Brian,______________________________________________________________
Your unit is probably from about 1928-30. In 1930, the Teletype Corp. was bought by AT&T for $30 million and became part of Western Electric and "Western Electric" would have probably shown up on the nameplate after that date.
Some background:
In the early 1920s, there were two American companies making teletypewriters: The Morkrum Co. and the Kleinschmidt Electric Co., but neither company was making any money. Customers (mainly Western Union and railroads) were wary of investing too much money in either of these small companies, since they might fold at any time. Conversely, both of these companies were hungry for business and their customers could play one against the other to get the best price.
Things came to a head in 1924 after Morkrum sued KEC for patent infringement on the start-stop process and KEC counter-sued. A protracted suit would probably have killed both companies (with only the lawyers benefiting), so it was agreed to merge the two companies. The Morkrum-Kleinschmidt Co. was chartered on 29 December 1924. In 1928, the name "Morkrum-Kleinschmidt" was felt to be too cumbersome and the name was changed to "Teletype Corporation." (Morkrum had been previously using "Teletype" as a model name.)
WU had been asking for a stop-start tape printer for immediate, written communications. Both Morkrum and KEC had been working on designs to meet this need, but now they could combine their plans into a new, type bar, start-stop, keyboard tape printer; which became the Western Union Model 2-B. After tests & evaluations in about 1926, WU's first order was for 10,000 machines at $317 each – a total of $3.17 Million. No such quantity of a printing telegraph had ever been ordered before!
This was initially just a tape printer (not a reperforator) and was not referred to as a "Model 14."
(Note: Western Union assigned their own model numbers to equipment that was manufactured for them. Also, WU reused model numbers for different types of equipment. So you could have a "Model 2-B" tape printer, a "Model 2-B page printer", a "Model 2-B tape reader", etc.)
Teletype Corp.'s first reperforator (non printing) shows up in about 1936 as the "Single Magnet Reperforator" in tall box that fit under a Model 19 table. It was referred to as an "RPE" and later (1938) as a "Model 14". (Note: there are two model designation systems used for Teletype Corp. products! A letter designation system [Fxx= M14 series; Lxx=M28 series, etc.] and the number designation [M11; M12; M14; M28]. I have heard that the number system was more of a Bell/WE numbering system, but the M11 & M12 came before the purchase of Teletype Corp. by AT&T.)
Around 1940, the original WU 2-B model strip printer was modified to also be a reperforator and that is the model that we typically think of as the M14 Typing Reperforator.
Hope this helps.
have fun,
Duncan Brown, K2OEQ
USASA 31J30
Antique Wireless Association
Communication Technologies Museum
Asst. Curator, Commercial Equipment
(also chief TTY op & repairman)
i-Telex: 212503
www.antiquewireless.org
AWA Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX55peBhzeX1qps_VYXdLBA
Virtual AWA Museum TTY Tour: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpB6jM90VV8
On 1/19/2026 9:02 PM, Brian Dunlop wrote:
Greetings,I came across a Teletype model 14 that looks like an early Morkrum-Kleinschmidt but has Teletype badging.Could this model 14 be a transitional unit from around December 1928 when the company changed its name to Teletype Corporation? Photos in the folder linked below.New to the list. Any information appreciated.Regards,Brian Dunlop
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