[GreenKeys] Selectric I/O

[George B. Hutchison]

When I was with RCA Service Company I had the dubious honbor of being sent 
to the company's I/O selectric training program in Montebello, Calif.

The machines we were training on were the "official" IBM designed machines. 
We spent a week tearing a machine down, learning all about the cycle shafts, 
tilt and rotate tapes, interposers, wrap clutches and the rest of the crap 
associated with making them run right. At the end of the week my machine was 
the only one that didn't work.

That didn't slow RCA down one whit, and I was shipped back home to Boise and 
thus began my new career making junk work.

The machines we trained on  were the ones that American Airlines used in 
their Sabre system, and were almost identical to the machines that Hughes 
Air West used in their reservation and communications systems. All the 
machines in both systems were worn out, and were constantly breaking down.

Additionally, RCA had contracts with Avis Rent-A-Car for the Wizard Of Avis 
machines, and CIT Financial Services for their unique versions of the IBM 
I/O selectric.

The Wizard of Avis was the easiest to work on because their machines were 
strictly receiving units. The keyboards were electronic. The solenoids 
driving  the mechanisms were miniaturized versions of what one might find in 
a washing machine to actuate the clutches and valves.

The CIT machines had their own version of solenoids that were similar to 
miniature relays.

All systems had different electronics packages. The Wizard memory was 
genuine core memory and was about ten inches square.

Air West and CIT were real time machines, with different contact 
arrangements for the input typing functions.

One of the CIT machines in Idaho had a major fault in the driver board one 
time and fried three of the magnets. The outfit that had built the 
electronics and mechanics for CIT had been really pissed off at CIT and 
never manufactured any spare parts for the machines. I had to go to the 
local electronics store and get a spool of #30 magnet wire and rewind the 
three solenoids that had been burned out. There were no spare mechanisms for 
CIT.

Doing international service on Air West and Wizard of Avis was also a 
challenge.

One service call was to Air West in Edmonton, Alberta. Canadian customs 
insisted that they wanted a complete list of my parts inventory, with part 
numbers, descriptions, and prices. They wanted to collect duty on the value 
of all the parts I carried.

It took two hours of the Air West manager haggling with the head of Canadian 
Customs to come to an agreement wherein the only duty that would be charged 
would be for the actual parts used in the repair.

The problem was a small broken spring that had a price of seventeen cents. 
Needless to say no duty was paid.

One of the Wizard of Avis machines in the Empress Hotel in Vancouver B.C. 
burned out the memory board. I had to smuggle the replacement board under 
the seat of the car.

On another trip I could not bring my tools and parts with me because I was 
causing distress in that I was taking away the job of a Canadian Citizen by 
entering their country to work on the Wizard. It took a while, but I finally 
convinced the customs bloke that there were only 8 Wizard machines in 
Canada, three in Vancouver and five in London,  Ontario, and that service 
was so infrequent that it would be impossible for any Canadian Service 
person to make a career of servicing eight machines.

One Thanksgiving eve Air West had a problem in Calgary that they insisted 
had to be fixed that day. I was in Lewiston, Idaho at the time, and a legal 
connection from Lewiston to Spokane to Calgary was not possible. My 
supervisor would not let me go unless Air West guaranteed that I would be 
back in Seattle by Thanksgiving.
Air West made some phone calls and made arrangements such that I would be 
home by Thanksgiving.

I flew a small commuter airline (Cascade Airways using Beech 99s) to Spokane 
and had a 20 minute window to be on Air West for Calgary. Got to Calgary and 
it took about an hour to get that problem squared away, then on home to 
Seattle.

In order to make it back Air West flew me back with a Customs stop in Great 
Falls,  Montana then on to Los Angeles. After a two-hour layover at LAX I 
got back on Air West, up the coast to San Francisco, then to Portland, Ore., 
and at last to Seattle. Walked in the house at 0115 Thanksgiving morning.

Yeah, IBM Selectrics were a blast. I envy the guys who had to work on only 
one version of those piles of crap.

Happy New Year, everybody...

George - W7TTY - ITY Central