Trip down memory lane - my first (really) mechanical keyboard
Posted: 18 Feb 2017, 20:53
I don't know why I've been thinking of this keyboard today but I think you guys are the only people I know who might appreciate it 
Sadly, I can't find a photo of it but this is the closest I can find:
It's a teletype. I hooked it up to a radio interface and used it to send and receive RTTY over valve (tube) HF transmitters and receivers. Why? because I was 14 and that was cool damnit.
Here's what I remember about it.
It was heavy. No, not Model F heavy. Not Beamspring Heavy. It takes three people swearing a lot to move it.
Key Action described in two words: Heavenly, Violent. Sounds like an odd combination but let me explain how it works first and then you'll understand why.
The device is entirely mechanical, the only electronics in in were mechanical switches and motors. No transistors (they hadn't been invented yet), no valves (tubes). The device had one baud rate which was set by the speed of the 240V motor. When I modified the device to use Ham baud rates I had to calibrate the speed of the motor - crazy.
When the motor turned it would sense if you'd partially pressed a key and if you had, it would pull that key down from under your finger (ahh, heavenly). At the end of the cycle it would slam the key back into your finger (Violent). You learned pretty quickly that you didn't so much __type__ on this keyboard but more gesture at it which keys you wanted to press lest you end with with fractured digits.
On a long session, you'd actually find your typing cadence matching the machine. I would like to say it was because I was becoming one with the machine... but really, I was just trying to stop being bruised by it
So, not a keyboard in the sense that you'd find today... but fun none the less.
Sadly, I can't find a photo of it but this is the closest I can find:
It's a teletype. I hooked it up to a radio interface and used it to send and receive RTTY over valve (tube) HF transmitters and receivers. Why? because I was 14 and that was cool damnit.
Here's what I remember about it.
It was heavy. No, not Model F heavy. Not Beamspring Heavy. It takes three people swearing a lot to move it.
Key Action described in two words: Heavenly, Violent. Sounds like an odd combination but let me explain how it works first and then you'll understand why.
The device is entirely mechanical, the only electronics in in were mechanical switches and motors. No transistors (they hadn't been invented yet), no valves (tubes). The device had one baud rate which was set by the speed of the 240V motor. When I modified the device to use Ham baud rates I had to calibrate the speed of the motor - crazy.
When the motor turned it would sense if you'd partially pressed a key and if you had, it would pull that key down from under your finger (ahh, heavenly). At the end of the cycle it would slam the key back into your finger (Violent). You learned pretty quickly that you didn't so much __type__ on this keyboard but more gesture at it which keys you wanted to press lest you end with with fractured digits.
On a long session, you'd actually find your typing cadence matching the machine. I would like to say it was because I was becoming one with the machine... but really, I was just trying to stop being bruised by it
So, not a keyboard in the sense that you'd find today... but fun none the less.
