Sunday, June 30, 2013, 2 p.m. — Actually, there isn’t much of a question in my mind about cleaning up a key that I might acquire — while it ultimately is my key for my enjoyment, on my rarer keys I’m not going to make any hasty moves to remove its original patina (i.e., dust and gunk). Admittedly, I don’t have a great many collectible keys, but I do enjoy the ones I have, regardless of their market value.
And so it was with the Electro Bug pictured at right (click the images to enlarge). This photo shows it in as-found condition (posted last year). Because the key is incomplete, I got the key cheap. One day I would love to get a complete Electro Bug and some day I will. So far I’ve snagged two Electro Bugs (both sans the solenoid), and a couple of clean Electro Bug Jrs.
While I was bulldozing – er, cleaning – the shack this week I ran across the Electro Bug. Looking at it again on my desk yesterday, I wondered how well it would clean up. Today I found out.
The key (SN 10295) features a chrome plated base and brass or brass-plated upper parts. The base of the key cleaned up pretty well for its age, and so did the upper parts. I really find the contrast between the brass and chrome very, very attractive.
The posts are brass, as is the damper and pivot frame. The keying lever felt more like brass plated steel; there’s an area next to the dash contact on the lever that seems to show some plating flaked off. That was the only possible wear-through on the lever, heck, it could be brass but just didn’t feel like it.
Some features about the Electro Bug are worth mentioning. If you look at the keying lever where the dot contact is attached, you’ll note that it isn’t mounted on leaf spring the way Vibroplex keys do. Wouldn’t a solid-mounted dot contact dampen the vibrating arm? No, because on the Electro Bug, the dot contact on the post is spring loaded. The adjustment screw for the dot contact is hollow, and holds the actual dot contact and a small spring; the arrangement allows the pendulum to strike the dot contact post without dampening its operation. I took the contact screw apart and tried to clean up the whole affair in order to test how well it worked electrically. Intermittent, scratchy dots was the best I could get out of it; I probably need to do a better job of insuring the parts conduct while in operation.
The front of the key is missing a lever that connected the dash contact post with the square, black pad on the right front of the key. The rivet heads are actually contacts, and the adjustment allowed you to vary the voltage, or strength of the solenoid.
The pivot frame resembles the later Les Logan Speed-X, but has distinct differences. For starters, it is brass, not cast pot metal. There is only a right side lever stop that is integral to the pivot frame; the left side is mounted on a post and has the usual coil spring to push the lever back to its resting position against the right stop. In the bottom photo, you can see the right stop is nothing more than a slotted screw and hex locking nut. Obviously this wasn’t going to be adjusted frequently, it was more of a “set-it-and-forget-it” arrangement.
The dual paddles are essentially identical in shape and arrangement as the later Les Logan Speed-X keys, with the exception of the “bull’s eye” imprint on them. I thought perhaps they were replacements from a Speed-X key since the forward screw hole in the paddle is slotted in an arc, just like the Speed-X paddles. They aren’t Speed-X paddles, and seem like a different material that is more rigid.
The red paint that you can see on the bottom of the key — with the owner’s initials and the date “2-25-30” — apparently once covered the entire key including the beautiful chromed base (the date was a Tuesday). In my clean-up efforts I disassembled the key, and found traces of red paint on the bottom of all the top parts and posts; the base under the pivot frame had perfect, fresh-appearing red paint under it. You can see traces of the red paint on the paddles, the black contact pad, and a few other places. Why the key was painted red is a mystery lost to history.
It is interesting to note that the paint may predate the operators initials on the bottom of the key. The key was — I believe — one of the earlier Electro Bugs since the nameplate indicates the company was located in Fresno, Calif., which was prior to the move to San Francisco. The key probably dates from the later 1920s. There’s no way to determine when it was painted, and if the date was the day the operator acquired the key or some other personal identifier. Likewise, we can’t tell when the solenoid was removed.
I know well the debate regarding cleaning the patina from collectible keys. As I said earlier, if this was a first or second-year Vibroplex, I would likely hold off on cleaning and focus on preservation. I’m happy with the way this key turned out, though I wish the dot contact arrangement functioned better. As it is now, the key isn’t suitable for radio use. I may try to retrofit an arrangement like Vibroplex used on its flat-lever keys; I can fabricate a flat mount that will attach to the arm without drilling holes or permanently damaging the key. Replacing the spring loaded contact with a solid contact point might also be a big help.
For now I’m happy to enjoy the way the key looks … and continue to prowl eBay for a more complete Electro Bug!
73 es CUL … de KY4Z … dit dit