General Information

Serial #

20297

Part Number

1

Total Parts

9

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

METAL FRAME, CASING, FRONT DOOR, & WORKING PARTS/ SYNTHETIC WORKING PARTS, CONTROLS, LIGHTS, WINDOWS

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

85.5 cm

Width

74.2 cm

Height

172.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

537.0

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Computing Technology

Category

Digital peripheral devices

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

IBM

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

CIRCA 1959-1972

Canada

PERIPHERAL COMPONENT OF AMERICAN MADE IBM 705 COMPUTER SYSTEM USED BY CANADIAN DEPT. OF NATIONAL DEFENCE. THIS WAS FIRST LARGE SCALE COMPUTER USED IN CANADIAN GOVERNMENT.

Function

AUXILIARY DATA STORAGE DEVICE USED FOR LARGE QUANTITY AND/OR LONG TERM STORAGE ON MAGNETIC TAPE.

Technical

IN LATE 1950'S IBM REDESIGNED 729 TAPE DRIVE TO PRODUCE 729 III IN RESPONSE TO COMPETITION FROM FASTER MACHINES. IT USED NEW ACTUATOR FOR PINCH ROLLERS, AIR HEADS, & TRANSITORS TO PROVIDE 1/2 INCH TAPE DRIVE OPERATING AT 62,500 CPS (FASTEST IN INDUSTRY) BUT WITH SINGLE DENSITY RECORDING AT 556 BPI. ONLY FEW HUNDRED WERE SOLD BUT ITS FEATURES WERE ENHANCED & USED IN VERY SUCCESSFUL 729 II & IV, WHICH HAD 800 BPI.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

LABEL ON FRONT OF EACH READS "IBM 729 III/ MAGNETIC TAPE UNIT"/ PLATE ON BACK INTERIOR READ "PROPERTY OF/ INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP./ 729-20297-l2"/ INCISED LETTERING NEXT TO PLATES READS.1 "20097"/.BLUE LABEL ON FRONT DOOR READS "97"/ BLACK LETTERING FOR CONTROL FUNCTIONS ON CONTROL PANELS; WHITE SYNTHETIC DIAL INDICATOR WITH SINGLE BLACK NUMBERS

Missing

UNKNOWN

Finish

TEXTURED GREY PAINTED CASING/ BRUSHED METAL FRONT DOOR FRAME WITH GLOSSY WHITE PAINTED PANELS & COLOURLESS, TRANSPARENT WINDOWS/ INTERIOR FRONT PANEL PAINTED GLOSSY GREY WITH GLOSSY BLUE PANEL, CLEAR SYNTHETIC WINDOWS/ METALLIC & BLACK SYNTHETIC PARTS/ GLOSSY BLACK PAINTED CONTROL PANEL WITH YELLOW, WHITE, & RED BUTTONS & LIGHTS

Decoration

N/A