19 Jul
2010
19 Jul
'10
6:56 p.m.
On 2010 Jul 19, at 5:33 PM, Dave McGuire wrote:
On 7/19/10 7:59 PM, Brent Hilpert wrote:
Wow, that's nifty. What vintage is that drive, any idea?
It was 7-track, so along with what I saw of the construction, early-mid
60's.
I only got some bits and pieces, mostly the head/capstan deck, never
actually saw the whole thing.
Every
vacuum-column drive I've seen has used pressure sensors to
determine the position of the tape loops within the columns. Granted
I've not seen a HUGE variety of different drives, but...just sayin'.
On the desk beside me, I'm looking at a part from a Honeywell vac-col
tape drive. It's an aluminum extrusion 1/2-inch wide and about 6
inches
long, with a masked glass plate on one side. Inside, spread along the
length are 8 selenium photocell strips.