Card readers (was: IBM 604

From: John Honniball <John.Honniball_at_uwe.ac.uk>
Date: Fri Jul 6 10:28:34 2001

On Wed, 4 Jul 2001 16:17:02 -0500 (CDT) Lawrence LeMay
<lemay_at_cs.umn.edu> wrote:
> > As for the CDC card reader, it definitely was MUCH faster, probably
> > at least 10 times the speed. The feed mechanism used air to move the
> > card though the slot past the photo cells.

According to the "A few good men from Univac", the CDC
Model 405 card reader was built for speed, and worked
optically. It had a car headlamp bulb and a row of
photodiodes. The card was read twice, and the results
compared, any discrepancies sending the card to a "reject"
bin.

> I think (i dont have the book handy) that in "A few good men from Univac"
> the author discusses some of the CDC card reader history. Can someone
> who has a copy hand verify this?

It does describe the 405, but it doesn't mention anything
about Univac using the CDC reader.

--
John Honniball
Email: John.Honniball_at_uwe.ac.uk
University of the West of England
Received on Fri Jul 06 2001 - 10:28:34 BST

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