CHAPTER 6KLEINSCHMIDT LABORATORIES

Telephone Typewriter Service (early TWX apparatus)reproduced by permission of American telephone & Telegraph Co.

There are approximately 54,000 subscribers to TWX at this writing, and the TWX directory gets fatter with each new issue. In 1962 all TWX machines were converted to direct dialing operation, making the service easier to use. Instead of going through “Operator” by manually typing out the call letters of the party being called, one now merely depresses the Originate button, listens for the dial tone, and then dials the TWX number of the party wanted.

RCA Communications, Inc., was the first to extend international TELEX service to Bell System teletypewriter subscribers (1955), enabling them to make and receive overseas calls on their domestic TWX machines.[14]As stated, the TWX machines were geared for 60-words-per-minute operation, whereas the TELEX system operated at 66 words per minute. It was therefore necessary for R.C.A. to use conversion apparatus to an error-detecting code for overseas radio transmission. This code was a seven-unit code, using three marking and four spacing elements, giving 35 usable combinations. By using a special printer, when a faulty combination was received, a special error symbol was printed.

Western Union, in May of 1958, introduced TELEX service between New York City and various Canadian points. By 1962 the service had been extended to 67 United States cities, and at this writing they expect to serve 180 United States cities with an anticipated subscriber capacity of many thousands.[15]

In addition to domestic service between U. S. cities, subscribers can dial automatic teleprinter connections to Canada and Mexico. Also, they can obtain direct TELEX connections to other parts of the world through the overseas facilities of RCAC (Radio Corporation of America Communications), AC&R (American Cable and Radio), and WUI (Western Union International). The operating speed of 66 words per minute and also the teleprinter keyboard in the U. S. TELEX network conform to international standards of the CCITT. This provides complete operating compatibility with other TELEX systems throughout the world without the need for speed and keyboard translators.[15]

SOME OF TODAY’S TELEX APPARATUS

The SAGEM Electronic Teleprinter used in TELEXPicture by courtesy of Société d’Applications Générales d’Electricité et de Mécanique

Western Union TELEXPicture through courtesy of Western Union Telegraph Co.

General Post Office TELEX Installationby courtesy of H. M. Postmaster-General

Standard Elektrik Lorenz TELEX Apparatusreproduced by permission of Standard Elektrik Lorenz

Siemens & Halske TELEX ApparatusPicture by courtesy of Siemens & Halske

As we have seen, Edward Kleinschmidt, upon resigning from Teletype Corporation as vice president when it was taken over by Western Electric, had agreed to do development work for them, working independently but assigning any inventions to the new Teletype Corporation.

And so it was that Kleinschmidt Laboratories came into existence. Incorporated on March 21, 1931, under Delaware laws, for the immediate purpose of doing research and development work for Teletype, the principals of the new company were Edward E. as president, and his two sons, Edward F. as vice president and Bernard L. as secretary.

Kleinschmidt had earlier proposed a comprehensive and completely automatic printing telegraph switching system in which messages are automatically routed from the subscriber printer through telegraph centrals of the addressee printer under control of address tape perforations. Under his development contract with Teletype he continued work on the system. Message storage in perforated tape was provided for at all central switching points, and an answerback arrangement was included in the system by the automatic return transmission of the addressee’s number to the sender.

As the research and development work for Teletype continued, the switching system was completed, and various other devices of more or less importance were developed, with patents assigned to the Teletype Corporation. In late 1934 the contract with Teletype expired.

At that time, son Bernard was operating a printing plant in rather close quarters in Highland Park, Illinois. The operations of the Laboratories had been carried on in rented quarters at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. Seeing that there would be no work for Teletype, it was decided to set up working quarters in Highland Park where the family lived. Since rented space was not available, a building was constructed on Lincolnwood Road in the Braeside section of Highland Park to house both the B. L. Kleinschmidt Printing Company and the machinery andother equipment of the Laboratories. The Laboratories, now inactive, became a personal holding company with 2300 shares to cover a book value of approximately $230,000.00 (Kleinschmidt having distributed the major portion of these shares to his children and grandchildren).

