
This tactic was extremely effective, and he sold several thousand licenses.
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He sent letters to Western Union and other employers and took out ads threatening to sue anyone and everyone who was using a clone bug unless they purchased a license from him. When Martin and Albright bought the Mecograph patent they immediately filed suit against ATOZ and the others and were granted a permanent injunction forcing the clone makers to stop making copies.Īlbright didn’t just stop there. One company, the ATOZ Novelty Company of Chicago, even had the nerve to call its bug the “Improved Vibroplex”. Albright bought Mecograph and its patent and became the sole owner of all existing patents covering mechanical semiautomatic telegraph keys.īy that time several manufacturers were actively making and selling Vibroplex clones. However, the court declined to force Martin to pay damages or to stop manufacuring the Vibroplex. In 1905 Coffe and a partner formed the Mecograph Company and began making bugs.Ĭoffe sued Martin for patent infringement, and in 1908 actually won the case. Coffe of Cleveland, Ohio, had filed a patent for a mechanical sending machine on January 11th, 1904, four months before Martin filed for his patent.

Until 1913, Martin couldn’t do much about the clones, because another inventor, William O. I haven't heard music like that on 80M in years.Like many successful products, the Vibroplex inspired others to manufacture unauthorized copies. I could only pick her up very weak, but Irv was local, get him on the toaster Hi, Hi.

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She would crack the puzzle by the time he had finish the last letter. The relay/sounder had a can of Prince Albert tucked behind it.įWIR each evening, he had a schedule with a woman in Virginia, he would send her the Jumble newspaper puzzle, in mixed Morse. Golly, I wish I had W1ZE's Vibroplex, dingy, beat-up but he could wail away on to the beat of 60 WPM, then land Morse, then mix the two. There is a chrome Vibroplex around in a "suitcase" Have a High-Mound too, but it is labeled Lafayette, with the plastic cover. I, sorta, collect keys, when they are offered cheap. I have a McElroy, a bit tired, broken dash stop screw and homemade paddles. but the one I have, It's celluloid label looks like a potato chip

Steve W6SSPLionel? I did not know it was built by Vibroplex. Was the cheesy sticker rather than the nice metal tag on older versions.Īlso have many older Vibroplex bugs including the version made by The quality was fine but one disappointment Bought a brand new Blue Racer, exactly like the one Mike postedĪ picture of a few years ago.
