weird find: papertape "patch" puncher

From: Paul Koning <pkoning_at_equallogic.com>
Date: Fri Mar 5 08:55:02 2004

>>>>> "ed" == ed sharpe <esharpe_at_uswest.net> writes:

 ed> we also had ones that would punch the really wide tape for the
 ed> formatters for the line printer! I remember the tape being much
 ed> wider though!

The holes are generally larger, too, perhaps double size.

More trivia -- everyone knows 8-channel tape, and a lot of people
(older hams especially) know 5-channel tape. There is also 6-channel
tape. It's rather specialized -- you find it in early automated
typesetting machines. Originally it showed up in tape-fed Linotype
machines, then in early optical typesetters. The idea was that you'd
prepare the copy on a paper punch keyboard, and then feed the tapes to
the typesetter. Several keyboard operators could be kept busy feeding
one (very expensive!) typesetter. These 6-channel tapes used a
variety of codes, none bearing any resemblance to anything else you
know...

Much older is Monotype tape, it goes back to the 19th century. That
feeds a Monotype type-casting machine, the usual machine for
typesetting books and the like up to the 1960s or so. I don't know
any of the specifics. Some vague memory says that it had 15 channels,
with only two punched for any one frame. Half the channels would
define an X-position and half a Y-position for an array of type molds
that the casting machine would use. But all that is pretty fuzzy...

     paul
Received on Fri Mar 05 2004 - 08:55:02 GMT