[GreenKeys] Model 32 in TX

Tue Jan 8 00:19:12 EST 2013

Congrats Kevin!

Neat to have something come alive and work!

I have a general question We have a Western Union but ours is a 33 which is 
 ASCII.. at what point did they start using 33's or was there an overlap??

I am curious...

Thanks Ed# _www.smecc.org_ (http://www.smecc.org/) 

In a message dated 1/7/2013 8:50:51 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,  
kh-phillips at 9-5usa.org writes:

I  thought I would post a note to the list to give a report on my "rescue  
expedition".  I picked up this machine this morning.  If anyone  is in 
the Austin vicinity and needs office equipment, I would recommend a  
visit to this place.  It reminded me of the "warehouse scene" at the  end 
of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" except without the boxes and  crates.  Lots 
of "stuff".  When I began talking about Teletypes,  the young man waiting 
on me said that they *used* to have some of those  but an inquiring with 
an older man with longer tenure at the company  confirmed those had all 
been sold long ago.

The machine is  definitely a 32.  It didn't look quite as good up close 
as I had  convinced myself it would be from looking at the picture (my 
eyesight is  obviously failing) but it was mostly exterior dirt and 
grime; the inside  appeared surprisingly clean.  The cover was in good 
condition (no  cracks, etc.) with only the plexiglass window over paper 
area being loose  from the cover at one end.  I was told that it had 
occasionally been  rented out as a prop for movies.  Despite that, it was 
in good  shape.  The cover still had stickers with numbers for 
"International  Messages" as well as the local Western Union Telex number 
and local  service numbers.  Some other local numbers had been penciled  
in.  It still has the four-wire telephone cable with connector  attached. 
The print hammer looked virtually unused.  The  ribbon was on a plastic 
spool so it seemed as if it had been in use not so  long ago (??).  The 
keys have a "frosty" look and will need  cleaning.

Wayne has, as usual, been very helpful.  After getting  it home I powered 
it up and closed the loop by rotating the dial.  I  put a piece of tape 
over the dial to keep the loop closed so I could  type.  At first, I 
noticed several problems.  CR wouldn't work;  I had to release it 
manually with a screwdriver.  The bell didn't  ring.  LTRS worked fine 
but the FIGS shift wouldn't work; it printed  LTRS instead.  Typing rows 
of RY's initially produced inappropriate  responses but eventually it got 
back to normal.  After letting the  machine idle or run "open" for some 
time, I began exercising it  more.  I repeatedly pressed CR (and applied 
a few drops of oil with a  pen oiler) and it started working, 
sporadically at first but then  regularly.  Then, while typing more and 
more rows of RY's, the bell  started dinging.  FIGS shift took a bit more 
work but it too  eventually loosened up and worked normally.  The "Here 
Is" also began  working normally.  It returned REPUBLICBK AUS.  I believe 
this  was one of the ill-fated banks (Republic Bank) which crashed in the  
economic crash of the mid '80s.  I believe I used that bank when I  lived 
in Austin so this is a nice souvenir along with being a working  machine. 
If memory serves (which at this stage it may not), lurid  tales 
circulated about the owner/President of the bank and what happened  in 
his penthouse suite high atop the bank building.  From this  vantage 
point in time, it seems much better than what we have to read in  the 
newspapers these days.

I will try to spend some time cleaning  the machine and applying some new 
lubrication to bring it back to life but  it seems to be working pretty 
well even now.  I've been trying to  find some way of transitioning into 
a new line of work so while working on  this machine it occurred to me 
that perhaps I could open a tavern and call  it "The Code Bar . . . the 
place where everyone knows your range."   Well, maybe not!  Thanks to the 
list for everyone's help with this  and other machines.  It is currently 
in my radio shack where I  managed to find a few square millimeters of 
"open" space (after moving  some of my old musical instruments because my 
shack also serves as my  practice room).

73
Kevin
W5TTY

On 1/3/2013 10:59 AM, Cory  Heisterkamp wrote:
> Head's up if someone's looking for a Telex M32. I'm  on the hunt for
> one, but TX is a bit too far!   -Cory
>
> http://austin.craigslist.org/bfd/3421458732.html
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