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the 1960's can any recall a teleprinter?

(13 Posts)
infoman Wed 03-Mar-21 16:44:34

It would have been in the up market hotels,and would print out the latest news storys.
It was similar to watching the final football scores coming in on Grandstand,any help most wellcome.

Eloethan Wed 03-Mar-21 17:47:19

Is that the same as a telex? I remember using these in some of the jobs I did. On the first occasion, I think I put the tape in the wrong way it came out as gobbledygook.

EllanVannin Wed 03-Mar-21 17:57:29

.
I remember them and the telex machines at the hospital in the 50's too.

Redhead56 Wed 03-Mar-21 18:11:59

Early 70s working for Trade Protection Society in Liverpool City centre. We used Telex machines they rolled out sheets of names and addresses.

geekesse Wed 03-Mar-21 18:39:22

Teleprinters were basically telex receivers. I was a telex operator for an oilfield company in the late 70s in the Middle East. There was a special magic to chatting by text in real time with my opposite number in Houston.

NotAGran55 Wed 03-Mar-21 18:42:42

At the Met Office in the 70s we got all the weather observations from around the world by telex . There was a room within dozens of printers clacking away in duplicate copies 24/7/365 .

BlueSky Wed 03-Mar-21 18:45:23

I used to think fax machines were fantastic. Now with computers they’ve become obsolete.

rubysong Wed 03-Mar-21 19:17:53

My sister asked if I had a copy of my late parents' wills from 1995.
When I found it (it came as a fax) it was virtually blank only about three words visible. I was quite shocked as it has been kept in a dark place. I'm sure she will be able to get a copy, but it was a warning not to rely on fax paper. Shortly before I retired I made a mistake ordering fax rolls and got three boxes instead of three rolls. Soon after the machine became redundant.

M0nica Wed 03-Mar-21 19:25:35

Yes I remember tele printers in the 1960s and I had to work with telex machines in the 1980s.

When I took the job, there was a really old machine that could not save text, so, if the message didn't go first time - and as most of them were going overseas, many didn't, our poor secretary/telex operator had to retype it every time. Sometimes she was there until 9.00pm sending just one urgent fax.

I soon changed that. We got an uptodate one that saved text and could be set to automatically try to send a text every 15 minutes for about 6 hours.

The secretary was not grateful, she thought I was deskilling her and took great pride in her willingness to stay late at night to send telex's!

Alexa Wed 03-Mar-21 19:41:19

My father was in the Royal Observer Corps during the 1939-45 war. He spoke about the use of a teleprinter in the control centre.

BlueSapphire Sat 06-Mar-21 09:20:01

When my late DH worked in Foreign Office communications, (1960s - 1990s), all messages and telegrams from Embassies and High Commissions around the world were sent and received by teleprinters. It was only during the 1980s that the move began to computers.

Humbertbear Sat 06-Mar-21 09:29:57

I worked for Shell International in the late 60s and messages came in from ships and offices overseas by telex. I used to be on rota to deal with ‘Getim’ telexes in the evening and at weekends. People used to look in amazement at the 19 year old who said ‘would you mind if I phone the office and give them your number?’

12Michael Sat 06-Mar-21 09:35:35

I can recall them in the 70`s , when in RAF , at my last posting at High Wycombe we had a couple in the office annex .
They were used to send text to air industry .
Mick