General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

METAL & PLASTIC CASING; METAL, PLASTIC & GLASS COMPONENT PARTS

Dimensions

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

Length

90.5 cm

Width

75.0 cm

Height

173.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Computing Technology

Category

Digital peripheral devices

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Ampex

Country

United States of America

State/Province

California

City

Sunnyvale

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

1971-1988

Canada

USED BY THE RCMP TO COMPILE,SEARCH & STORE THEIRCOLLECTION OF FINGERPRINT IMAGES. RCMP WAS THE FIRST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY TO USE A COMPUTER-BASED SYSTEM 0F IDENTIFICATION WHICH STORED FINGERPRINT IMAGES ON TAPE & RETRIEVED THEM FOR COMPARISON ON A VIDEO MONITOR. RCMP OPERATIONS MUCH RESPECTED, & EMULATED BY OTHERS.

Function

TRANSLATES VIDEO DOCUMENT IMAGE & ADDRESS SIGNAL INTO MAGNETIC RECORDING FOR STORAGE. ALSO TRANSLATES MAGNETIC RECORDING BACK INTO VIDEO DOCUMENT IMAGE & ADDRESS SIGNAL FOR RECALL. CREATES BOTH TEMPORARY WORK TAPES & PERMANENT MASTER FILE TAPE. (REF. 3, P.12)

Technical

FIRST SEMI-AUTOMATED FINGERPRINT SEARCHING, STORAGE & RETRIEVAL SYSTEM IN THE WORLD. NEW TECHNOLOGY PERMITTED REDUCTION OF MANPOWER & SPACE REQUIRED TO OPERATE THE FINGERPRINT BUREAU, AND REDUCED SEARCHING FROM HOURS OR OFTEN DAYS TO A FEW MINUTES.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

OPAQUE BUTTON IN UPPER RIGHT FRONT CORNER READS: 'PRESS/ FOR/ POWER OFF'/ ORANGE BUTTON, TO RIGHT MARKED '5'/ ORANGE BUTTON IN UPPER RIGHT BACK CORNER READS: 'TS/ 5'/ SMALL BLUE LABEL BELOW LEFT TAPE HEAD BEARS FOLLOWING INFO.: 'AMPEX/ CAT.NO. 6201300/ SER.NO. BF069/ PROTECTED BY US AND FOREIGN PATENTS'/ SMALL BLACK LABEL BELOW RIGHT TAPE HEAD BEARS FOLLOWING: 'AMPEX FSCM 92739/ MADE IN USA/ CAT.6221831-01/ SER 35/ AMPEX CORP. REDWOOD CITY CA'/ LABELON HEAD COVER BEARS HANDWRITTEN MESSAGE 'DO NOT CLEAN/ THE SHELF/ BENEATH THE/ VIDEO SHELF'/ 'MONTHLY PM FLOWCHART'TAPED INSIDE DOOR REMOVED & STORED IN SUPP. INFO. FILE/ ALL SWITCHES, DIALS, LABELS, RACKS, ETC. LABELLED/ TAPE REELS MARKED '1/ AMPEX/ VIDEOFILE' & DATE

Missing

N/A

Finish

GREY WRINKLE-TEXTURED FRONT & BACK DOOR PANELS. CLEAR PLASTIC WINDOW & BLACK ACCENT PANEL ON FRONT DOOR. DARK BROWN IMITATION 'WOODGRAIN' MELAMINE ON SIDE PANELS.

Decoration

N/A