[GreenKeys] Teletype Oil (Ad Nauseum)

[DR HOUSE]

It seems no two Teletype people think the same about this.

Just let me make my eternal recommendation...  (Bite your lip George!)

Get some ONE LUBE.  It is made by the Slick 50 company and is  
available in most WALMART and Home discount stores such as ACE, HOME  
DEPOT and LOEWES... Also some auto parts stores.  Combined with their  
other product ONE GREASE I do not think you can go wrong.

I have used these products on Teletype machines ranging from the Model  
12 to the Model 37 and with excellent results.  The superior chemistry  
has the following attributes.

1. It does not dry up.
2. It stays slippery.
3. It does not attract dirt.
4. It stays clean and keeps lubricating long after other oils have  
dried up or turned sticky.

The original oil specified by Teletype Corporation and the Bell System  
was made to a Kearny Specification (KS-7470) by the American Oil  
Company and was determined some years ago to be almost identical to  
SAE 20 Motor Oil.  Also the Teletype lubrication recommendations  
printed up between the Model 15 period... up to 1953 reads just about  
like the recommendation for your 4-cycle lawn mower.

It goes something like this (not having it handy)
Temperature below 40 degrees use 10 Weight oil with 10 percent kerosene.
Above 40 but below 50 degrees use 10 Weight oil
Above 50 degrees use 20 Weight oil

The grease we used in the Bell System can still be found occasionally  
in tubes designated KS-7471 and seems to be almost identical to wheel  
bearing grease used before the invention of Lithium based greases.

Bottom line is...

I recommend the One Lube and One Grease because of my long experience  
with it.  It is almost disappointing to pull out a typing unit after  
regular use over a years time, only to find the felts nice and wet and  
the metal surfaces clean as a whistle and nice and slippery.

NO I do not have any stock in the Slick 50 company.

Last warning... use WD-40 only for helping to re-activate the ink in  
ribbons and not for any lubrication. WD-40 becomes very sticky when  
exposed to heat.

I am tempted to send images to my NADCOMM list of the rusty typing  
unit I bought on ebay, ran through our dishwasher, dried in our  
clothes dryer (on a sweater rack) and lubricated with One Lube.  Sent  
the unit to Pittsburgh for display where it sat for over a year and  
was sent back to me recently as a screw had come out of the selector  
clutch.  The typing unit looks like it was manufactured and lubricated  
yesterday.

End of message...  Don R. House, K9TTY -- 69 years young today.