[GreenKeys] paper tape variants

[Randy and Sherry Guttery]

John Nagle wrote:
> There was also metalized Mylar tape, a material like Tyvek, used
> for long wear in endless loop applications like early numerical
> controlled machine tools.  This was hard on punches but lasted longer
>
> in readers.
Black paper tape were what we used for the SINS computers on the boomers 
- which loaded their programs via an optical tape reader. The paper 
tapes were fairly fragile, esp as fast as they went through the readers. 
Anything went wrong - and you had a mile of very fine accordion folded 
paper.  Actually - accordion folded was how the tapes were stored anyway 
- but the folds were something like 8 inches or so. The tapes came 
"pre-folded" in boxes - and quite blank.  On the tender - we had a set 
of Frieden tape machines - a reader and two punches.  A Mylar master was 
fed through the reader - and one or two copies were punched.  Once 
punched - we'd load them into one of our computers on the test bench - 
which would verify that the tape was a good copy.

Here are some pix of this equipment...

http://tendertale.com/tttj/tttj2-5.html         3rd picture down the 
right-hand side - Verdan test bench.

For the curious - scroll on down and check out the technology of the 
1950s -- the U.S. Navy's *first* deployed fully solid-state system.  
Yes, compared to today's computers -even a pocket calculator is far 
faster, etc. - BUT - even today - a standard (all) digital computer 
cannot do what these machines did (and still do - there are still some 
in use). It was their analog "capacity" that made it possible... and 
that is what is so staggering.

Back to tape... there was no storage on these computers in the sense we 
think of today - the disk was the arithmetic unit - nothing stored 
outside of the task at hand.  So any/all programs you wanted to run - 
whether navigating, diagnostic, or whatever - had to be loaded from tape 
- then executed. So there were a lot of tapes.  John mentioned how tough 
the mylar tape was...   We would occasionally get updates for a program 
tape - and we would destroy the old master tape (unless it was a nav 
program tape - then it had to be sent "somewhere" for disposition).  One 
day some guy got the bright idea to run a master through a punch - with 
the reader "locked" into sending  with no tape in the read head... which 
of course sends all holes...  The punch lasted a few minutes before it 
started sounding real bad - and before anyone could shut it down - it 
locked up solid - with parts now where they weren't just a couple of 
minutes earlier.  His day didn't go so well after that... I wouldn't 
recommend running mylar through your teletype...  The Friedens were 
heavy duty tape duplication equipment...  and didn't do too well with 
the "extra" challenge...

-- 
randy guttery 

A Tender Tale - a page dedicated to those Ships and Crews
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