[GreenKeys] Creed equipment for the Ferranti Mercury computers, 1960

Fri May 3 05:49:30 EDT 2013

On 03/05/2013 00:53, Jim Backus wrote:
> Hi
>
> The Creed 25 is nowhere as big & heavy as a 7B. I'm not going to go 
> and check now but think it is about 200 x 200 x 350 mm (8 x 8 x 14 
> inches) and probably weighs about 25 lb whereas a Creed 7 is closer to 
> 100 lb. It is capable of punching at 25 cps or more. An 18 pin male 
> Painton (or Jones) plug was the parallel input. I have one and know of 
> two others in the UK. I also have a good photocopy of the manual.
>

I think those are probably about right, for a 7B with keyboard and sound 
proof cover.  I can just about lift mine as three components (Base, 
Cover and Machine Proper). I think my wife recently looked at shipping 
an Electronic Piano to my son in Utah and it was <£1K so I would expect 
we could ship a Creed 7B to Argentina for an amount not rather less than 
that, unless we got into politics.... (there are probably 7B's some much 
closer...) Given that a 7b went for £200 on Ebay its not a horrible 
amount. Trouble is I think even 7B's are in short supply since that guy 
built a Mark 1 replica and snaffled a load. The web site was here:-

http://alpha60.de/

but it appears to be down and sadly the images are missing from the 
WayBack machine archive here:-

http://web.archive.org/web/20100328183857/http://www.alpha60.de/research/muc/ll01/

> Bank holiday this weekend so won't be able to provide more information 
> for a few days but would be happy to post photos and could scan the 
> manual. Regards
>
> Jim
>
Jim & Javier (and any one else who is interested)...

There are some albums of the bits at MOSI here:-

https://plus.google.com/photos/109617668049845980735/albums?banner=pwa

the Creed 25 Service Manual is here:-

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6kYcn4u1nABWmxncXh5VkliR1E/edit?usp=sharing

with a first attemt at OCRing behind the text so if you search it may 
miss things.  Sam please feel free to take a copy...

Dave
P.S.    If you know of any one who would want to part with a 25 I am 
also interested, but of course if we can get one to Javier that would be 
good...

> On 02/05/2013 18:42, Dave wrote:
>> On 02/05/2013 09:53, Sam Hallas wrote:
>>> Javier Albinarrate wrote:
>>>> At the local computer museum in Buenos Aires, we will be working this
>>>> year in making a replica of the Ferranti Mercury computer....
>>>> This early computer came with the following:
>>>> - Creed 54 Teletypewriter
>>>> - Creed 6S/5 Tape reader (2 of them)
>>>> - Creed 25 Tape perforator
>>>
>> Hi Javier,
>>
>>  I am working on a similar project for the Pegasus at www.mosi.org.uk 
>> which was the predecessor of the Mercury. However we do have the 
>> Creed 54, Creed6S/5 and the Creed 25, but I too would like to get a 
>> set of these so we can avoid using the originals. The Creed 54 is 
>> basically an enhanced Creed 7B and you should be able to substitute a 
>> 7B  and get almost exactly the same effect. The 7Bs were fairly 
>> common throughout the old British Empire so you may be able to find 
>> one at least on the same continent.
>>
>> Not sure why you want 2x Creed 6S/5 readers. As you an see from the 
>> Mercury brochure here:-
>>
>> http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/Ferranti/Ferranti.Mercury.1956.102646224.pdf 
>>
>>
>> The Mercury (and Pegasus before it) used a Ferranti high speed 
>> optical tape reader as the main input device, not a 6S/5 which is a 
>> mechanical reader. The 6S/5 was basically only used to slow the 
>> output down to the speed of the Creed. Of course finding a Ferranti 
>> high speed reader would probably be harder than finding a Creed 6S/5. 
>> I personally would see if I could find an more modern reader and 
>> build it into a box that represents the Ferranti reader, probably a 
>> TR4 or maybe a TR3 or TR5.
>>
>> The Creed 25 was also a special with a parallel input, so basically 
>> manufactured for Computer Use so also rare, and I think it weights 
>> nearly as much as the 54. I guess you know that the that the Computer 
>> punched the output on the Creed 25 at high speed, and it was feed to 
>> the Creed 6S/5 which read it in more slowly and fed the Creed 54 for 
>> printing. . If the program punched faster than the reader the tape 
>> was stored in a bin so providing buffering. The Creed 6S also had a 
>> tape tension arrangement so it stopped if the tape got tight...
>>
>> There was also a column counter on the Creed 54 that generated a Line 
>> Feed so if the computer program didn't you didn't keep banging the 
>> printer against the end stop
>>
>>> Javier,
>>> I wish them all the best in the reconstruction. What a project!
>>>
>>> Model 75s are pretty rare. I've never seen one in the flesh, only in 
>>> catalogues. Probably because the British Post Office never adopted 
>>> it. Never seen the Model 25 perforator either, though I did own a 
>>> Model 7P re-perforator at one time. The later Creed model, the 444, 
>>> had an integral punch makng the separate perforator redundant.
>>>
>>>> And here in Argentina, everything was Siemens, so for sure we will not
>>>> find a Creed not even by chance.
>>>
>>
>> If you do find them and need manuals, I have books for the 6S/6 
>> (which is only slightly different to the 6S/5), the Creed 25 and the 
>> 7B but not the 54. I also have a Ferranti TR5 manual and there is a 
>> TR3 manual at MOSI..
>>
>>> That may be the way to go. A Siemens T100 would be a great interface 
>>> for kids to get their hands on. And probably more reliable than the 
>>> Creed anyway! The models I've seen had an integral tape punch and 
>>> reader.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Sam
>>> (in England)
>>>
>>> _________
>>
>> Cheers from me too,
>> Dave
>> G4UGM
>> Manchester
>> England...
>>
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