[GreenKeys] Western Electric RS ??

[Chuck Rehor]

Paul,
I too used to think that KS stood for Kearny Specification.  But there is a
lot of disagreement about the meaning.  People like me thought it had
something to do with Kearny Works (Kearny Specification, etc.), but
KS-specs actually preceded Kearny Works!

There were KS-specs for EVERYTHING!  Our company would figure out the best
way to do everything (by having experts and Time and Motion Engineers study
everything) and they'd document it so all (mostly internal and suppliers)
could follow the specifications and procedures and would know how to do it
right.  I remember once my dad even showed me a KS-spec for how to mow the
grass at Western Electric locations!  Some people thought our
specifications were too rigid, but that's how we were able to ensure
quality and reliability throughout all our products.

Heck, the 5ESS landline telephone switch achieved an average of 99.9999%
uptime (as filed with the FCC).  That means if you added up all the uptime
and all the unplanned outages, the average downtime you could expect from
your landline would be less than 32 seconds a year.  It was not uncommon
for a telephone switch to not have any unplanned downtime for 20 or 30
years or ever.  Compare that to Comcast's boasting of 99% uptime for their
VoIP "landline" service which means on the average, your landline would be
out of service more than 3.5 DAYS a year!

I've never heard nor seen any RS- specifications.

I come from the Western Electric, AT&T, Bell Labs, Lucent, Alcatel-Lucent
and currently Nokia side. I didn't have dealings with Teletype in my
professional work life... just now with my hobby interest in Teletypes
(33's and 43's).  So if RS- specs were part of Teletype, sorry, but I
wouldn't know.

Chuck
W9CFR

On Tue, May 21, 2024 at 8:49 PM ad7i <ad7i at ad7i.net> wrote:

> Is there some location in the Teletype world that began with the letter
> R?  Here's why I ask....
>
> KS stands for Kearney Standard (or was it Kearny Specification, my memory
> is going), Kearny as from Western Electric Kearney Works in NJ near NYC.
> That's probably where the concept of WECo standards developed, but when I
> worked for the Bell System (Bell Labs 1979-2000) I doubt that the people
> then writing KS specs were physically located in Kearny any more.  Around
> the mid to late 80s there was also WP specs, WP being Western Preferred.
> If I remember right WP meant that some part was double coded by the Mfg
> (meaning the Mfg assigned their own part number and whatever WP number WECo
> told them to assign, and the mfg promised not to change the Mfg's spec
> (whatever the spec was originally) without the approval of WECo.
>
> Paul, ad7i
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, May 21, 2024 at 8:51 PM Nick England <navy.radio at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I have a couple of documents that are Western Electric Specification
>> RS-581.xxx
>> e.g. https://www.navy-radio.com/manuals/tty/33-we-rs-spec.pdf
>>
>> What does RS stand for?
>>
>> Nick England K4NYW
>> www.navy-radio.com
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