[GreenKeys] Opened a time capsule

[Bruce Gentry]

Back in February, a member of this group posted a contact to a person 
with a model 19 they wanted to part with. I contacted the person, made  
a deal, and got it almost three weeks ago. The weather has finally 
become agreeable, and I unpacked it. I was opening a time capsule. It 
had all been crated in 1975, and was surely operating then.  There is 
some very light surface corrosion on a few things, but otherwise it 
seems fine. All of the interconnect cables are rotten and cracked, but 
that was expected. Rubber covered cables often did not last from 1945 to 
75, and to expect them to for forty more years would be asking a great 
deal. I gently rocked the motors back and forth a little to make sure 
nothing was jammed, and rotated them in the correct direction for 
several turns with no signs of distress. All of the motors are 
synchronous, and I am guessing the gearing is 60 WPM. As I had hoped 
for, it is a military surplus model and has the big thyratron regulated 
DC supply. I have not yet gotten a magnifier to see if the font is 
communications or weather, although the key caps make me think it's 
communications. The reperforator was a surprise, I expected the small 
one that sits on the floor, but rather got a model 14 typing without 
keyboard. Paper and tape were also in the crate with the table. Some 
water had seeped in, and the damage was interesting. The tapes all had a 
rotten layer about a quarter inch thick on the outside, but once that 
was torn away, they look good. That also happened to the paper, most 
rolls were laying on their sides, so peeling away the outer layer 
revealed what looks and feels to be quite usable layers underneath. 
Other rolls were stored on end and they were ruined. There were two new 
ribbons, they are totally rotten. It will be interesting to clean and 
restore this setup, now that the warm weather is likely here to stay.  
Does anyone have the the shelf or bracket that mounts the 14 
reperforator over the TD that they would be willing to part with?

      Bruce Gentry, KA2IVY