Do you know where there are Teletype machines for sale? [Telecom]
Bill Horne
One of the readers posted a request for info on whether a Model 15
Teletype is available for purchase, and it got me wondering if any of
the Digest's readers have knowledge in this area.
Does anyone know of any repository of Teletype machines? I can't help
but wonder if some Baby Bell has a warehouse full of them, and there's
a fair number of users who'd be delighted to get at them.
Thanks for your time.
Bill
--
E. William Horne
William Warren Consulting
http://www.william-warren.com/
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It's a Spanish story about a guy named 'Manual'."
-- Dogbert
tlvp
<bill....@this-too.billhorne.homelinux.org> wrote:
> I subscribe to a mailing list for Teletype users, called GREENKEYS.
>
> One of the readers posted a request for info on whether a Model 15
> Teletype is available for purchase, and it got me wondering if any of
> the Digest's readers have knowledge in this area.
>
> Does anyone know of any repository of Teletype machines? I can't help
> but wonder if some Baby Bell has a warehouse full of them, and there's
> a fair number of users who'd be delighted to get at them.
>
> Thanks for your time.
>
> Bill
Googling on the search string [ Model 15 Teletype for sale ], I find:
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?t=8201 .
So, two and a half years ago, there certainly was one.
Might be sold, by now, though :-) .
Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP
***** Moderator's Note *****
Thanks, I'll check ;-).
The question is "What did Ma Bell do with all the machines that used
to crank out service orders"? If they were scrapped, that's a shame,
but it wouldn't surprise me to find at least _one_ warehouse ...
Bill Horne
Moderator
hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com
> The question is "What did Ma Bell do with all the machines that used
> to crank out service orders"? If they were scrapped, that's a shame,
> but it wouldn't surprise me to find at least _one_ warehouse ...
I suspect that until the 1990s, the Bell System and baby bells
warehoused old components for parts use or to be reconditioned. Until
then there was a great deal of old legacy equipment in active daily
service.
However, by circa 1990, new electronic equipment, both for public
service and internal processing, was flooding the baby bells, [and] the
old gear was completely obsolete. Computerized order systems replaced
Baudot teletypes. Further, the baby bells and Western Electric were
breaking away from their Bell System legacy of a very rugged
infrastructure to a much leaner streamlined approach. At that time I
suspect the stockpiles of old gear, be it Teletypes, Strowger
switches, rotary telephone sets, etc. were declared obsolete and
scrapped, even the warehouses themselves sold off. Several old
telephone buildings were sold off to become luxury condos.
***** Moderator's Note *****
During the 1960's my uncle was flying a surplus Cessna "Bamboo Bomber"
twin-engined airplane from Texas to Massachusetts, while on vacation
with his wife. The aircraft, which had seen long service in World War
II, was no longer in the government inventory, so parts could only be
obtained from the secondary market.
My uncle blew the landing gear fuse, and therefore couldn't use the
electric motors which raised and lowered the landing gear. The fuse
was a special part that wasn't used for any other airplane, or any
other *anything*, so he had to have his wife crank the gear down (and
up) manually, using the emergency, hand-operated gear mechanism.
Needless to say, his wife was happy to do it the first time, but not
the fifth or sixth, etc.
My uncle, who had spent 20+ years in the Air Force, stopped at
Westover Air Force base and sought help from the Senior Master
Sergeant in charge of aircraft maintenance. The "top" sergeant took
him into an old hanger, and showed him a hidden trapdoor that led to
the "attic", where a long line of Master Sergeants had hidden all the
parts from all the "Retired" airplanes. They found the fuse my uncle
needed, and a couple of spares, _and_ the gear lubricant that the
landing gear motors _really_ needed (it was made to perform properly
at altitude and still be non-conductive, which was a rare feat back
then) and my uncle never tired of telling the tale.
The moral of this story is that I *KNOW* that somewhere, there is a
warehouse full of Teletype machines, packed in Cosmoline, ready to go
into service. The "pack rat" nature of techies dictates it, and I'm
going on a mission to find them! ;-)
Bill Horne
Moderator
Wes...@aol.com
bi...@billhorne.removethis.homelinux.org wrote:
> Thanks, I'll check ;-).
>
> The question is "What did Ma Bell do with all the machines that used
> to crank out service orders"? If they were scrapped, that's a shame,
> but it wouldn't surprise me to find at least _one_ warehouse ...
>
> Bill Horne
> Moderator
It's unlikelty they're laying around in a warehouse, since they would
be assets in the rate base that the company needed to be earning on,
and they would bring in no revenue.
Incidentally, I'm 81, have a landline and cellphone, and like a lot of
fast food. McDonald's has outstanding quality beef.