Son Edward F. turned his thoughts to other fields and carried on experimental work in the new building in devices not connected with the telegraph. Son Bernard was involved in his printing business. Their father’s thoughts lay dormant for a long time, but still there was the urge to continue with the telegraph, and a plan for operating a five-unit-code selecting mechanism, operating on a progressive stop principle to position a typewheel or to select a typebar for printing on tape or page, was worked out.

When models of this new plan were completed and operating successfully, Edward E. Kleinschmidt immediately thought of Teletype Corporation and brought the apparatus to their attention, submitting models and patent applications for their evaluation. After numerous conferences and correspondence, however, his offer for the sale of patent rights and models was rejected. Discouraged, he left the completed models at the Highland Park lab and moved to Florida.

During the second world war, son Bernard abandoned his printing establishment and started a tool and die shop, using the machinery and facilities of the Laboratories as well as space occupied by his printing shop. The B. L. Kleinschmidt Company was kept busy building tools, dies, and special devices for the war effort.

Through Bernard’s associations he learned that the United States Signal Corps needed a light-weight, transportable teleprinter for tactical field use, and he asked his father if he could show the progressive stop printer to the Signal Corps at their Chicago headquarters. His father, in Miami at that time, gave his approval. Two days later, the telephone rang in Miami and it was Bernard saying, “Dad, they are interested and want you to bring the printer model to Army Headquarters in Washington.” Nothing could have pleased his father more!

In February of 1944, Edward E. Kleinschmidt demonstrated a working model of his teleprinter in Washington at the office of the Chief Signal Officer. Officials of the Signal Corps were greatly interested in the unit, not only because of its extreme lightness and small bulk, but because of the representations that the basic design features of this tape printer,exclusive of the printing mechanism, could be incorporated in a page-type printer which could be constructed with a total weight of approximately thirty pounds. The machine was subsequently informally tested at the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories and found to have excellent margins when working without an intermediate relay on very low line current, a highly desirable feature in a piece of tactical teletypewriter equipment.

The exhibit at Headquarters was successful, and after operative tests at the Signal Corps’ Coles Signal Laboratories in Red Bank, New Jersey, where approval for further studies was given, the Kleinschmidt organization was asked to prepare plans toward a tactical light-weight printer for field use.

It should be pointed out that teletypewriters at that time were heavy, cumbersome, and intended for use only at telegraph offices or at other plant or office fixed installations.

The plans for a light-weight page printer were submitted to the Signal Corps as requested and were well received by their engineers. These engineers then wrote up specifications detailing their requirements for a rugged, light-weight portable set for hand-carrying through jungles and swamps, and operable under severe climatic conditions; the specifications were submitted to the Teletype Corporation, the Western Union Telegraph Company, and to the Kleinschmidt organization. Western Union did not take on the development job, but Teletype and Kleinschmidt accepted. A contract for the development of a teletypewriter according to Signal Corps specifications was closed with both companies in 1945.

The Kleinschmidt Laboratories were not in active operation at this time, so the first development contract was closed with the B. L. Kleinschmidt Company which was fully equipped to carry on the work. Expert tool and model makers were in his employ, some of whom turned out to do well at the drawing board and were of great help in working out mechanical functions. As a matter of fact, five or six of Bernard’s employees are still with the Kleinschmidt Division of SCM Corporation at this writing, some having attained supervisory positions.

Edward F. joined his father in further engineering and development work, and models of a typebar page printer and a typewheel page printer to operate at 60 words per minute were built. Upon evaluation by the Signal Corps and Army engineers, a printer with a higher operatingspeed, up to 100 words per minute, was demanded. This new requirement meant a complete redesign of apparatus, but it was successfully carried through and experimental models were submitted by both companies. Thereupon both Kleinschmidt and Teletype were asked to build ten printers for field tests. This was done, and after extensive field testing, the Kleinschmidt-designed, keyboard-operated, 100-words-per-minute typebar page printer was accepted, and, by order of the then Secretary of War, it was made the standard for the Military, effective on January 1, 1949. (This printer was later to be known as the TT-4 tactical page printer, the principal component of Teletypewriter Set AN/PGC-1.) (Seefig. 13.)

