[GreenKeys] Correction

[NNN7DXB at aol.com]

Christian:

I made a minor error in describing the AMARS. Yes, it could
PRINT, but printing was only ever used to print the headers of
message tapes so the tape relay operators could read them
in order to send them onward manually to their teletype tribs.

As stated previously, printing on any high speed perforator
slowed them down considerably, so printing was used only
when absolutely essential for expediting the movement of
message traffic in CommCenters. FWIW, most military
CommCenters of that era were busy, busy, busy places,
so one was always awash in traffic, usually in tape form
(sometimes, up to your knees in tape, especially on a 
Swing Shift (4 to midnight shift).


Once the headers (routing information) was printed out,
the AMARS op turned the print part off, and then the tape
shot out like a cannon at high speed typical of BRPE 
punches.

The same held true for the DSTE.

BRPE punches had a small oil reservoir to keep things
lubricated (gears). It was essential that there was oil
in the reservoir, so you had to have a maint tech always
nearby. If a BRPE ran out of oil, it heated up and then
seized up stopping all further traffic processing until 
the problem was fixed. That was their weakness.....

Dave in SC
CommCenter Group
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