Classic Computer Rescue Squad <delurk>

There are a small number of serious collectors and at least one museum who will make space for a big machine, depending on what it is. Any vacuum tube machine and most discrete transistor machines are a no-brainer, someone will want them. They are extremely rare and will in essentially all cases have been dismantled already. More recent machines may or may not be worth saving. In all cases with a big installation make sure there will be a home for it before carrying through with a rescue. Except for a few enormous installations like SAGE or Harvest, all gone now, a large mainframe will consist of (or can be taken apart into) no more than 10 large units each of which should fit in a medium size freight elevator. (Cray's are an exception, the CPU won't come apart.) There will also be a larger number of smaller peripherals such as disk drives, tape drives, console, printer, maybe card machines. One or two people can disassemble and pack a modern (e.g. IBM 370 series) air cooled mainframe in one (long) day. Other cases could take longer but generally not more than a week. More people is not necessarily a good thing. Some machines will benefit from specialized help from the manufacturer or a rigger or specialty moving crew. Always save all the documentation and software you can get. Paul