205 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
205 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
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==Phrack Inc==
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Volume Three, Issue 30, File #10 of 12
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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=== ===
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=== Western Union ===
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=== Telex, TWX, and Time Service ===
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=== ===
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=== by Phone Phanatic ===
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=== ===
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=== September 17, 1989 ===
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=== ===
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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"Until a few years ago -- maybe ten -- it was very common to
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see TWX and Telex machines in almost every business place."
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There were only minor differences between Telex and TWX. The biggest
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difference was that the former was always run by Western Union, while the
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latter was run by the Bell System for a number of years. TWX literally meant
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"(T)ype(W)riter e(x)change," and it was Bell's answer to competition from
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Western Union. There were "three row" and "four row" machines, meaning the
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number of keys on the keyboard and how they were laid out. The "three row"
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machines were simply part of the regular phone network; that is, they could
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dial out and talk to another TWX also connected on regular phone lines.
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Eventually these were phased out in favor of "newer and more improved" machines
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with additional keys, as well as a paper tape reader attachment which allowed
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sending the same message repeatedly to many different machines. These "four
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row" machines were not on the regular phone network, but were assigned their
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own area codes (410-510-610-710-810-910) where they still remain today. The
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only way a four row machine could call a three row machine or vice-versa was
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through a gateway of sorts which translated some of the character set unique to
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each machine.
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Western Union's network was called Telex and in addition to being able to
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contact (by dial up) other similar machines, Telex could connect with TWX (and
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vice-versa) as well as all the Western Union public offices around the country.
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Until the late 1950's or early 1960's, every small town in America had a
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Western Union office. Big cities like Chicago had perhaps a dozen of them, and
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they used messengers to hand deliver telegrams around town. Telegrams could be
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placed in person at any public office, or could be called in to the nearest
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public office.
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By arrangement with most telcos, the Western Union office in town nearly always
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had the phone number 4321, later supplemented in automated exchanges with some
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prefix XXX-4321. Telegrams could be charged to your home phone bill (this is
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still the case in some communities) and from a coin phone, one did not ask for
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4321, but rather, called the operator and asked for Western Union. This was
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necessary since once the telegram had been given verbally to the wire clerk,
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s/he in turn had to flash the hook and get your operator back on the line to
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tell them "collect five dollars and twenty cents" or whatever the cost was.
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Telegrams, like phone calls, could be sent collect or billed third party. If
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you had an account with Western Union, i.e. a Telex machine in your office, you
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could charge the calls there, but most likely you would simply send the
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telegram from there in the first place.
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Sometime in the early 1960's, Western Union filed suit against AT&T asking that
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they turn over their TWX business to them. They cited an earlier court ruling,
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circa 1950's, which said AT&T was prohibited from acquiring any more telephone
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operating companies except under certain conditions. The Supreme Court agreed
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with Western Union that "spoken messages" were the domain of Ma Bell, but
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"written messages" were the domain of Western Union. So Bell was required to
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divest itself of the TWX network, and Western Union has operated it since,
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although a few years ago they began phasing out the phrase "TWX" in favor of
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"Telex II"; their original device being "Telex I" of course. TWX still uses
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ten digit dialing with 610 (Canada) or 710/910 (USA) being the leading three
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digits. Apparently 410-510 have been abandoned; or at least they are used very
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little, and Bellcore has assigned 510 to the San Francisco area starting in a
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year or so. 410 still has some funny things on it, like the Western Union
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"Infomaster," which is a computer that functions like a gateway between Telex,
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TWX, EasyLink and some other stuff.
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Today, the Western Union network is but a skeleton of its former self. Now
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most of their messages are handled on dial up terminals connected to the public
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phone network. It has been estimated the TWX/Telex business is about fifty
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percent of what it was a decade ago, if that much.
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Then there was the Time Service, a neat thing which Western Union offered for
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over seventy years, until it was discontinued in the middle 1960's. The Time
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Service provided an important function in the days before alternating current
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was commonly available. For example, Chicago didn't have AC electricity until
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about 1945. Prior to that we used DC, or direct current.
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Well, to run an electric clock, you need 60 cycles AC current for obvious
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reasons, so prior to the conversion from DC power to AC power, electric wall
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clocks such as you see in every office were unheard of. How were people to
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tell the time of day accurately? Enter the Western Union clock.
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The Western Union, or "telegraph clock" was a spring driven wind up clock, but
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with a difference. The clocks were "perpetually self-winding," manufactured by
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the Self-Winding Clock Company of New York City. They had large batteries
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inside them, known as "telephone cells" which had a life of about ten years
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each. A mechanical contrivance in the clock would rotate as the clock spring
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unwound, and once each hour would cause two metal clips to contact for about
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ten seconds, which would pass juice to the little motor in the clock which in
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turn re-wound the main spring. The principle was the same as the battery
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operated clocks we see today. The battery does not actually run the clock --
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direct current can't do that -- but it does power the tiny motor which re-winds
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the spring which actually drives the clock.
