[GreenKeys] oddball NSA tape reader

[Nick England]

>From some NSA hstory -

Of the many tape readers considered as input, the following should be
mentioned. The first, called CHADLESS TAPE READER (at one time called
.AFSAF D97/1, PALLY READER), was a locally built photopneumatic device using
forced air to lift the chads and scan the tape with photoelectric cells. At
about the same time 9 a chad shearing device called LAWNMOWER (no AFSAF number)
was built by NSA-359 to operate with some PALLY READER to form a CHADLESS TAPE
READER. It ground off the chads as a preliminary step to photoelectric reading.
The former device was dismantled and the latter was stored in favor of an
experimental CHADLESS TAPE READER (AFSAF D63) developed by Teletype Corporation,
potentially able to read 5 to 7 level chadless tape mechanically at a speed
up to 100 characters per second. Parts to bujld 29 of these experimental
readers have been acquired and are being completed by NSA-35.


Nick England K4NYW
www.navy-radio.com