An announcement from the Department of the Army, in a document released for publication on February 13, 1949,[16]read as follows:

Portable Teletypewriter Developed by Signal CorpsPortable teletypewriter equipment so light that a parachutist can carry it on a jump from an airplane has been developed and adopted by the Army, promising a major advancement in military communications, the Signal Corps announced today.Weighing but 45 pounds, compared with current field equipment that weighs 225 pounds, the new portable teletypewriter is but one-fourth the size of the old, has 300 fewer parts, is considerably stronger and consequently requires far less maintenance. The new equipment is capable of transmitting and receiving messages 66 per cent faster than existing types and will operate on both wire and radio circuits. It is waterproof and should it be used in amphibious operations, could be floated onto a beach.The development is the fruition of a 20-year-old project that did not get under way in earnest, however, until World War II was nearly over.Because of its light weight, the new teletypewriter can be used much closer to the front lines than has been the case. During World War II, teletyped messages could go only as far forward as a division headquarters. How much farther forward the new equipment can be used, will be determined in forthcoming field tests.The portable teletypewriter was developed by the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, through a research and development contract with Kleinschmidt Laboratories, Incorporated, of Highland Park, Illinois.There are three components to a complete field unit: the teletypewriter itself, weighing 45 pounds; a power unit, and a case of accessories. Thethree together weigh 116 pounds. All units are waterproof, both to permit flotation in amphibious activities and to provide complete protection from weather. One man can carry the teletypewriter itself, while two men can carry all three units.The field teletypewriter in current use weighs 225 pounds and—if a vehicle is not available—requires four men to carry it. With power unit and accessories, present field equipment totals more than 400 pounds and requires seven men to carry it.

Portable Teletypewriter Developed by Signal Corps

Portable teletypewriter equipment so light that a parachutist can carry it on a jump from an airplane has been developed and adopted by the Army, promising a major advancement in military communications, the Signal Corps announced today.

Weighing but 45 pounds, compared with current field equipment that weighs 225 pounds, the new portable teletypewriter is but one-fourth the size of the old, has 300 fewer parts, is considerably stronger and consequently requires far less maintenance. The new equipment is capable of transmitting and receiving messages 66 per cent faster than existing types and will operate on both wire and radio circuits. It is waterproof and should it be used in amphibious operations, could be floated onto a beach.

The development is the fruition of a 20-year-old project that did not get under way in earnest, however, until World War II was nearly over.

Because of its light weight, the new teletypewriter can be used much closer to the front lines than has been the case. During World War II, teletyped messages could go only as far forward as a division headquarters. How much farther forward the new equipment can be used, will be determined in forthcoming field tests.

The portable teletypewriter was developed by the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, through a research and development contract with Kleinschmidt Laboratories, Incorporated, of Highland Park, Illinois.

There are three components to a complete field unit: the teletypewriter itself, weighing 45 pounds; a power unit, and a case of accessories. Thethree together weigh 116 pounds. All units are waterproof, both to permit flotation in amphibious activities and to provide complete protection from weather. One man can carry the teletypewriter itself, while two men can carry all three units.

The field teletypewriter in current use weighs 225 pounds and—if a vehicle is not available—requires four men to carry it. With power unit and accessories, present field equipment totals more than 400 pounds and requires seven men to carry it.

While development work for the Signal Corps was progressing, Bernard kept busy managing general operations and Edward F. took hold in the general design and devised important features that were patented in his name.

Bernard died in March, 1948. However, development work went along with the B. L. Kleinschmidt facilities until 1949, when a production order for 2,000 teleprinters, conforming to the now approved Kleinschmidt design, was to be placed. Now that Bernard was no longer there to take over business details, and as a certain amount of basic capital was needed to operate a production establishment, arrangements were made to transfer Bernard’s equipment to Kleinschmidt Laboratories which thereafter closed a contract to manufacture the required quantity of teleprinters now designated as the TT-4 telegraph typewriter.

