[GreenKeys] 1940 Britih Teleprinter film

[Harold Hallikainen]

Thanks for posting! That machine is a lot different from a model 15. Of
course, they did not show anything about message routing (possibly torn
tape). The pneumatic tube system was fun. When I was in college, there was
a department store that used a tube system between the sales floor and the
cashiers upstairs. The salesperson would put the sales info and cash into
a cannister to go upstairs where the sale would be recorded and sales sent
back downstairs.

The "last mile" delivery of the message is also interesting. Often the
telegram was delivered by telephone (a local call instead of an expensive
long distance call). I recall also the Western Union DeskFax to handle the
last mile. On originating a telegram, someone had to transcribe the
received fax to teleprinter (probably punched tape). Then, there is the
following quote:

In 1879, Preece was called to testify before a House of Commons select
committee regarding new electrical inventions. When asked about the
necessity of Alexander Graham Bell's newly invented telephone, Preece
famously dismissed its utility for the United Kingdom:

"The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty
of messenger boys."

He further elaborated that the telephone was essentially a "substitute for
servants," arguing that a lack of domestic servants in America forced them
to adopt electronic communication, whereas Britain had a "super-abundance
of messengers, errand boys and things of that kind.'

Despite this legendary technological miscalculation, Preece was actually a
highly competent electrical engineer. In a twist of historical irony, he
ended up being the very official responsible for introducing the first
telephones to Great Britain and later became a key early supporter of
Guglielmo Marconi’s wireless telegraphy (radio) experiments.

I can imagine what it costs to have all those messengers sitting there
waiting to go out and deliver a telegram.

Harold
https://w6iwi.org




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