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The Western Union clocks came in various sizes and shapes, ranging from the
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smallest dials which were nine inches in diameter to the largest which were
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about eighteen inches in diameter. Some had sweep second hands; others did
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not. Some had a little red light bulb on the front which would flash. The
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typical model was about sixteen inches, and was found in offices, schools,
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transportation depots, radio station offices, and of course in the telegraph
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office itself.
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The one thing all the clocks had in common was their brown metal case and
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cream-colored face, with the insignia "Western Union" and their corporate logo
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in those days which was a bolt of electricity, sort of like a letter "Z" laying
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on its side. And in somewhat smaller print below, the words "Naval Observatory
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Time."
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The local clocks in an office or school or wherever were calibrated by a
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"master clock" (actually a sub-master) on the premises. Once an hour on the
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hour, the (sub) master clock would drop a metal contact for just a half second,
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and send about nine volts DC up the line to all the local clocks. They in turn
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had a "tolerance" of about two minutes on both sides of the hour so that the
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current coming to them would yank the minute hand exactly upright onto the
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twelve from either direction if the clock was fast or slow.
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The sub-master clocks in each building were in turn serviced by the master
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clock in town; usually this was the one in the telegraph office. Every hour on
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the half hour, the master clock in the telegraph office would throw current to
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the sub-masters, yanking them into synch as required. And as for the telegraph
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offices themselves, they were serviced twice a day by -- you guessed it -- the
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Naval Observatory Master clock in Our Nation's Capitol, by the same routine.
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Someone there would press half a dozen buttons at the same time, using all
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available fingers; current would flow to every telegraph office and synch all
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the master clocks in every community. Western Union charged fifty cents per
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month for the service, and tossed the clock in for free! Oh yes, there was an
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installation charge of about two dollars when you first had service (i.e. a
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clock) installed.
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The clocks were installed and maintained by the "clockman," a technician from
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Western Union who spent his day going around hanging new clocks, taking them
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out of service, changing batteries every few years for each clock, etc.
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What a panic it was for them when "war time" (what we now call Daylight Savings
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Time) came around each year! Wally, the guy who serviced all the clocks in
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downtown Chicago had to start on *Thursday* before the Sunday official
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changeover just to finish them all by *Tuesday* following. He would literally
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rush in an office, use his screwdriver to open the case, twirl the hour hand
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around one hour forward in the spring, (or eleven hours *forward* in the fall
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since the hands could not be moved backward beyond the twelve going
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counterclockwise), slam the case back on, screw it in, and move down the hall
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to the next clock and repeat the process. He could finish several dozen clocks
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per day, and usually the office assigned him a helper twice a year for these
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events.
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He said they never bothered to line the minute hand up just right, because it
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would have taken too long, and ".....anyway, as long as we got it within a
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minute or so, it would synch itself the next time the master clock sent a
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signal..." Working fast, it took a minute to a minute and a half to open the
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case, twirl the minute hand, put the case back on, "stop and b.s. with the
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receptionist for a couple seconds" and move along.
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The master clock sent its signal over regular telco phone lines. Usually it
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would terminate in the main office of whatever place it was, and the (sub)
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master there would take over at that point.
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Wally said it was very important to do a professional job of hanging the clock
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to begin with. It had to be level, and the pendulum had to be just right,
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otherwise the clock would gain or lose more time than could be accommodated in
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the hourly synching process. He said it was a very rare clock that actually
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was out by even a minute once an hour, let alone the two minutes of tolerance
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built into the gear works.
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"...Sometimes I would come to work on Monday morning, and find out
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in the office that the clock line had gone open Friday evening. So
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nobody all weekend got a signal. Usually I would go down a manhole
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and find it open someplace where one of the Bell guys messed it up,
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or took it off and never put it back on. To find out where it was
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open, someone in the office would 'ring out' the line; I'd go around
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downtown following the loop as we had it laid out, and keep listening
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on my headset for it. When I found the break or the open, I would
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tie it down again and the office would release the line; but then I
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had to go to all the clocks *before* that point and restart them,
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since the constant current from the office during the search had
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usually caused them to stop."
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But he said, time and again, the clocks were usually so well mounted and hung
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that "...it was rare we would find one so far out of synch that we had to
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adjust it manually. Usually the first signal to make it through once I
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repaired the circuit would yank everyone in town to make up for whatever they
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lost or gained over the weekend..."
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In 1965, Western Union decided to discontinue the Time Service. In a nostalgic
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letter to subscribers, they announced their decision to suspend operations at
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the end of the current month, but said "for old time's sake" anyone who had a
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clock was welcome to keep it and continue using it; there just would not be any
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setting signals from the master clocks any longer.
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Within a day or two of the official announcement, every Western Union clock in
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the Chicago area headquarters building was gone. The executives snatched them
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off the wall, and took them home for the day when they would have historical
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value. All the clocks in the telegraph offices disappeared about the same
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time, to be replaced with standard office-style electric wall clocks.
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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