[GreenKeys] Model 15 keyboard question

[ad7i]

Greetings --

I'd like to ask fellow Greenkeyers for some advice regarding what to do
about my Model 15 keyboard (photos pasted at the end of this message).

Back in about the late 1990s fellow Bell Labs alum John Sheetz K2AGI gave
me a very nice Model 15 TTY.  It prints well and I never really paid much
attention to the keyboard, other than to determine that it initially
worked.  In most all cases I've only used a PC to drive the TTY, operating
it pretty much as an RO device.  And now I also use it to print ITTY.

The cabinet has a placard that indicates Bell System Teletypewriter
service.  I don't know if that indicates the heritage of only the cabinet,
or perhaps also the typing unit and keyboard.  The typing unit prints all
the expected standard punctuation [ . , / ? ; : ' "  ! # $ & (  ) - ] in
the expected places.  The typing hammer for J has an apostrophe and FIGS-J
prints apostrophe.  The hammer for S also has an apostrophe but FIGS-S
rings the bell.  All of that is as I would expect.

But as you can see from the photos, my keyboard has some oddities.  First,
it's missing the blank key all together.  Second, keycaps are missing from
FIGS and P.  Third, I have fractions on keys F, K and L, instead of normal
punctuation.  I'd like to somehow get the keyboard back to a condition that
matches the typing unit.

So my questions for Greenkey members are:

1.  What should I do about the missing BLANK key?  Was it common to omit
the BLANK key from Model 15s?  I tend to do a lot of testing with my TTYs,
so a blank key would be handy.  If I had the correct parts is it likely
that I could I install the bank key myself?  Is it relatively easy to do?

2.  For the missing and fraction keycaps, should I simply replace those
keycaps or should I try to find a complete set of all keypads, to give the
keyboard a more consistent look?

3.  Or would I be better off trying to find a complete replacement model 15
keyboard in order to get things back to normal?

I'd be grateful for any comments or suggestions you may care to offer

73, Paul, ad7i



[image: tty-15-key-x1200.jpg]



[image: m-15-ttyx1200.jpg]

---ooOoo---
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/attachments/20200523/3911a1ee/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: m-15-ttyx1200.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 179662 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/attachments/20200523/3911a1ee/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: tty-15-key-x1200.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 128059 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/attachments/20200523/3911a1ee/attachment-0003.jpg>