[GreenKeys] [Bulk] Telegrapher's "Mill"

[Jim Haynes]

On Mon, 8 Aug 2011, Scott Johnson wrote:

> I have always assumed it was just a euphemism, "he's hard at it, pounding
> away at the mill".
>
> Scott W7SVJ
>
That's certainly plausible.  If you consider an old-time telegraph
position prior to having a typewriter, everything was pretty simple
mechanically.  So when you introduce something as complicated as a
typewriter it could be considered analogous to a coffee mill, or a cotton
mill, or some other kind of machinery-filled place.

There's a book "Railroad Telegrapher's Handbook" by Tom French which
reproduces some old advertisements aimed at telegraphers.  Apparently
they were expected to furnish their own typewriters in the beginning.
There's also a "telegraphers' liniment" to treat what we now call
carpal tunnel syndrome.