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g. beat · September 9th 06, 11:02 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.boatanchors

"Don Bowey" wrote in message
...
On 9/8/06 4:24 PM, in article
,
"g. beat " @spam protected wrote:

"al goss" wrote in message
...

old telegraph "sounder" and key....
I'd like to try restore this for display.
I have a 'sounder' missing the brass arm.
Anyone have a pix you could send so I can try dupe the missing piece
from
brass stock? I can reverse pix TO you if that help. Maybe is not too
complicated to make an
arm . My unit has pair of activator coils marked fer "4 ohm" and a J-37
or 38 appearance key attached also to board along with binding posts.
Thanks, ERG

Sounds like a "KOB" Key on Board configuration - fairly common - but
collectors do watch some manufacturers or the "history of where used"
(e.g.
specific railroad, RR location, Western Union)

Not all of them were used by the RR or WU. Telco Toll centers used
telegraph to communicate when the voice circuits were too valuable to be
used by testers. This was true into the 50s. In addition, they were used
at the telegraph testboards as audible testing devices on teletype and
control signal channels. My sounder came from the Eugene, OR Toll office.
A fellow "Transmissionman" sent it to me as a remembrance when the office
testing was remoted to Portland.

This is true. In Chicago, Western Union and AT&T had large facilities
behind the Chicago Board of Trade to handle incoming agricultural commodity
(corn and wheat for example) trades and prices -- which were first send out
on landline telegraph and then eventually migrating to other transmission
methods. Some collectors picked up some of these telegraph items
(repeaters, sounders, mechanical automation) - due to usage and some went to
the CBOT museum.

gb