ULTIMATIC KEYER. The electronic key pictured here has “Ultimatic” on the case and was a project published in the April and May 1955 issues of QST magazine. This key was the second version of “Ultimatic” and was designed by W6SRY. The first version was a a project published in QST in 1953.
The original Ultimatic relied on numerous relays; this updated version eliminated all but one of the relays, and did the character forming using electronic means. The original key was deemed to have a “brain.”
This key was considered the “ultimate” because it “had a memory” in that it formed characters perfectly, or as QST noted, it sent perfect code without the need for the operator to send it perfectly.
This key came from a Silent Key’s estate and it is a very good replication of the key pictured in the QST construction articles. Of course, I didn’t need it, but I have a soft spot in my (head) for homebrew key projects.
The key arrived earlier this week, though I have not taken time to unbox it yet. The eBay listing photos do a good job of illustrating the builder’s skill in putting the project together. The seller did not try to power it up. The QST article notes power comes from a 115v isolation transformer unless you plan for “hot line” operation with appropriate grounding — otherwise you could wind up with a hot chassis. Obviously, if I test the key I’m going to 
do so carefully. The 90-year-old farm house we live in only has 3-wire wiring in the kitchen and bathroom — the shack is the old two-wire AC wiring.
This key has been modified from the original design — if you look at the photo, there are three additional tubes at the rear of the chassis. I’m not sure what the three tubes do; this key lacks a transformer, and has the heaters tied together in series.
The exact build date of the key is probably later than 1955 — I haven’t checked, but I would expect this key was published in subsequent ARRL Handbooks from 1955 forward. 
However, in late 1960, QST published an updated all-transistor version of the Ultimatic.
I’ll probably throw caution to the wind and plug the key in and see what happens. I probably should use my variac to bring the power up slowly. This key is a really nice example of the mid-century ham homebrewing and is proof that people actually built QST projects.
73 es CUL de KY4Z SK CL … dit dit …