[GreenKeys] Way to go!

[Dave Hunter]

Hi All:

On 24 Aug 2010 at 18:59, john wrote:

> Could you take a close up camera photo of the good one you
> have and post it on greenkeys?

At John's request, I am posting this. On a recent trip to 
Ken Gartland's, he gave me these. They are print hammer 
bumpers made here in Canada for the Marsland/Leigh ASR and 
KSR 33's, and presumably would fit the model 32's as well.

Unlike NOS american ones, these were made with a different 
material, and as a result never went gummy. They are, 
however made to the same specs as the US ones and will fit 
all 32's ot 33's. The two of these have a slight mold flaw 
on one side, but this could be corrected easily in 
production.

Though it doesn't show on the photo, remember that the hole 
in them steps back inside to hold it on when it snaps onto 
the hammer.

John wanted me to post a photo in case someone wanted to 
try to make one for themselves:

http://www.islandregister.com/phones/teletype/bumper.jpg

Another member of the list has been sent one of these, and 
is going to try to get them duplicated by a company in the 
US, ensuring a lasting supply. They needed a good non 
deteriorated sample to go from. Stand by for news from him 
if it is successful or viable.

Sadly, these are the last two known of these to still exist 
here, so they may very well be the last two undeteriorated 
hammer bumpers in existence!

Of course as we all know, a quick fix is to place a 3/4 
inch length of tight fitting vinyl tubing over the hammer, 
but, Oh wouldn't it be wonderful if this attempt at making 
new ones using these as a template is successful.

More of the story of Northern Electric, then Marsland and 
finally Leigh producing teletypes by license in Canada on 
my KSR-33 video description on ebay:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMvs1t1CEH8

or as follows:

"Leigh Teletype KSR-33 Demonstration - Telephone Museum of 
P.E.I.

Many don't realize it, but some teletypes were made in 
Canada under license from Teletype Corp.; first by Northern 
Electric, then by Marsland Engineering, which was then 
acquired in 1969 by Leigh Instruments who continued the 
manufacture of these machines. This was to get around 
import duties and taxes at the time which doubled the cost 
of a teletype imported from the US.

This is an KSR-33 made by Leigh in the 70's. I acquired it 
in 1975 from Island Tel who gave several surplus machines 
to fellow ham radio operators, used it for a year as a 
computer i/o device, then loaned it to a friend. He used it 
for a year, and for the next 20 years, it was stored in his 
barn under less than ideal conditions.

When my friend heard I was looking for a model 33 for the 
museum, he reminded me about this one, and the next weekend 
brought it down. Barn storage had been cruel on the 
machine.

The top cover had been broken in, and squirrels had been 
living in it, leaving it littered with parts of spruce 
cones and other seeds. In addition, the storage had been 
very damp resulting in a lot of rust.

The next few weeks were spent removing rust and replacing 
damaged parts, the broken cover, etc.

However, as you can see this old baby has been quite 
resilient, and with some major TLC is now working again. It 
is a nice feeling bringing something like this back to 
life!

Here, you see it printing out text from the Internet using 
a program called Heavy Metal via a Telebyte M65A interface. 
The first while, it is shown with the cover down, then for 
a minute or so with cover open, so you can see its printing 
action, then finally in a shot panning around the museum to 
other equipment on display in the teletype area.

You can also see a model ASR-33 on display, a model very 
similar to this one, but with the ability to generate and 
read paper tape. Videos of that machine and two of my Model 
28ASR machine are also viewable on my YouTube channel.

I will be doing additional cleaning of the discolored 
plastics as I have time.

Leigh Instruments acquired Marsland Engineering in 1969 as 
part of an expansion. Leigh closed their manufacturing 
facility completely in 1983 to concentrate on other 
ventures. Unknown to many, Northern Electric manufactured 
these for a few years before Marsland started building 
them, but the quality was poorer due to inferior hardening 
of metal parts as compared to these and those made by 
Teletype themselves. Note Leigh's white on blue nameplate, 
as well as the small Island Tel nameplate on the cover.

When I was doing this video, I didn't quite have the 
printer inside the case properly, and as a result with the 
top cover down, the paper was jamming somewhat. This was 
fixed as the video uploaded. That is why near the beginning 
of the video, you will see me fiddling with the paper 
before opening the cover. This is not normal and has been 
resolved.

My thanks go out to Ken Gartland of Nova Scotia, an ex-
CN/CP Telecommunications service technician for going over 
this machine's printer after I had it operating and setting 
it to meet factory specs with his test set."

Dave


The Telephone on Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/phones.html

The Telephone Museum of Prince Edward Island:
http://www.islandregister.com/phones/museum.html
Free Admission - Call (902) 651-2762 to arrange a visit!