26 Nov
2007
26 Nov
'07
3:43 p.m.
My recollection of this device was that a drum with
cams was used to
store a message that could then be sent later. I don't recall if
this was an attempt to provide buffering for typeahead--it's very
easy for a touch typist to type faster than the old TTY machines
could send--or just a way to record a message for later sending.
THis sounds like the 'answerback drum'. It was an option in the Teletype
model 33, It was standard on some other teleprinters (my Creed 7E, for
example, has it, I think all of said model do).
I've never seen one that could be programmed from the keyboard. Normally
you had to break off the appropraite tines at installation to encode the
message you wanted to send. The Teletype Mdoel 33 one was a one-piece
plastic drum, if you broke off the wrong tine, or wanted to change the
message, you had to replace the whole thing. Creed had separate strips of
metal for each character that you slotted into a drum that was part of
the machine (and a lot harder to remove than the strips of metal),
obviously with that type you could replace just the strip(s) for the
characters you wanted to change.
-tony