[GreenKeys] Morse perforator

[Duncan Brown]

The original "Morse Perforator" was invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone 
in about 1860. It was a completely manual device consisting of three 
pads or buttons that where hit with mallets, one held in each hand.



The left button was for a "dot", the right button for a "dash", and the 
center for a space.  Imagine pounding out Morse messages all day with 
that!  Eventually they came up with a pneumatically-powered unit that 
didn't take as much effort, but you were still swinging your arms up & 
down to punch the tape.


in about 1910, Edward Kleinschmidt patented a solenoid operated keyboard 
perforator that was much easier to use. It also included keys with some 
of the prosigns (AR, SK).


  It perforated the same code that Wheatstone had developed and is often 
called a "Wheatstone Perforator", but should really be called a 
Kleinschmidt perforator (or "Klein").  In 1924, Kleinschmidt Electric 
merged with the Morkrum Company, and then they changed their name to 
Teletype Corp. in 1928. Teletype Corp continued to make the "Kleins" 
until about 1950 and they remained in regular use at least into the 1960s.

It was probably the Morse perforator that gave Donald Murray the idea of 
doing the same thing for printing telegraphs with a 5-hole punched tape 
in 1899. Murray used Baudot's idea of a 5-bit code, but redesigned the 
code to minimize wear on the equipment by giving the most used 
characters (E, T, Space) the fewest punches. He also foresaw the use of 
page printers and added LF & CR characters. The official ITA2 code of 
1931 is very similar to Murray's code of 1899.


Have fun,

Duncan, K2OEQ
AWA Museum



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