Teleprinters

The famous English Creed Teleprinter Model 7, was introduced by the P.M.G. into the Australian Telegraph Services in the 1930's. It was used to transmit and receive telegrams at 66 words (400) characters per minute, between cities and towns.

The American Teletype Model 15, was introduced into Australian communications with the arrival of the American forces in this country during Word War 2 (1939-1945). The P.M.G. continued to import them up till the 1950's. Because of their benefits, they were used to replace Morse code on internal circuits.

The Siemens Halske Teleprinter Model 100 Ser 1
This teleprinter from Germany appeared in the early 1960's. Well built and incorporating advances in post-war technology . The model 100 featured in the new PMG Telex Service for businesses which were able to connect directly to each other by teleprinter both nationally and internationally

The Siemens Halske Teleprinter Model 100 Ser. 11
Only minor changes to the mechanics and the larger cover incorporated the relay set on the right hand side. (The Series 1 had the relay set attached to the rear of the teleprinter)

The Sagem Teleprinter TX20 , manufactured in France, this teleprinter represented a quantum shift in technology. The TX20 was microprocessor controlled (6800 Motorola chip) and ushered in dot matrix printing. This became the standard telex machine in the mid 1970's.

The Sagem Teleprinter 2000
This machine introduced the VDU screen and the 5 inch floppy disc as the storage medium.
Early 1980's.

The SAGEM Teleprinter 2001. The last model teleprinter offered by Telecom. The configuration is similar to contemporary computers, with a monitor, keyboard, printer and electronics and a standalone 3-1/2 inch floppy unit. Mid 1980's and still used in small numbers on Telex Services.

Siemens Halske Receive only Teleprinter. This machine was adapted from the model 100 teleprinter to work within a silencing cover. A special motor with better cooling was included.

The SAGEM Receive only Teleprinter T10
A receive only electronic teleprinter which could be configured to work at baud rates of 50-75-100 and interpret 5 unit machine code or 8 unit ASC11 code.

Teletype Perforator.
Used in the Telegraph Service. The stand alone perforator was capable of high speed typing to produce messages on punched tape that were then transmitted by an on line machine

Teletype Model 19 Teleprinter and Tape Transmitter Distributor This Teleprinter allowed the operator to select from three modes of working 1: As a page printer. 2: preparing punched tape and producing a page copy. 3: producing punched tape only.
The punched tape was transmitted through the Tape Distributor Transmitter.

Teletype Typing Re-perforator This machine received incoming signals and produced punched tape which carried the typed message as well. A version of this unit with a keyboard was also available.

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The Murray Multiplex system was built around two distributors: one at each end of the line.
These distributors increased the handling capacity of the line by dividing the line time between four sending units, each of which sent one character in turn.

The sending position of the Murray Multiplex System. A Murray keyboard
Perforator and the Murray tape transmitter used machine code:- 5 unit Binary Code

The Teletype Model 12, or Morkrum Printer was an early form of receive only teleprinter. It was used by the P.M.G. as the printer to receive telegrams sent through the Murray Multiplex System introduced in 1924

Muirhead Eng., in 1940's, manufactured a machine that could transmit photographs. The receiver pictured, held a large photographic film (A4 size) on a rotating drum. The drum was stepped 1/100 inch each revolution and the picture was built by a light beam, the intensity of which, was varied by the transmitted picture from white through shades of grey to black.

The P.M.G. offered a picturegram service to newspapers which enabled black and white photographs to be sent over long distances. This is a portable picturegram transmitter. A photograph is attached to a rotating drum which steps 1/100 inch each revolution. A narrow light beam is reflected off the photograph onto a photoelectric cell which converts the varying light intensity into electrical signals, suitable for transmission to a receiver.

An early example of a facsimile machine (1940's). This service was used by the weather bureau to receive weather patterns and information.
The paper used was impregnated with a chemical and was maintained in a damp state. The paper fed between a writing edge and a rotating helix. When current was applied to the writing edge it would pass through the paper to the helix and in doing so, would make appropriate impressions on the paper.

The largest collection of Telecommunication Memorabilia in Queensland.

1934 saw the first "Creed" teleprinter service between the Courier Mail newspaper in Brisbane and the Bulletin newspaper in Rockhampton. A teleprinter is much the same as an electric typewriter but can work on signals from a paper tape simailar to the Murray system but no distributor is needed as there is just one machine at each end of the line.
Thus by typing a message on their keyboard the other newspaper had an immediate copy of what was typed and in fact an operator at the receiving end could type back immediately if the need arose. The use of teleprinters was also introduced between certain Post Offices and the GPO depending on the volume of traffic.

With the threat of Japanese invasion during world war 2 and the entry into the conflict by the US armed forces and their being stationed mostly in Queensland there was an enormous increase in telegram traffic, not just vital war messages but also telegrams sent by the soldiers themselves to families and friends.

The Americans came well equipped and brought with them a good supply of their teleprinters, namely the Model 15 Teletype. These were installed to help speed the flow of telegram traffic where required and continued to work side by side with the British Creed machines for approximately 30 years.

Why did telegrams disappear in the late 1980's? There were a number of factors. Even into the 1960's many homes did not have a telephone, so the telegram was generally the only way to contact someone urgently. Until STD (dial it yourself) long distance phone calls were introduced during the same decade long distance calls were expensive and often a line was not available until hours later and the call was sometimes restricted in length to allow other callers to get through. A telegram was thus often quicker and for a short message cheaper than a trunk phone call.

With many more homes having phones in the 70's and 80's demand for telegrams declined. Prices went up causing further decline and so ended almost 130 years of a service which was so very vital for nearly all its life.