[GreenKeys] Bunnell Pen Register

[Jim Haynes]

Yet another use for these things was in the Western Union messenger 
service.  If you look on ebay you will occasionally see an oval device
with a porcelain base and a blue and white case, and a handle coming
out near the top.  Until about 1950 these could be found in the offices
of customers of Western Union customers.  Person in the office would
turn the handle, which wound a spring and caused the device to generate
a coded signal.  (which avoided any problem of the devices sending at
different speeds)  The signal was recorded at the W.U. office on one
of these recorders.  The messenger or dispatcher would read the code
from the tape, determine the source of the signal, and send a messenger
to the customer to see what was wanted.  Seems totally useless when
you have a telephone and can call the office and say what you want the
messenger to do, or phone in your telegram instead of having him pick it
up.  But I saw these things when they were still in use.

As for fire alarms, a magazine of the telephone industry was constantly
criticizing the system, saying the alarm boxes should be replaced with
telephones so the person reporting the fire could give details of what
was going on.

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 	"Ya can argue all ya wanna, but it's dif'rent than it was."
 	"No it ain't! No it ain't!  But ya gotta know the territory."
 		Meredith Willson, The Music Man