Kleinschmidt senior, now seventy-four, was not eager to take over the management of production activities, and while manufacturers in the office equipment and radio field were ready and anxious to take on the manufacture of these new teleprinters, he sought to keep the future of this new development with the Kleinschmidt Laboratories—now owned by all members of his family. His son-in-law, Emerson E. (Bud) Mead, was operating a manufacturing plant, producing electrical control devices quite successfully, so, “Why not ask Bud, then Secretary of Kleinschmidt Laboratories, to take over? He could no doubt sell the Mead company at a profit.” Bud did find a buyer for his company and he was then made vice president of Kleinschmidt Laboratories; later, when Edward E. Kleinschmidt turned over full management to him, Mead became executive vice president.

The immediate problem at the Laboratories was to find manufacturing space. The first thought was to rent, but then there would be no room to expand should larger orders follow, and this could be expected since Kleinschmidt teleprinter apparatus was now made standard equipment for all U.S. Armed Services. Upon further investigation, Bud Mead found a plot in Deerfield, Illinois, facing County Line Road, consisting of thirteen acres, which could be purchased at a reasonable price. This area would give plenty of building room and space for parking cars. Kleinschmidt Laboratories’ first building, 200 × 150 feet, was soon erected.

Fig. 13Kleinschmidt Laboratories, Inc. Portable TT-4 Tactical Page Printer

Fig. 14Kleinschmidt Laboratories, Inc. AN/FGC-20 Fixed-Station Teletypewriter Set

Preliminary work toward manufacturing, drawings, ordering of production machinery, special tools, standard parts, and other items was carried on at the Braeside laboratory.

The efforts of all of the people of the Kleinschmidt organization, working with great enthusiasm and wonderful cooperation, sometimes around the clock, were rewarded when on April 17, 1950, preproduction samples of light-weight teletypewriter sets were delivered on schedule to the Signal Corps in Fort Monmouth for approval and acceptance. Immediately upon receipt of their approval, production began on the contract awarded in June of 1949.

Kleinschmidt Laboratories subsequently received contracts and built thousands of their teleprinters, including the filling of orders for the AN/FGC-20 fixed station teleprinters (seefig. 14).

Later, the Laboratories, together with the Automatic Electric Company, then of Chicago, now of Northlake, Ill., designed and built switching apparatus and set up high-speed, 100-words-per-minute, automatic teleprinter switching centers for the Military. These systems had trunk switching controls located at key distributing points in the United States and abroad, interconnected by microwave circuitry.

As further orders for teleprinters and associated equipment came along, manufacturing facilities were expanded into more building area; additions to the first unit brought that building to 200 × 500 feet. Another building, 250 × 350 feet, of special design to house belt-line apparatus assembly and parts storage, also testing, inspection, and shipping, was erected in 1958.

In August, 1956, Kleinschmidt Laboratories merged with Smith-Corona Inc., on an exchange-of-shares basis, which eventually gave Kleinschmidt Laboratories’ shareholders 60 shares of Smith-Corona (later Smith-Corona Marchant Inc., and then SCM Corporation) stock for one share of Kleinschmidt Laboratories’. Bud Mead was elected a director and a member of the executive committee. Later, he became vice presidentof operations. When Smith-Corona merged with Marchant Calculators, Inc. (June, 1958), he was made executive vice president; then, in October of 1960, he was named president of Smith-Corona Marchant Inc. (now known as SCM Corporation).

Kleinschmidt, as a Division of SCM Corporation, continues to supply the Military and also commercial users with teleprinter equipment. The conclusion of this chapter tells briefly the direction the Kleinschmidt Division is going in the printed communications field.

Before the Kleinschmidt 100-words-per-minute teleprinter was put into service on intercommunicating circuits, the operating speed on standard circuits had been limited to 60 words per minute. Noting this important change in operating speed, other manufacturers had to redesign their teleprinter equipment to meet the new 100-words-per-minute speed.

Teletype Corporation came up with a new design, the No. 28, in which all the type pallets are moveably mounted in a rectangular box that is positioned to move a selected type pallet into printing position by a system of levers operated in aggregate motions under control of the code selecting mechanisms (fig. 15). When so positioned, a print hammer strikes the type pallet to print the character.

