9 Oct
2005
9 Oct
'05
6:05 p.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
Found it! -- after I posted I heard my memory saying
"Photostore?"....
The IBM 1360 Photostore. Google's got plenty on it.
There's a book, Digital Computer Analysis by James F. Turner,
which has a couple pages on it.
Data are stored on photographic film "chips" which hold 32 frames and
are 1.38 x 2.75 inches in size. 492 tracks per frame, each holding
420 bits, including check, start, sync, and line number bits. A
modulated electron beam is used to write pairs of tracks (the beam is
swept both ways).
The chips are stored in "cells", and the cells are stored in drawers
in "cell files" which are connected to the recording and reading
stations by pneumatic tubes. And yes, the idea was that you could
build one with sufficient cell files to store a terabit.
-Frank McConnell