TELEGRAPH KEY

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 The Lighting Vibroplex was manufactured from about 1927 till around 1980.  During WW2 Vibroplex licensed production of the Lighthing to other manufacturers such as Bunnell and Lionel.  They didnt have the experience in making keys that Vibroplex did and the quality suffered, especially in the Lionel.  This Lightning Deluxe from 1980 is one of the last ones produced.    It was used by the instructor at the Coast Guard code training school.   This particular Lightning has a very large speed adjustment range from a slow 18wpm too as fast as you like.    I've owned many Lightning bugs over the years and typically I find them to have a narrow dynamic range for the dots compared to most Vibroplex Originals. Where the sweet spot for best dots is more critical and it can get out of adjusment easier.   But thats because I've fine tuned and used literally hundreds of speed keys of all different types and manufacturers.   How well a key will produce dots is sort of the luck of the draw.  As all keys are slightly different and it can depend on the spring quality of the dot arm main spring.  The second picture is a 1936 Vibroplex Lightning.   Both keys have been used very little, are in like new condition and a real kick in the pants to send with :-)   

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