The UPS man cometh, and my new arrival was here when I pulled into the driveway — my new 1905 Vibroplex bug.
I have been worried that the key would suffer damage in transit, and my concerns accelerated as I opened the box. The guy loosely wrapped a bunch of the very small-bubble bubble wrap around the key. It wasn't packed that well, and all I can say is that it was plain luck that the finger pieces weren't beaten to pieces. Sometimes you get lucky.
The key is exactly as described; it is serial number 1157, built the first year of production by Horace Martin, 1905. For a key that's 105 years old, its in good shape — worn, but not as bad as some. The key came with a “wedge” cord, which was wedged in the contacts of the straight key at a telegraph desk. The “wedge” really amounted to two brass or copper leafs with a thin insulator between them. The wedge simply inserted the key into the telegraph circuit.
In the photo, if you look closely, you'll see that the adjustments don't have lock nuts as used on later versions of the key. They used set screws that snugged up against the adjustment screw to hold it tight. Vibroplex used that exact method later on to “lock” the lower pivot adjustment on its jeweled movement keys.
On non-jeweled movement keys, you could adjust the play in the vertical axis of the pivot lever by adjusting the screw on top of the pivot frame. But when they came out with the jeweled movements, the top pivot was no longer adjustable. The adjustment was moved to the lower pivot, using a screwdriver through a hole in the bottom of the key.
At any rate, this key is the real deal. The ID plate has a single patent number, and it simply states “The Vibroplex,” which was what Martin called this key (his first key was the Autoplex, and it required dry cell batteries for operation). I haven't tried it out on the air, and may not. I think I'm going to leave the key in “as-found” condition for the time being. In other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The key appears to have had quite a lifetime of service in a telegraph office. The seller had another key that I wanted to buy — it was actually a vibroplex clone produced during the period when Vibroplex was defending his patent. The name plate on the key was removed, and a name plate from Vibroplex indicates the key is licensed by, but not guaranteed by Vibroplex. Vibroplex told Western Union and the other telegraph lines that they needed to license their illegal bugs or face the consequences. Vibroplex only had to win in court a couple of times to convince telegraphers of the need to fork over the $2 to license their “illegal” keys!
Time to head to bed … more to come .. 73 de KY4Z … dit dit …