Creed, in England, later brought out a new design, their No. 75, using a segmented typewheel having four rows of type faces. The typewheel is set in the selected printing position by a lever and linkage system operating in aggregate motion under control of the code selecting mechanism. To print the selected character, the typewheel is struck against the printing paper (fig. 16).

Siemens and Halske, in Germany, produced their No. 100, a redesign of the No. 15 Teletype, using lighter and faster moving parts for operation at 100 words per minute. Among other improved features were a type bar shift to replace the platen shift for printing letters or figures, and a two-color ribbon which is automatically shifted to print in red or black to distinguish between sent and received messages—a feature of convenience in TELEX communication. The Siemens No. 100 was designed especially for the TELEX system, operating at 66 words per minute, where it is used extensively (fig. 17).

Fig. 15Teletype Corporation Model 28 100-words-per-minute TeletypewriterPicture through courtesy of Teletype Corporation

Fig. 16Creed & Company Ltd. Model 75 Teleprinter with attachmentsPicture by courtesy of Creed & Co. Ltd.

Fig. 17Siemens & Halske Model 100 TeleprinterPicture by courtesy of Siemens & Halske

The Kleinschmidt printer, designed to operate at 100 to 150 words a minute, employs a new method for operating a typebar printing mechanism, comprising a type basket movable across the printed page and carrying the required set of type bars. Each type bar has a connected push rod extending to the rear of the type basket and is made operative to cause printing when a rotating finger, selectively positioned by a coded stop cage, is struck against the push rod. To meet the requirements of the Military for a teleprinter operable in any angular position, the letter spacing and carriage return with deceleration to the stop position is under positive control of the motor drive.

Kleinschmidt Division of SCM Corporation AN/FGC-25 Send-Receive Fixed-Station Teletypewriter Set (used by the Military)

In 1948, scientists at Bell Telephone Laboratories, engaged in semiconductor research, announced the birth of their famous brainchild, thetransistor. Now the little transistor and his friends, the diode and advanced techniques in electromagnetic inductive devices, have gradually taken over in the communications field, permitting startling speed increases and changes in equipment design.

In the 100-words-per-minute teletypewriters, the permutation code equivalent of the character to be transmitted or received was at some point “set up” mechanically by positioning levers or vanes. The inertial properties of these mechanical parts placed low-level limitations on the operating set-up speed. By using the binary code and electronic switching circuits, the set-up time has been reduced from milliseconds to microseconds, making higher speeds more easily obtainable. Also, electronic approaches to printing on page or tape have contributed to the speed-up of telegraph receiving devices. Now, both tape and page devices are available at operating speeds up to 10,000 words per minute.

Thanks to the Bell System, also, is the development of Data-Phone service, started in 1958. Data-Phone makes use of all the telephone switching devices and repeating apparatus so that any type of communicating system using frequencies within the voice range may be used. For such systems the telephone company will install equipment to separate the different types of electrical transmission to prevent interference. Because Data-Phone enables not only the sound of the human voice to be sent over a telephone circuit, but information from a teletypewriter or business machine as well, this new use for the telephone system has expanded its service to many types of business communications. At this writing, the Bell System advertises, “Data-Phone ‘talks’ 16 times faster than people talk. It can send punched card or taped data anywhere—at speeds up to 2500 words per minute.”

While these advances have been taking place, the transistor and its companions have made a similar impact in the field of data processing. The rapid evolution of computers and other high-speed switching devices has generated a need for higher speed equipment to supply input and output requirements. The changeover to electronics has realized minification, lighter weight, reduction of mechanical parts with a corresponding reduction in maintenance, quieter operation, and greater adaptability to code and language conversion.

At the Kleinschmidt Division where Mr. Emilio J. Cadamagnani, Executive Vice President, is in charge, their engineering department, under the supervision of Mr. Robert L. Kearney, is keeping up with the change from electromechanically- to electronically-controlled devices. Their new Model 311 Electronic Data Printer shown here is an example. Operating at speeds from 60 to 400 words per minute and capable of receiving 5-, 6-, 7-, or 8-level code information in either serial or parallel form, it is designed for use in high-speed communications or data processing systems.

