25 Sep
2005
25 Sep
'05
1:36 p.m.
Subject: Re: Odd floppy drives (Helitron)
From: "John Allain" <allain at panix.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2005 22:30:15 -0400
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at
classiccmp.org>
Definately older than 1974.
The oddest I'd seen was Ionovex The mech was about 8" high and about as wide
but the media was a web of mylar with oxide and the head spun under it with
a variable radius. Strange affair. I got to see it as bare drive but never
as part of a system.
Allison
He claims that he was the inventor of the basic
floppy mechanism ... This was around 1980, maybe 1979.
69 ~ 70?
I mean, by 1980 floppies were down to 5.25" and the 8"
had been out well over 5 years. Maybe the guy with the
knob drive was lying even harder than you suspected.
John A. 
25 Sep
25 Sep
5:18 p.m.
On Sun, 25 Sep 2005, Allison wrote:
Definately older than 1974.
The oddest I'd seen was Ionovex The mech was about 8" high and about as wide
but the media was a web of mylar with oxide and the head spun under it with
a variable radius. Strange affair. I got to see it as bare drive but never
as part of a system.
Alan Shugart is regarded as the inventor of the "floppy" disk in 1971 at
IBM. So unless Al comes forward with a confession, this guy's story will
need a lot more details than just off-hand ramblings.
I've seen this kind of thing a lot: one person claims that they invented
somesuch and that some company came by, checked it out, wished them well,
then went off and stole the technology.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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He claims that he was the inventor of the basic
floppy mechanism ... This was around 1980, maybe 1979.
69 ~ 70?
I mean, by 1980 floppies were down to 5.25" and the 8"
had been out well over 5 years. Maybe the guy with the
knob drive was lying even harder than you suspected.
John A. 
26 Sep
26 Sep
1:33 a.m.
I've seen this kind of thing a lot: one person
claims that
they invented somesuch and that some company came by, checked
it out, wished them well, then went off and stole the technology.
...
Sellam Ismail
Vintage
Computer Festival
...
I suspect that it happened in some cases. The problem is that the claimant
needs to provide some evidence to back up the claim.
Gil
6:16 a.m.
On Sun, 25 Sep 2005, Gil Carrick wrote:
For certain. I've heard plenty of stories of people getting screwed out
of their ideas. In most cases it's their fault, either for being naive or
for being careless.
The problem usually is that they don't have anything other than their
recollection to back up their claim.
--
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org
[ Old computing resources for business || Buy/Sell/Trade Vintage Computers ]
[ and academia at www.VintageTech.com || at http://marketplace.vintage.org ]
I've seen
this kind of thing a lot: one person claims that
they invented somesuch and that some company came by, checked
it out, wished them well, then went off and stole the technology.
...
Sellam Ismail
Vintage
Computer Festival
...
I suspect that it happened in some cases. The problem is that the claimant
needs to provide some evidence to back up the claim. 
12:59 p.m.
Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
On Sun, 25 Sep 2005, Gil Carrick wrote:
For certain. I've heard plenty of stories of people getting screwed out
of their ideas. In most cases it's their fault, either for being naive or
for being careless.
The problem usually is that they don't have anything other than their
recollection to back up their claim.
That's why you need an NDA before you show anyone anything.
Peace... Sridhar
I've
seen this kind of thing a lot: one person claims that
they invented somesuch and that some company came by, checked
it out, wished them well, then went off and stole the technology.
...
Sellam Ismail
Vintage
Computer Festival
...
I suspect that it happened in some cases. The problem is that the claimant
needs to provide some evidence to back up the claim. 
7:44 p.m.
Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
That's why you need an NDA before you show anyone anything.
[warning - seriously off topic]
I disagree. An NDA won't usually do squat in that case.
You need to document your invention *in pen* in a good engineering note
book and do things like make patent applications to show beyond a shadow
of a doubt you had the idea and reduced it to practice...
[I've spent some time with the attorney who defended the guy who
invented the hot air popcorn maker and the guy who invented stereo tv.
Not proud about that, but sometimes attorneys can be helpful.]
ps: for the record I hate software patents.
-brad
27 Sep
27 Sep
1:03 a.m.
On Sun, 25 Sep 2005, Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
Alan Shugart is regarded as the inventor of the
"floppy" disk in 1971 at
IBM. So unless Al comes forward with a confession, this guy's story will
need a lot more details than just off-hand ramblings.
I've seen this kind of thing a lot: one person claims that they invented
somesuch and that some company came by, checked it out, wished them well,
then went off and stole the technology.
I tried to present the story only as my personal experience of
visiting Helitron, Inc around 1980, what I saw, and no more. I
don't support or deny the man's claims, as I have no further facts
than what I presented.
It's entirely possible he got ripped off, or he's nuts, both, or
neither, or got burned in a deal, or made unreasonable demands, or
it wasn't unique enough, ad nauseum. We'll likely never know
unless someone decides it's worth chasing it all down. That
someone is not me!
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ajp166＠bellatlantic.net -
brad＠heeltoe.com -
gilcarrick＠comcast.net -
ploopster＠gmail.com -
tomj＠wps.com -
vcf＠siconic.com