[Milsurplus] bug key, Bunnell & Co, plate states J-36 and Signal Corps US Army, s/n 282.

[Thomas Adams]

Nice find there!  :o)

I have a small collection here that includes a Bunnell J-36. I can 
tell you that the finger peices
on your key are NOT originals, but that's a minor point, easily 
corrected by a hard core collector.

Right after Pearl Harbor, there were several contracts let out for 
the J-36 key. Most of them were
made by Lionel (that's right, the electric train folks. Besides 
telegraph keys, they also made a LOT
of maritime compasses, and a goodly amount of electrical stuff, 
mostly small audio transformers).

Bunnell and Vibroplex made relatively SMALL numbers of the J-36; that 
key is somewhat scarce.
The hardest to find version is from a small hardware supplier in 
Brooklyn who made VERY small
numbers; the company name escapes me at the moment.

The J-36 was essentially a clone of the prewar "Lightning Bug" model. 
Some J-36 keys even had
chrome plating, like the prewar civilian versions, indicating to me 
that many were assembled from
civilian parts on hand when the contract came in.

Even more scarce is a completely different J-36; it was essentially a 
civilian Rotoplex bug with a
nomenclature plate slapped on it! I've been sort of looking for one 
for YEARS...  it's quite hard to
find. Small numbers of them went into circulation at the very 
beginning of the war.

Military bugs are a sort of hard to find item; during WW2 and 
thereafter, most operators were forbidden
to use bugs. Within each command, there was a separate certification 
process for bug users. A Bug
Certificate marked a radio operator as a member of an ELITE who 
worked the highest speed circuits.
Everyone else made do with a J-38 hand key.





At 10:52 08-04-13, MWM wrote:
>Found a nice bug key, Bunnell & Co, plate states J-36 and Signal 
>Corps US Army, s/n 282.
>
>
>Pictures here
>
>
>Cannot get on with bug so any key collectors out there interested?
>
>
>cheers, Ben.
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