Storage for 1/2" open reel tape

[Chuck Guzis]

On 4/5/19 5:31 PM, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:

> If this works, which is most of the time, it's a great time saver.  As an operator you just hang the reel on the spindle, hit "load" and walk away to the next task.
> 
> I think IBM may have originated this magic; several of the later DEC tape drives supported it as well (TU77 and TU/TA78, if memory serves).

Univac had an interesting setup for Uniservo tape drives--I see a lot of
reels with a short (maybe 6") "leader" with a hole spliced onto tapes.
I'm not sure how that worked--but on many, if not most of the reels I've
seen, the splicing tape has dried out and the little leader just falls
right off.

--Chuck