[GreenKeys] WV newspaper tape operation photos

[Don Robert House]

Thank you David,
Best,
Don

On 11 Jan 2014, at 1:42 PM, dmm at lemur.com wrote:


Thanks largely to a Greenkeyer who very kindly chose not to
snipe them, I did win those two lots of photos (four pictures total)
on ebay showing various aspects of tape operation at a
Parkersburg, WV newspaper in the 1970s.

I've scanned them, of course.  For those of you who would like
copies of the scans, they're here:

http://www.galleyrack.com/temp/parkersburg-wv/

There are two versions for each photo.  The files ending in
"-1200rgb.png" are (unsurprisingly) 1200 dpi RGB PNGs. These
are quite large - about 150 Meg each.  These are my original scans
("original scans" seems a bit of an oxymoron?)

The files ending in "-2048x.jpg" (or one in -2048x.png, as I
mistyped during conversion) are 2048 pixel wide reductions.
These are much more reasonable in size and are quite sufficient
for normal viewing.


To summarize their contents...  These are all from a
Parkersburg, West Virginia newspaper.  The ebay seller dated them
to the 1970s, which is likely.

1. addressograph-graphotype-and-burroughs-calculator...

   The mail room, with a Burroughs adding machine, probably a
   Graphotype of model unknown to me on the back wall,
   cabinets for Addressograph plates in the far corner,
   and two Addressograph machines to the right.

   For those unfamiliar, the Addressograph was a system for
   mailing automation.  Developed in the 1890s; company ceased
   business abruptly in 1980.  You made little embossed metal plates
   with addresses on them and ran stacks of these through the
   Addressograph machine to print labels.  There was a system of
   tabs so that you could do mailing list sorting, etc.
   Direct mail advertising is not new.  The Graphotype was the
   machine to make the plates.

2. fairchild-multiface-teletypesetter-perforator...

   A Fairchild TTS perforator.  I'm pretty sure that this is a
   "Light Touch '1035' Multiface Perforator" (the dark rectangle
   on the right of the machine is where the magazine for the
   little chiclets of metal (not a technical term :-)  which
   adapted it to a particular font went in.

   Sales documentation for Fairchild perforators at:

   http://www.circuitousroot.com/artifice/letters/press/compline/literature/tts/sales/index.html

   It looks to be a pretty standard TTY or Bunnell tape winder on the
   shelf above.  I do have the parts book for this scanned, should
   anyone ever need it.

   There are two paper tape devices (readers? punches?) on the shelf
   as well.  I don't recognize them.  An identical unit is on the
   table of the PDP-8 (see below).


3. mergenthaler-linofilm-consoles

   Mergenthaler "Linofilm" phototypesetting consoles, with the
   "Linomix" attachment.  As noted earlier, see also:
   http://www.galleyrack.com/private/dk/phillips-linofilm-0300rgb.jpg
   (for a bit longer; I'll be taking these scans down soon).

   These used 15-level tape

4. pdp-8-computer-used-in-APS-phototypesetter

   A PDP-8 computer being used as a part of an Alphanumeric Corp.
   Alphanumeric Phototypesetting System ("APS"), probably an APS-2.

   Doug Jones has identified the computer more specifically as:
   "a PDP-8 computer (rackmount configuration) with a TC01
   DECtape controller and dual TU55 DECtape drives."

   I suspect that the unit against the wall to the left in this photo
   is the back of a Mergenthaler Linofilm console.  You can see a
   scrap of 15-level tape on the floor.


   A PDP-8 was the second computer I ever used.  I never got to see
   the actual computer, though - just the TTY 33 at my high school.

Anyway, I hope that these images are of interest to some of you.
If you want them, please download copies to your machine.  While I'll
probably integrate them into my website at some point, I haven't yet.
Right now they're just sitting in temporary space and will go away
the next time I tidy up.

Regards,
David M.
===
Dr. David M. MacMillan  -  dmm at lemur.com

   The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.
       - Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915); Aldo Leopold

www.CircuitousRoot.com   *  www.LemurType.com   *  www.Lemur.com





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