Black Box Stock Tickers

The 1930 model stock ticker, the new high speed device of which the Western Union has ordered 10,000 and has begun installation in brokers offices throughout the country. The company is spending $4,500,000 in an effort to speed up stock quotations service of the nation to keep pace with the new era of six or eight million share trading days on the Stock Exchange. The task is the largest change in the history of market quotation facilities and is the culmination of three years of labor, six months training of personnel in schools of five cities, the construction of 5,000 miles of city-to-city wiring and circuit changes in 350 cities and towns of the North American continent. The 10,000 new High-Speed tickers have been ordered at a cost of $2,500,000 to be rented to brokers in the U.S.

The Black Box Ticker hit Wall Street around December of 1930. The Teletype Corporation began developing the technology around 1927, and after the crash of October 1929, stock brokers needed a faster, more reliable machine.

By 1934, The New York Quotation Company had switched almost exclusively to the black box ticker.

The black box went through a few changes in the early years, and Western Union began changing over in 1938 to the new 5A model, converting many older, slower machines to sports tickers.