CREED 7E TELEPRINTER of 1931

Frederick George Creed was born in Canada and spent the early part of his life working on Morse equipment. He was convinced he could do better. He then moved to Scotland and developed a method of sending messages by text. Later he formed Creed and Company Ltd, and in 1921 they were at Telegraph House East Croydon.

The 7 series of machines used a code based on the Murray code; they were very successful and were used throughout the war at places like Bletchley Park. Creed died in 1957. The 7 series finished in 1958 and this unit was converted to 240 volts AC in 1962.

Donated by Mr Geoff Robinson

• Closer view of the Creed Teleprinter
  

Your comments:

• Well that sample is not from 1931. Its a later variant. For example I am sure the solid plastic keys must date from post WWII. Early machines had round keys with a chrome ring, paper insert and a celluloid cover.
  .......... Dave Wade, Greater Manchester, 9th of August 2022
  
  
• I used one of these in the 80's for RTTY on amateur radio bands
  something very nostalgic about the chattering as reams of paper were churned out :)
  .......... Danny Green, Southampton, 16th of April 2016
  
  
• Like others I used to maintain these in Post Office Overseas Telegraphs, but more often the 7B or 7D/S (an updated 7B) and 11 that printed on paper tape for telegrams. We could strip them down to the base and put them back together but mostly did general maintenance. Ours ran mostly on the site 160volt supply, signalling was done with +/- 80v, the centre point of the 160v being used for earth. It was possible, with care, to adjust them very accurately giving very low rates of distortion. The really messy job, that of cleaning the governor rings, was often given to apprentices as it involved cleaning very dirty brass rings with sandpaper.
  .......... Martin Yirrell, Hemel Hempstead UK, 3rd of May 2015
  
  
• I worked on this teleprinter and the 7B during National Service as an Army Line and Telegraph technician in the 1950s The training course at Catterick was a very thorough one and much of what I learned I still remember. They were very reliable and only required regular maintenance to keep the more delicate parts running well. The Army ones had strobe markings on the governor casing to allow precise speed setting where-ever 50Hz mains was available ( but not from the Ruston and Hornsby 6KvA field generators!)
  .......... Graeme.M.Young, Ravenshead, Nottingham NG15 9EZ, 16th of August 2011
  
  
• I worked in the Telegraph Workshop in Cowley Oxford. I used to strip these machines down to EVERY component part check them and re-assemble the machine and adjust them to receive 30% distortion.
  .......... C H Hughes, Bicester Oxon UK, 5th of December 2010
  
  
• We (PA0LBN & PA0SOL) acquired a Creed 7B second hand in 1965 and used it on the HF bands for RTTY contacts. We had a lot of fun with it. RTTY was not widely used in those days.It was without the cabinet and made a tremendous lot of noise.
  .......... R. A. Ackx, Boskoop Netherlands, 3rd of May 2010
  
  
• These machines were still in use in the Met Police up to about 1985 when replaced by computerised message systems.
  I spent many a happy year banging out emergency messages from the telegraph office at Scotland Yard on 7B and 7E teleprinters, plus operating a quaint old tape relay centre that constantly overheated due to its age and needed electric fans strategically positioned behind it to keep it going
  .......... Bernard Forbes, St Albans, Hertfordshire, 23rd of March 2009
  
  

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