The Bunnell Double Speed Key has been used as a milestone in the evolution of
the key by many historians. It is considered the first successful manual key
that operated horizontally and is placed as the precursor to the semi-
automatic key. Yet, the oldest examples of this key do not really have the
appearance of a key that was manufactured during the 1880s. You might be
saying that it has been well documented by contemporary authors both in print
and on the web that Jesse Bunnell invented this key and that J.H. Bunnell & Co
introduced it in 1888. But, did this really happen?
The first ad showing both the "W" and "G" styles.
From the Journal of the Telegraph, October 21, 1907.
Looking through the telegraph journals from the late 19th century you would
think J.H. Bunnell & Co. would be heavily touting a key that could help
telegraphers suffering from the strain of using a conventional Morse key.
But, not a single Double Speed Key ad was found. No evidence was found in the
text books of this era either. One of the most comprehensive books on
telegraph technology was, American Telegraphy by William Maver Jr.
The first edition of this book was actually published by J.H. Bunnell & Co. in
1892. In this edition, Maver illustrates Bunnell Steel Lever, Steiner and
Victor keys, but there is no mention of the Double Speed Key. You would
think such a radical new key design would be mentioned by Maver in book
published by the Bunnell company. It was not until several years later when
Maver started mentioning its existence. Even more glaring, a search of the
full catalogs from J.H. Bunnell & Co. for the years 1889 and 1898 do not show
a Double Speed Key. And finally, a search of patents issued during this era
found none resembling a Double Speed Key that were either granted to Jesse
Bunnell or assigned to the Bunnell Company.
So when was it introduced? The reason might be best understood by considering
why the country's largest telegraph instrument manufacturer was motivated to
introduce a horizontally operated key. The very first ad that I could find for
the Double Speed Key was in the Journal of the Telegraph, dated
November 20, 1904. If you think about what was going on in the telegraph
industry in 1904, the Double Speed Key's arrival at this point in time makes
a lot of sense. The wave of horizontally operated semi automatic keys and the
interest in them was rapidly growing. Horace Martin's patent for his Autoplex
was granted in June of 1903 and during 1904 he was actively selling them. In
January of 1904, William Coffe filed for his patent for an all mechanical
vertical key and beginning in January of 1905, the Mecograph Company,
operating initially off of Coffe's patent, were advertising a semi automatic
key. All this followed by Martin's spring 1905 introduction of the Vibroplex.
Two weeks after that first Double Speed Key ad, a business announcement was
published in The Telegraph Age dated December 1, 1904 formally
introducing the Double Speed Key. Under the title of, "A New Telegraph Key",
the following was announced : "J.H. Bunnell & Co., 20 Park Place, New York,
have brought out a new telegraph key, to which has been given the name of
"Double Speed". The following month, on January 28, 1905, John Ghegan, a long
time telegrapher and inventor, who was the president of J.H. Bunnell & Co.
filed for a patent for a legless, horizontally operated "Telegraph Key". The
object of his invention was "to provide a cheap, efficient, and simple
telegraph key of the kind in which the lever is elastically mounted at one end
and is preferably provided with a pair of contacts at the other end."
Above: a Bunnell Double Speed Wireless Key.
Below: the "Style W" landline key.
From the AWA Electronic History Museum Collection.
The first Double Speed Key as introduced in 1904 was an all metallic version.
It had a large hole in its brass base and had an adjustment for the lever's
spring tension. It is exactly what is shown in the Bunnell ad in this
article as, "style W". But when it was first introduced, the Double Speed Key
had no "style" designation. The "W" designation did not come about until 1907
to distinguish it from a second key in this series called, "style G".
Some collectors have mistakenly claimed that the "W" stands for wireless but
both the "W" and "G" styles were introduced as landline telegraph keys. The
true Bunnell Wireless Double Speed key, a third key in this series, did not
show up until the 1920s. It had larger contacts, no spring tension adjustment
and was mounted on a heavy base.
The most intriguing part of the Double Speed Key's history to me, is the
meaning of the "W" and "G".
At first I thought they were just arbitrary letter designations, similar to
what Bunnell used in their catalogs to identify different dealer
discount schedules. But, I believe their meaning is much deeper than that
and at the very root of the Double Speed Key's origin. It appears the
designations represent the last names of the inventors who designed the lever
styles used in the two keys.
In the "style G", the lever's leaf spring is anchored to a block of ebonite
and it has no spring tension adjustment. This style is precisely the one shown
in John Ghegan's patent that was granted on March 20,1906. I believe the
"style G" was named after Ghegan.
