CHAPTER 6 KLEINSCHMIDT LABORATORIES As we have seen, Edward Kleinschmidt, upon resigning from Teletype Corporation as vice president when it was taken over by Western Electric, had agreed to do development work for them, working independently but assigning any inventions to the new Teletype Corporation. And so it was that Kleinschmidt Laboratories came into existence. Incorporated on March 21, 1931, under Delaware laws, for the immediate purpose of doing research and development work for Teletype, the principals of the new company were Edward E. as president, and his two sons, Edward F. as vice president and Bernard L. as secretary. Kleinschmidt had earlier proposed a comprehensive and completely automatic printing telegraph switching system in which messages are automatically routed from the subscriber printer through telegraph centrals of the addressee printer under control of address tape perforations. Under his development contract with Teletype he continued work on the system. Message storage in perforated tape was provided for at all central switching points, and an answerback arrangement was included in the system by the automatic return transmission of the addressee’s number to the sender. As the research and development work for Teletype continued, the switching system was completed, and various other devices of more or less importance were developed, with patents assigned to the Teletype Corporation. In late 1934 the contract with Teletype expired. At that time, son Bernard was operating a printing plant in rather close quarters in Highland Park, Illinois. The operations of the Laboratories had been carried on in rented quarters at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. Seeing that there would be no work for Teletype, it was decided to set up working quarters in Highland Park where the family lived. Since rented space was not available, a building was constructed on Lincolnwood Road in the Braeside section of Highland Park to house both the B. L. Kleinschmidt Printing Company and the machinery and other equipment of the Laboratories. The Laboratories, now inactive, became a personal holding company with 2300 shares to cover a book value of approximately $230,000.00 (Kleinschmidt having distributed the major portion of these shares to his children and grandchildren). Son Edward F. turned his thoughts to other fields and carried on experimental work in the new building in devices not connected with the telegraph. Son Bernard was involved in his printing business. Their father’s thoughts lay dormant for a long time, but still there was the urge to continue with the telegraph, and a plan for operating a five-unit-code selecting mechanism, operating on a progressive stop principle to position a typewheel or to select a typebar for printing on tape or page, was worked out.