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geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: Bigame on Thu, 30 June 2011, 04:35:08

Title: Help ID these keys please
Post by: Bigame on Thu, 30 June 2011, 04:35:08

I and many others have spent many hours trying to ID these keys , they were first thought to be from an old style adding machine , though it seems in some shots that there is a fine imprint in the corner of the keys , wwere the leters were under paint [ATTACH=CONFIG]19899[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]19900[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]19902[/ATTACH]
It seems that before they were painted they were white with a red and a dark grey key,
if any one has any thoughts it would be great help,

thanks

Title: Help ID these keys please
Post by: Bigame on Thu, 30 June 2011, 04:36:29

The image in the attached thumbnail box in the previous post  is of a replica so disregard those

more pics[ATTACH=CONFIG]19903[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]19904[/ATTACH]

Title: Help ID these keys please
Post by: trievalot on Thu, 30 June 2011, 07:33:01

yep, those are keys alright.

if you want some there are HEAPS on most keyboards. anywhere between 60 and 122

/threadcrapping

Title: Help ID these keys please
Post by: Findecanor on Thu, 30 June 2011, 07:57:43

I have seen pictures of the prototype Boba Fett costume, and it had the keys on the shoulders already then. Those pics are dated june 1978, so the keyboard must be older than that.

Even back in the late 70's, almost all typewriter-style keyboard keys were sloping and with a curved top, while these keys are flat and with the same slope on all sides. This leads me to believe that these keys could be from a keypad connected to another type of device, possibly a cash register.
Six original suits were made, so they used at least 6×4 = 24 keys. Perhaps the same donor keypad had all of them.