Drawing from Roye M. Wood's November 29, 1904
patent showing the "Style W" lever and spring adjustment.
The "style W" has a spring tension adjustment and the lever's leaf spring is
anchored to a block of brass. The person who designed this lever was Roye M.
Wood from Chicago Ill. On November 29, 1904, within days of the Double Speed
Key's formal introduction, he received a patent for a horizontally operated
leg key that had a unique spring tension adjustment for its lever. A single
thumbscrew holds two small brass blocks that grip the lever's leaf spring from
both sides. When the thumbscrew is loosened the blocks can slide forward to
increase the stiffness of the spring. There is nothing documenting that the
Bunnell Company acquired his patent or obtained a license to use it. But,
there is no question that Wood's lever and spring tension adjustment are
incorporated in Bunnell's, "style W" key. A strong argument could be made
that J.H. Bunnell & Co.'s development of the entire Double Speed Key series
evolved from Wood's patent.
The Bunnell company had high hopes for this key that they termed, "the coming
key". Like the semi-automatics, it had the potential to help a telegrapher
achieve two of his goals - high speed with less physical strain. "Don't pay a
big price for a mechanical transmitter until you have seen the merits of this
simple, low-priced device...," early Bunnell ads stated.
There is evidence it was initially peddled to the "A1" telegrapher market. A
popular dealer in Chicago during this era who catered to first class operators
was O.T. Anderson. His name should ring a bell with Vibroplex historians. He
was a 26 year old telegrapher and typewriter dealer who was an early agent for
Horace Martin. In January of 1905, he was specifically mentioning only two
keys in his ad, the Autoplex and the Double Speed key.
Originally, the Double Speed Key was offered in three patterns: leg, legless,
and portable. The portable pattern sold for $6.50 and came with a cord and
wedge (and later a base) with the idea it could be carried to work by a
telegrapher just like a bug. When considering the rarity of the leg pattern
today it appears most telegraphers did try to use them as portables. Another
rarity is a Double Speed "KOB". Bunnell built sets that included a legless,
"style W", Double Speed Key with an aluminum lever sounder on one base. Their
nickname of a "sideswiper" simply grew out of the the way it was operated -
the "sidewise rocking movement of the hand". The key's high speed, explained
by the Bunnell Co., was the result of the key requiring about half the motions
of a conventional Morse key. For example, the letter "P" in American Morse
(five dots) required ten movements of the hand, five down and five up. The
Double Speed Key required only six. (including the final release)
By 1914, Ghegan and the Bunnell Company were still trying to get a piece of
the semi automatic key market with ads like : "For only 2.40 you can get a
Double Speed Key and with a little practice do better work than with a high
priced bug." This seems a reasonable statement but the key was unable to
take on the popularity and speed capabilities of the bug. The "style G" as it
turned out was short lived and is difficult to find today. The "style W" with
the spring tension adjustment proved to be the more popular style and was
produced by Bunnell for many years with some minor variations. Today it is
still sought after by collectors and continues to have a loyal following of
users.
The bottom line in all this is that J.H. Bunnell & Co. introduced the Double
Speed Key late in 1904 (not in 1888) at the same time when the semi
automatic key was emerging. Is was offered as a simple alternative in a new
and competitive key market. Credit for introducing all three Double Speed Keys
should go to John Ghegan. History seems to have over looked the Ghegan era of
the Bunnell Company. Part of the problem is the interchanging of the names,
Jesse Bunnell vs. J.H. Bunnell & Co. in respect to what was introduced.
Ghegan's tenor as president and head of manufacturing at J.H. Bunnell & Co. was actually longer than Jesse Bunnell's - he passed away in 1899. And, if you consider the number of different telegraph instruments that were signed off by Ghegan to go into production between the years 1899 to 1926, it really represents an incredible list of products.......
Sources :
American Telegraphy, William Maver Jr., 1892, 1897, 1912 The Telegraph Age : March 1, 1900, June 1, 1902, December 1, 1904,
January 1, 1905, April 1, 1906, September 16, 1906
J.H. Bunnell & Co. Catalogs : #10, 17, 28, 29, and 30
The Western Union Archives, National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. Journal of the Telegraph : November 20,1904, October 21,1907, October 20, 1914
U.S. Patents :
John J. Ghegan, 815,809, March 20, 1906
Roye M. Wood, 776,160, November 29, 1904
This article was originally published in the November, 2003 issue
of the quarterly journal of
The Antique Wireless Association.
( A nonprofit historical society )
Copyright (c) by John Casale - W2NI
Troy, New York
2003-2006 - All rights reserved. Email Author for permission to use this
material.
