In 1917, Martin started making the Upright, or Vertical model, described in U.S. Patent 1,260,008. It’s easy to see why he called it the Upright, because it was designed to stand up on the operator’s desk, thereby saving space. A typical telegrapher’s desk was very small and space was definitely at a premium. Since the lead telegrapher, or “wire chief” presumably had even more paper on his desk, the Upright is sometimes called the “Wire Chief’s Special.” The Upright uses a modified version of the Model X’s single-contact design, mounted on a narrow upright casting which is itself mounted on a U-shaped base. The casting is finished in black crackle, and the base is nickel-plated.

Unfortunately, the Upright was a lousy bug, and it was discontinued in 1919. That probably explains why Uprights are so scarce. At the moment (2013) there are 29 known Uprights. On most Uprights the damper assembly is an integral part of the casting, but a few have a separate U-shaped damper piece.

Upright #59672