is 6-level equipment.

This unit is a Keyboard Perforator.  It punches 6-Level tape
(7/8 inch wide, standard 1/10 inch hole spacing, with the sproket
hole edges lined up with the leading edge of the regular punch holes,
not their centerlines).  It has no transmitter or receiver - it just
punches tape.

There were two variations on the Perforator, the "Standard Perforator"
and the "Multiface Perforator." This is probably a Standard,
but without a view of the right-hand side of the unit I cannot tell
for certain.  If it is a Standard Perforator then the right-hand side
will just be blank.  If it is a Multiface Perforator then there will
be a rectangular opening in it, about 100mm square with a smaller opening
in the frame behind it.  This was to accomodate a "magazine" or tray
of little brass tabs which adapted the Perforator to nonstandard
typefaces.

Here's a picture of a Standard Perforator:
http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/telegraphy/tty1/codes/fairchild-tts-more-type-in-less-time-c1-0600rgb-004-crop-3656x2880-cleaned-scale-1024x807.jpg

Here's a picture of a Multiface Perforator:
http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/telegraphy/tty1/codes/fairchild-tts-more-type-in-less-time-c1-0600rgb-017-rot0p3cw-crop-2650x2500-cleaned-scale-1024x966.jpg


The Teletypesetter was developed by a spin-off of the Teletype Corp.,
the Teletypesetter Corp.  They were closely associated, though
(my two Perforators say that they were manufactured by Teletype Corp.)
They were used to control Linotype and Intertype "hot metal" linecasting
composing machines.  

I'm in the (long, slow) process of putting more information about them
online.  For the moment, if you're interested, take a look at 

http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/telegraphy/tty1/codes/index.html

This is my overly-long essay on teleprinter codes. Section 9 describes
the Teletypesetter.  It also has an illustration showing the indicator
scales in greater detail:
http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/telegraphy/tty1/codes/fairchild-tts-more-type-in-less-time-c1-0600rgb-016-crop-2250x1900-scale-1024x865.jpg

Basically, the Teletypesetter keyboard operator had to know how the
Linotype machine was going to handle each line. These indicators had
this information. 

These Perforators did not print at all - the operator had to learn the
TTS code and read the tape.

The tape punched from this unit could either be fed directly into a
"Teletypesetter Operating Unit" attached to a Linotype or it could
be read by a 6-level-capable reader and transmitted.  On the receiving
end it could either be Reperforated into another tape or simply
printed (not typeset) on Model 20 type Teletype equipment.

I've just finished digitizing quite a bit of the documentation for
these machines - it isn't online yet, but I can put together PDFs of
it as needed.

Regards,
David M.
===
Dr. David M. MacMillan * dmm at lemur.com * www.lemur.com & www.CircuitousRoot.com

   First do no harm. (Primum non nocere.)
       - possibly Galen; see also Hippocrates (Epidemics, Bk. I, Sect. XI.)
   The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.
       - Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915); Aldo Leopold