[GreenKeys] FW: [CommCenter-1] Teletype Tape

[Bob McConnell]

Duncan M. Brown wrote:
>  
> I'm forwarding this for Dave F. on the CommCenter list; he is RO on this
> list.
>  
> --Duncan
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: 
> To: CommCenter-1 at yahoogroups.com
> Sent: 24-Nov-08 00:55:24 
> Subject: [CommCenter-1] Teletype Tape
> 
> 
> List:
> 
> Does anyone know the reasons for the "color" of teletype tape over
> the years? (Especially US-issued tape).
> 
...
> 
> If anyone knows the significance of the color of tape, or the history
> behind it, please share your info. Especially interesting: why was
> most US tape "yellow"?? It is my understanding that the black tape
> was primarily intended for use with early computers where a photo-electric
> cell was used to read the tape. Oiled tape was said to spread a film
> across the photo electric cell that would eventually cause it to misread
> the data. I doubt there is any truth there, because, in Vietnam, we used
> a UNIVAC 1004 with a photo electric cell and yellow (oiled) tape. The
> maintainer just wiped the photo electric cell off a few times daily and the
> yellow (Kleinschmidt wider) tape worked just fine...
> 
> 
> Dave F

I don't know the reasons, but I recall that while on board the USS 
Cochrane (DDG-21), most of the tape we received for the M28 was on about 
seven inch rolls of oiled yellow. That size roll fit perfectly on the 
ASR perf and reperf feed spools. But late in '72, there was a supply 
problem, and no yellow tape available in the Philippines. So we ended up 
with several cases of oiled pink tape, on 12 inch or larger rolls. While 
the cores were the same size, that big roll wouldn't fit into the feed 
spools, so we had to remove enough tape to reduce each roll until it 
did. I grabbed a couple of empty cores from a trash bag and was able to 
make three small spools from one large one. But some of the other 
operators were not so ambitious. A lot of unused pink tape was thrown 
out that month.

Was the color all about the size of the roll?

Bob McConnell, Ex-RM2, NFIT
N2SPP