1 Jun
2004
1 Jun
'04
6:56 a.m.
On Mon, 2004-05-31 at 19:45, John Lawson wrote:
What is being described is almost surely a Terminet
- an ASCII
teleprinter using a continuous rotating band with upright 'fingers'
containing the individual characters - these passed in front of 72
hammers, and behind them were the ribbon and paper respectively. There
were three complete sets of character fingers, thus cutting the 'latency'
of the band in thirds. When the right character arrived at the correct
position on the page, the opposing hammer fired and imprinted it.
The fingers were easily removable allowing for alternate fonts and
character sets.
I had one of those, and loved it! Until it got mechanically flakey and I
tossed it off the balcony (I have photos). Wish I had it now!
Not light. Annoying timing to send chars. Serial I think, don't recall.
Would love to have one again, just for the noise it makes.
(Though nothing beats a Kleinschmidt drum printer for sheer pointless
racket.)