References:
Organization: D and D Data
Followup-To:
On 2012-02-23, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
"DoN. Nichols" wrote:
On 2012-02-22, Michael A. Terrell wrote:
I'm talking about the all mechanical cash registers that were the
main products of NCR. The had several large buildings in the Dayton
area that were machine shops cranking out all the parts to feed their
assembly plants. They started building them over 100 years ago.
O.K. I thought that we were still talking about the NLS digital
voltmeter readouts. :-)
Sorry, I thought 'NCR' was enough information. Of course I grew up
near there and knew some employees. 
I was expecting NLS, and saw a TLA which started with 'N', so I
stopped reading. :-)
[ ... ]
We had a large DataProducts drum printer on the SATE for the PRC-77.
It would shake the entire computer booth when it printed a line of
asteriks to signal a failure. I was there one day when the engineer
from Data general was doing a core dump to the printer. it didn't have
a refolder, so the paper was sraying off the ceiling. ;-)
I can believe it.
Years later, I had to scrap a tractor trailer load of those printers,
along with a trailer full of VAX based CAD systems that had come off
lease. The owner wanted cerified destruction to keep them off the
market. It made me sick to trash the uncased NTSC studio grade
monitors. but the contrast said they could not be resold. A lot of small
TV stations would have paid $1000 each for them, for spares.
Ouch! That truly hurts. To what level did they have to be
destroyed? Individual board level in the VAXen? I can understand
trashing the software, and perhaps even the hard disk packs, but at the
generic component level, that is painful. Those could have been used to
repair many non-competing VAXen.
I wonder why they make the polarized DC versions? Perhaps
brighter? I didn't see a clue that the AC ones cost any more -- though
they *should*. :-)
Probably for the anal retentive types? Also, it would allow for
simple bicolor indicators, by simply inverting the polarity if two are
wired in parallel.
As long as they could tolerate the full reverse voltage. I
didn't look up the specs on the individual lamps.
but colored lamps would eliminate the need for
those tiny colored silicone rubber covers.
The ones which tended to tear when you tried to pull them over
the rim of the bulb sleeve, or when you pressed on them to eject a bad
bulb. :-) Who was it -- Honeywell -- who made those switch assemblies.
I know that MicroSwitch made the snap-on switch elements.
Master Specialties. I may still have a new switch or two left.
http://www.marineairsupply.com/catalogs/10_Series.pdf
Yep -- those are the later ones I remember. The earlier ones
were made by Honeywell, and had little tabs which stuck out either side
at slightly different depths, which engaged gray divider/barrier
modules, so a stack of them would couple together and snap into the
panel all at once. On those, the fronts fully removed, and a special
tool would reach in and unlatch the lamps and remove them for
replacement.
I think that I have a few of each style -- somewhere around
here. :-)
I first saw the 327/328 lamps on a tour of the VOA Bethany facility
while it was being upgraded from the original design. It was one tech's
job to wander around the facility to test & replace bad lamps. There
were over 3,000 in use, and they were still installing new equipment.
With a pushbutton on each panel to light all bulbs on that
panel? There were such on the flight simulator instructor's control
panel which a company I worked for for a while made.
They used the switch itself, with the console in diagnostics mode.
He would just push a switch, then pull it out with what looked like an
IC extractor and replace a bad lamp, and test again.
O.K. This company mounted a T-bar relay every so often on the
back of the panels to switch *all* lamps to test voltage at once.
As for the Master Specialties switch/lamp assemblies, you didn't
need an IC extractor, as long as you had fingernails on the thumb and
index finger. Just grab notches in the two ends of the clear front
plate, pull and twist.
BTW I've trimmed the accumulated "References: " header. I've had
problems in the past when it got past a certain length, though I
think that my modification to my preferred editor, jove, has
fixed that. :-)
Enjoy,
DoN.
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