[GreenKeys] Teletype tape to Morse tape converter

[Nick England]

Tom Tillson came through with a 192B manual for the Teletype Automatic
Wheatstone Perforator Set. It covers Adjustments only, so there is no
description or overall drawing or photo of the insides. But there are
enough hints to show that this is yet another A-MAZING gadget from those
wild and crazy Teletype engineers!

1945 vintage - It includes a Selector Unit which is a tape reader for
standard 5-level tape that activates selector levers. These activate
transfer levers which in turn activate code bars within an Operating Unit.
The code bars cause a selected key lever to get pulled down. The key levers
stick up through the keyboard of a Wheatstone Perforator Unit and pull down
the appropriate key, causing the Wheatstone Perforator to punch the Morse
Code character onto the output tape. Yep, it is like a tape-to-tape
robo-typer - Wow!, just Wow!

I'd love to find more info and photos of this machine. There was a Teletype
description/installation bulletin and presumably a parts bulletin but I
don't know the numbers.

An external photo of the unit is here -
http://www.navy-radio.com/morse/tt94-fg-01.jpg

The Wheatstone Perforator used was a WPE16 which is essentially the same as
a manual WPE3 with some differences for mounting - it would slide into
place to interlace with the pull-down key levers.
This perforator that I have might have had the front key guard modified to
make it easier to slide into place - I dunno.
http://www.navy-radio.com/morse/wpe18-01.JPG
A video of the WPE in (manual) operation is here -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-KDUpvMZfA

I wonder if any of these or parts thereof have survived. I found an ad
offering one for sale for $75 but that was in a 1970 CQ magazine so I think
I missed it....

Cheers,
Nick England K4NYW
www.navy-radio.com

On Sat, Jan 23, 2016 at 6:26 PM, Nick England <navy.radio at gmail.com> wrote:

> I just came across this intriguing listing in a 1961 document -
> TT-94/FG - Teletype tape to Morse tape converter.
> Automatic Wheatstone reperf.
> Special - manufactured by Teletype Corp.
>
> Has anyone ever seen such a thing or know more about it?
>
>
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