Wes Leatherock
wes...@aol.com
wlea...@yahoo.com
**** Moderator's Note *****
Come on, Wes, didn't you ever hear of the "Magic Pencil"? There were
probably more items "retired" that way than we could imagine: when I
was in Engineering, we occasionally found electromechanical equipment
sitting on floor space which had been "cleared" years before. Some of
it had been hidden by engineers who wanted a private stock of parts
(D1 banks were a favorite target), and some was "removed" by foremen
and supervisors who owed their crews a favor and used the OT as
Christmas money.
In any case, I don't care who _owns_ the warehouse (or barn, or
attic): I'm just trying to find it. There was a _lot_ of old gear that
fell off the truck on the way to the junk dealer, and even a few old
Switchmen who constructed complete SxS telephone exchanges in their
basements when SxS was "retired".
BTW, I bet you order off the "less than a dollar" menu at McBurger,
and avoid the ultra-high profit items like shakes and french fries.
Bill Horne
Moderator
David Lesher
> The moral of this story is that I *KNOW* that somewhere, there is a
> warehouse full of Teletype machines, packed in Cosmoline, ready to go
> into service. The "pack rat" nature of techies dictates it, and I'm
> going on a mission to find them! ;-)
For decades, waves of WWII "Command Sets" -- modular aircraft radios
of solid but simple construction -- would appear on the surplus
market. The general view was as bases closed down/ cleaned house,
another warehouse full of them had been found and sold off.
--
A host is a host from coast to coast.................wb8foz@nrk.com
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433
Steven
Years ago we found a case of Candle Stick phones in a old CO that had
been converted into storage, box was still sealed from factory, the
dates on the box and phone was from the 20's so we figured they had been
stored during the depression by a California Water Telephone or who CWT
bought. The Phones never made it back to anywhere except out work
group. I was out past Palm Springs last year on a remote site job and
found an old Valley Home Telephone, sign is in very good condition for
being there since the 50's. There is a company located in Wisconsin
located in an old barn that has just about anything telephone related.
--
The only good spammer is a dead one!! Have you hunted one down today?
(c) 2009 I Kill Spammers, Inc., A Rot in Hell. Co.
hanc...@bbs.cpcn.com
>
> Come on, Wes, didn't you ever hear of the "Magic Pencil"? There were
> probably more items "retired" that way than we could imagine: when I
> was in Engineering, we occasionally found electromechanical equipment
> sitting on floor space which had been "cleared" years before. Some of
> it had been hidden by engineers who wanted a private stock of parts
> (D1 banks were a favorite target), and some was "removed" by foremen
> and supervisors who owed their crews a favor and used the OT as
> Christmas money.
Back in the 1980s-1990s the sour economy forced many large companies
to get lean and mean. They took a hard look at warehouse or surplus
space they owned or leased and determined whether it had any realistic
economic value. In many cases it did not (in their eyes) and the
properties [were] disposed of. Two casualties of this were (1) old
hardware of various types and (2) corporate archives. Being lean and
mean meant that a company no longer supported (with manuals or parts)
ancient equipment still in service out there. From blast furnaces to
bookcases, stuff was scrapped or trashed.
> In any case, I don't care who _owns_ the warehouse (or barn, or
> attic): I'm just trying to find it. There was a _lot_ of old gear that
> fell off the truck on the way to the junk dealer, and even a few old
> Switchmen who constructed complete SxS telephone exchanges in their
> basements when SxS was "retired".
The two historic telephone groups, ACTA and TCI, may be able to help.
There are antique radio collector groups and ham radio groups who may
be able to help. Sometimes stuff is posted on e-bay.
Unfortunately, private collections are sometimes sadly destroyed as
this article describes:
Robert Bonomi
>
> ***** Moderator's Note *****
>
> warehouse full of Teletype machines, packed in Cosmoline, ready to go
> into service. The "pack rat" nature of techies dictates it, and I'm
> going on a mission to find them! ;-)
_IF_ there is such a warehouse, you're still gonna be out of luck.
The techie guarding it is preserving them for telco use, not for
surplus sales.
*GRIN*
***** Moderator's Note *****
Nope, I don't believe it. Techies want things to be _used_, not just
stored, and they'll welcome me when I show up bearing lubricants and
anti-fungal agents.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Steven
I converted an old power room, [which was] in the basement of a CO, to
keep a stock on the main parts we used in Co Installation - because
the GTE supply system went computer, and it took a week to get
materials to the field, not just one day [as it was] under the old
system. Over time I [stored] all kinds of stuff, including old SXS
parts which we no longer used (including a test train rack, which I
took home just before I retired).
