[GreenKeys] 6 Bit? Linotype TTS?

[dmm at lemur.com]

Philipp,

Congratulations on your new Linotype!  I presume that this must
be a German Linotype?  In America a Model 10 was a relatively early
and quite unusual model built to a shorter overall height for
shipboard use (yes, they had Linotypes on ships).  I presume that
yours is probably a different machine.

The Teletypesetter is indeed 6-level (one wouldn't really
say "six bit" since the concept of the "bit" wasn't introduced
until the 1940s, after the Teletypesetter).  The tape is 7/8 inch
wide (not the 11/16 tape used by most 5-level Teletype equipment -
though I am told that Kleinschmidt typing reperforators used
7/8 inch tape on 5-level service to allow room for the printing).
It is not the 1-inch tape used by 8-bit equipment, either.
I have also been told that the Flexowriter used 7/8 tape
in 7-bit operation, but I have no experience with this.

VERY briefly, the Teletypesetter was introduced in 1928.
It took a while for it to catch on; there were some installations
in the US and abroad in the 1930s, but not until the 1940s did
it become common.  The equipment was originally manufactured
by the Teletypesetter Corporation, which operated out of the
same premises as the Teletype Corporation.  In about 1959 (I could
be off by a couple of years on the date; this is from memory)
the TTS company was sold to Fairchild.  The primary market was
newspaper work.

I've scanned quite a bit of Teletypesetter literature.  Some of the
sales literature is online at:

<http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/compline/literature/tts/sales/index.html>

(if that doesn't make it through the e-mail, it is a single URL without
any spaces or unusual characters).

(Some of these documents are locally hosted PDFs, but some link over to copies
I've put on "The Internet Archive," which is more convenient for
reading large documents.)  The first one, "More Type in Less Time,"
gives a good overview of the mature TTS system.

I've also scanned many DVDs worth of technical literature, but have
not yet processed or put it online yet (there isn't much demand for it).
I'd be happy to make copies of this for you (I already owe copies to
another listmember, who is being most patient about it - thanks K!)
But I'm leaving tomorrow for a 10-day trip and will be without computer
access, so I won't be able to do this until after June 15.  Please
drop me an e-mail then to remind me!

Finding TTS equipment is difficult, at least in the US.  It is much
harder to locate than either Linotype or 5-level Teletype equipment.
My theory is that the TTS systems went primarily into larger 
newspapers.  These newspapers scrapped their Linotypes wholesale
when they switched to photocomposition in the late 1970s and the 1980s.
The Linotypes which have survived have tended to be in smaller shops
and in general "job" shops, and these tended not to have TTS equipment.

So if you find ANY 6-level equipment, grab it!
You might also want to keep an eye out for BRPE punches (which could
be configured for various numbers of punches); there were also 
some computer-driven punches capable of 6-level work.
I'm sure there must have been other 6-level equipment in Europe
that I'm completely unaware of.

There is one other alternative if your goal is simply to drive the
Linotype.  Most of the Linotypes which are still in service under
automatic control have been converted to computer input.  I don't know
the details of this system (or systems), but I believe that it is
basically 1980s vintage computer technology adapted (then) to 
replace the tape reader on the TTS units so that you could drive
the Linotype from disk.  Dave Seat (who is rather well known in
Linotype circles in America - he's the last travelling Linotype
repairman in the country) knows this hardware well.


If you're new to Linotypes, welcome!  They're endlessly fascinating.
If I can be of any assistance on the "hot metal" end of this,
please do not hesitate to ask (again, noting that I'll be offline until
June 15).

I hope that this helps some.

Regards,
David M.

My Linotypes:
http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/cr-stuff/quicklook/index.html

===
Dr. David M. MacMillan  -  dmm at lemur.com

   The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.
       - Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915); Aldo Leopold

www.CircuitousRoot.com   *  www.LemurType.com   *  www.Lemur.com