Teleprinter - Ways in Which Teleprinters Were Used

Ways in Which Teleprinters Were Used

There were at least five major types of teleprinter networks:

• Exchange systems such as Telex and TWX. These created a real-time circuit between two machines, so that anything typed on one machine appeared at the other end immediately. US and UK systems had actual telephone dials; German systems did "dialing" via the keyboard. Typed "chat" was possible, but because billing was by connect time, it was common to prepare messages on paper tape and transmit them without pauses for typing.
• Leased line and radioteletype networks arranged in point-to-point and / or multipoint configurations to support data processing applications for government and industry such as integrating the accounting, billing, management, production, purchasing, sales, shipping and receiving departments within an organization to speed internal communications.
• Message switching systems. This was an early form of E-mail, done with electromechanical gear. See Telegram, Western Union, Plan 55-A. Military organizations had similar but separate systems. See Autodin.
• Broadcast systems such as weather information distribution and "news wires". See Associated Press, National Weather Service, Reuters, and United Press (later UPI).
• "Loop" systems, where anything typed on any machine on the loop printed on all the machines. Police departments used such systems to interconnect precincts.