Also illustrated is still another new Kleinschmidt device, the Model 321 Automatic Data Set, which includes not only a page printer with keyboard but a tape perforator and a tape reader, all compactly mounted in a console.

Both the Model 311 and Model 321 are compatible with existing data modems, conventional printing telegraph equipment, electronic computers, and data processing equipment. This compatibility permits their use in on-line or off-line communications and data-handling applications.

More exciting devices may be anticipated in the rapidly moving field of printed communications.

Kleinschmidt Division of SCM CorporationModel 311 Electronic Data Printer

Kleinschmidt Division of SCM CorporationModel 321 Automatic Data Set

[1]Der Pendel-Telegraph von Siemens & Halske, by E. Ehrhardt, 6 Jan. 1917.[2]Telegraphy, A Detailed Exposition of the Telegraph System of the British Post Office, by T. E. Herbert, Fourth Edition (with Addendum), Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., London, 1920.[3]“Teletype’s Salty Past,”The AP World, Autumn 1962, p. 29.[4]AP, The Story of News, by Oliver Gramling, illustrated by Henry C. Barrow, Farrar and Rinehart, Inc., New York-Toronto, 1940.[5]“Some Recollections of AP’s First Field Maintenance Man,”The AP World, Autumn 1962, p. 28.[6]“Some Recollections of AP’s First Field Maintenance Man,”The AP World, Autumn 1962, p. 28.[7]Seepage 30.[8]The Romance of Time, by Brooks Palmer for The Clock Manufacturers Association of America, Inc., New Haven, Conn., 1954 (copies may be purchased from American Clock & Watch Museum, Inc., 100 Maple Street, Bristol, Conn.).[9]“$30,000,000 Worth of Teletype,”Fortune, March 1932.[10]“$30,000,000 Worth of Teletype,”Fortune, March 1932.[11]“Walter J. Zenner Retires,”Teletype News, February 1964.[12]Telegraphy, by J. W. Freebody, Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., London, 1958.[13]From brochure published by American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1-9-28.[14]“Communications from Morse to Satellites,” by George A. Shaw, RCA Communications, Inc.,Wire and Radio Communications, Sept. 1962.[15]“Telex in the U.S.A.,”Communications & Electronics, Sept. 1962.[16]National Military Establishment, Dept. of the Army, Wash. 25, D.C., for release Sunday, Feb. 13, 1949.

[1]Der Pendel-Telegraph von Siemens & Halske, by E. Ehrhardt, 6 Jan. 1917.

[2]Telegraphy, A Detailed Exposition of the Telegraph System of the British Post Office, by T. E. Herbert, Fourth Edition (with Addendum), Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., London, 1920.

[3]“Teletype’s Salty Past,”The AP World, Autumn 1962, p. 29.

[4]AP, The Story of News, by Oliver Gramling, illustrated by Henry C. Barrow, Farrar and Rinehart, Inc., New York-Toronto, 1940.

[5]“Some Recollections of AP’s First Field Maintenance Man,”The AP World, Autumn 1962, p. 28.

[6]“Some Recollections of AP’s First Field Maintenance Man,”The AP World, Autumn 1962, p. 28.

[7]Seepage 30.

[8]The Romance of Time, by Brooks Palmer for The Clock Manufacturers Association of America, Inc., New Haven, Conn., 1954 (copies may be purchased from American Clock & Watch Museum, Inc., 100 Maple Street, Bristol, Conn.).

[9]“$30,000,000 Worth of Teletype,”Fortune, March 1932.

[10]“$30,000,000 Worth of Teletype,”Fortune, March 1932.

[11]“Walter J. Zenner Retires,”Teletype News, February 1964.

[12]Telegraphy, by J. W. Freebody, Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, Ltd., London, 1958.

[13]From brochure published by American Telephone and Telegraph Company, 1-9-28.

[14]“Communications from Morse to Satellites,” by George A. Shaw, RCA Communications, Inc.,Wire and Radio Communications, Sept. 1962.

[15]“Telex in the U.S.A.,”Communications & Electronics, Sept. 1962.

[16]National Military Establishment, Dept. of the Army, Wash. 25, D.C., for release Sunday, Feb. 13, 1949.

Back to Index Next