[GreenKeys] Model 37, the 'hotline' and sales to the Soviets

[Stephen Jones]

Charcoal or Light Gray keys?

I've heard the story about Model 37s used on the 'hotline' between the Whitehouse and the Kremlin.  These were special ASR sets with 
a tone dial CCU using a BELL 103 dataset.  If this is true, what date range are we talking?  I've heard they were in service from 1972 to
1983.  I've also heard that Teletype bought back Model 37s towards the end of the 1970s and then "sold them to the Soviets".  Is there
any truth to that? I'm curious to know because for all the "it was a maintenance nightmare" stories out there, this one is pretty damn
historically significant.

The Model 37 is certainly a marvel of engineering with many advanced features.  If you've ever seen one run with the cover off, it looks
like it is just at the edge of flying apart.  It also makes a 28 operating at 100wpm look smooth, calm and collected (and they are!)  From
their introduction in 1969 it seems like they had a 5 or 6 year window before they were surpassed by video terminals, especially one of
Teletype's biggest customers DEC.

As far as Pacific Northwest Bell's use of Model 37s they had one in the Data Test Center which was wired into a special translator box
that would allow it to work as a swiss army knife of all Teletype lore.  It also used a special sized typebox with extra pallets.  A 'normal' 37
ASR (considered RARE) was used for receiving orders in the plant service center as forms printing is one of its main features.

A few links of Model 37 interest:
A picture showing two 37 typeboxes and a 28 and 35:  http://tx0.org/7mh
A picture of a Model 37 printing something interesting:  http://tx0.org/7mi
A video of a Model 37 talking to another Model 37 http://tx0.org/7mk

Stephen Jones, W0TTY