[GreenKeys] Kleinschmidt TT-4

[Peter Holtham]

Hi David,

I have two TT4s, an A and a C. The C appeared to have been completely unused and was disposed of as surplus by the Australian army.  It was complete with tuning fork and two spare fuses.

The A has led a much harder life and was pretty dirty, although the immersion proof cover kept 30+ years of storage dirt (and rodents) out. No tuning fork and no spare fuses. 

The tuning fork speed adjustment is do-able but tedious. I use an electronic tachometer (Peter in Adelaide if you read this while still on the road in South Australia, the tacho was A$88 from Jaycar). The A governor was well out of adjustment, but was easy to fix with the tacho.

Connecting up was easy on the C, terminals 3 and 4 on the side form one connection into my loop supply, and 1 and 2 the other. There is a shorting link between terminals 5 and 6. The shorting link between 2 and 3 is open. Terminal 0 is unused. I use an assortment of terminal units, one of which is a homemade version of the Volpe board.

On the A the connections are the same, but on this machine terminals 5 and 6 were never present. This machine was much fussier about what went where, initially the current meter was reading backwards.

I use a 20mA loop current.

As to manuals, I was not aware of TM 11-2234, I have found an addendum to it on Nick’s Navy website.

I have soft copies of:

TM-11-5815-206-12, the ops manual

TM-11-5815-206-34, the maintenance manual, this one is nice because it has hot links from the contents etc making navigation easier, but some of the photos are just black

TM-11-5815-206-34-7604 a Google scanned version of the above, but the photos are ok

TM-11-5815-206-34-P1 the repair parts and special tools list

All these were from somewhere on the internet, just do a search.

With both I went through the full lubrication schedule.  

The A had 75 baud gears fitted, I swapped with Peter in Sth Aust for the 45.45 gears. A reasonably simple job to do.

Now my A model runs fine, BUT it will not line feed. The manual suggestions a broken spring somewhere  in the line feed mechanism, I think that’s right. Side by side comparison of the two, handcranking the motors around, shows that on the C there is a distinct click as the line feed stop bar moves and the line feed sensing lever moves down, whereas in the A there is nothing, although it is possible to push the lever down, otherwise it just floats in the breeze. My problem is I cannot make sense of any of the drawings and I cannot yet find the broken spring. Also the disassembly instructions are not too clear, referring to cotter pins and washers, whereas mine seem to have circlips.

I will persevere and hope I can find and fix the problem.

Apologies for the long non Teletype post, but if any other Kleinschmitt owners have any ideas for my LF problem
I would like to hear them (off list if need be).

regards

Peter

> On 31 Mar 2026, at 12:05 pm, David S via GreenKeys <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
> 
> I have a Model 28 wall mount that fits in my military truck, but is 100wpm and not really usable on the air.  Will be a great demo piece for shows and such, and if nothing else it IS a printer.
> 
> I have a Model 28 floor mount that does not fit in the truck (it would fit in a strict sense, but not really be practical with the features it has), but I am working on getting it on the air from my home office, struggling with the terminal units though.
> 
> My real goal has been to get an on air capable Army Signal Corps model of some sort to use at events and Parks on the Air.  I finally managed to get my hands on a beautiful Kleinschmidt TT-4 machine and I really couldn't be happier.  It will fit perfectly in my setup.
> 
> I found a really nice copy of TM 11-2234 at a bookstore in southern CA, and have been reading through it.  I am getting it cleaned up, it appears to have been travel locked a long time ago, and it has some very aged grease in it.  It was stored beautifully though.  Very minor corrosion here and there but it is cleaning nicely.  Pictures are with covers removed, but the machine windowed cover and weather cover are both also in good shape.
> 
> Its tuning fork was missing but I (fortunately) found one on ebay for a reasonable price.  Reading the TM, and seeing this on the deramp youtube video on the tuning fork procedure, it is a fascinating method of setting spin speed.
> 
> 
> Any tips on getting this TT-4 connected and running?
> 
> 
> I am not there yet, but I have the deramp interface board adapted to the Model 28, would this be appropriate to drive this TTY, or is it expecting more of the current loop signal a model 15 would be getting?  I have an iRL FSK-1000, but it wont drive the Model 28s, either it isnt working or I am doing something wrong.  Ran though the manual on the iRL a couple of times and haven't cracked that code yet.
> 
> The only references I see is a handful of youtube vids from gregga1973 and Marks tech channel, not nearly as extensive a reference set as the Model 28.
> 
> Looking forward to not only getting this TT-4 running, but on the air
>