That room was intact until 2006: ten years after I retired, no one
knew about the room, and in fact no one even knew where the key to it
was. It was only found when they went to convert that area into CLEC
cages, [and] a friend called me, asking what I know about it since I
ran the room: I was really surprised it was still there. I went ot
the office and got the key, right where I had left it, and we opened
the room.
It had a couple of inches of dust, but appeared to be the way I left
it. Most of the parts in there were returned to stock, [put] in
supply, or [sent] to the field, but some of the material was old Step
parts, and [they] were taken by employees who wanted to remember the
old days. I took some lubs that I wanted for my Test Train and a
couple of switches and parts for them. I also took an old Microfiche
reader, and the 1996 catalog that went with it. I also found 6 Apple
II computers that we had used for turning up the GTD 5 switch; the
engineer was an Apple freak, [so] I also got those for my Apple II
collection.
John Levine
> this article describes:
>
That was the barn where the RESISTORS computer club met in the 1960s
and 1970s. See http://www.resistors.org, which happens to be hosted
on the same computer as the digest's mailing list.
Claude, who owned the barn, had collected a great deal of equipment
that had been discarded by Western Electric and NJ Bell, but as he got
old and infirm, he wasn't able to take as good care of it as he'd have
liked. Back in 1998 most of it was in poor shape, with mice having
chewed through insulation and so forth, and I expect it was in much
worse shape by the time the barn burned down last week. It was still
a shame for it to go, though.
R's,
John
anomalous
too.billhorne.homelinux.org> wrote:
> I subscribe to a mailing list for Teletype users, called GREENKEYS.
>
> One of the readers posted a request for info on whether a Model 15
> Teletype is available for purchase, and it got me wondering if any of
> the Digest's readers have knowledge in this area.
>
> Does anyone know of any repository of Teletype machines? I can't help
> but wonder if some Baby Bell has a warehouse full of them, and there's
> a fair number of users who'd be delighted to get at them.
>
> Thanks for your time.
>
> Bill
I have a Model 15 that has been in storage for years. The plan was to
get it up and running again one day, but given how long I've had it and
not touched it - this is pretty unlikely.
I was thinking of offering it for sale on ebay (having no idea how to
get in touch with a more specific interest group).
The catch is, while it is a black US model (i.e., it needs 110v), it
is located with me, in Australia.
I dont know if these are rare enough that someone would fork out for
the shipping, but if anyone is interested, please contact me.
Thanks,
ben
Tim Wolseth
---
frmsrcurl: http://compgroups.net/comp.dcom.telecom/Do-you-know-where-there-are-Teletype-machines-for-sale-Telecom
Dave Armon
***** Moderator's Note *****
I don't usually run "for sale" posts, but I'm going to make an
exception, since I asked for leads in the first place, and I already
posted the info anyway.
I'm not going to open Pandora's Box: this is a one-time event.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Jim Haynes
That is where most of the Teletype enthusiasts hang out.
***** Moderator's Note *****
Thanks, I appreciate that. I tried to subscribe again, but the Mailman
robot doesn't seem to like me anymore.
Bill Horne
Moderator
Bill Horne
> I subscribe to a mailing list for Teletype users, called GREENKEYS.
>
> One of the readers posted a request for info on whether there are any
> Model 15 Teletypes available for purchase, and it got me wondering
> if any of the Digest's readers have knowledge in this area.
>
> Does anyone know of any repository of Teletype machines? I can't help
> but wonder if some Baby Bell has a warehouse full of them, and there's
> a fair number of users who'd be delighted to get at them.
>
> Thanks for your time.
Well, here we go again: I was doing Spring cleaning yesterday, and I
came across a couple of treasures that I had thought were lost. In
that spirit, I'm repeating my 2009 request for information: does
anyone know of any old Teletype machines that are being
stored/sold/given away?
It doesn't matter what model: 14, 15, 19, 28, whatever: *someone* is looking
for it.
Bill Horne
SVU
I found one on Craigslist in Phoenix, but you will have to pick it up
locally.
You can search the various locales by using Crazedlist.org.
Brad Houser
Joessassy73
here. I have a few teletype machines in my barn not really sure the
condition. Probably 4-5 of them they are older like you used to see in
the movies . I live in Massachusetts if anyone has a use for them I
would rather they not hang around waiting for the barn to fall down
also a lot of ham radio stuff too if anyones interested let me know
thanks
joe
alp...@atlasok.com
Tnx
Jess (at) acresoflove.com
***** Moderator's Note *****
be sent directly to "Joessassy73", but I have a soft spot for Teletype
machines, since I learned to type on a Model 19.
Bill Horne
Moderator
gem...@aol.com
terminal came out.
Ron Holbrook
***** Moderator's Note *****
current-loop interface, an RS-232, or a modem.
Bill Horne
Moderator