General Information

Serial #

373297050

Part Number

1

Total Parts

2

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

Metal casing and parts/ Synthetic controls, lights, tape mechanism cover, parts

Dimensions

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

Length

65.0 cm

Width

48.0 cm

Height

23.0 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

Unisys

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

circa 1986+

Canada

A piece of equipment used at the David Dunlap Observatory at the University of Toronto, one of Canada's most important astronomical observatories. The David Dunlap Observatory opened in 1935 as the result of a bequest from the wife of David Dunlap. The telescope was a 74 inch (188 cm) reflector built by Grubb Parsons of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England. The 74 inch was then the largest telescope in Canada (surpassing the 72 inch telescope of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in Victoria) and became the second largest in the world after the 100 inch Hooker Telescope of the Mt. Wilson Observatory outside Los Angeles. DDO's reputation grew and following WWII, it began to graduate most of the astronomers produced in Canada with University of Western Ontario far behind. Beginning in the 1960s a number of other astronomy departments were created but UofT/DDO held its place, a position it probably still holds. The DDO had a good technical staff which gave them an advantage and, with most of the 1940s to early 1970s top astronomers coming from UofT, grants from NRC and then ENSERC were almost guaranteed and allowed UofT's top astronomers -- Hogg, van den Berg, Fernie, Bolton, Kamper, Martin, etc. to acquire or build some of the best equipment available in university observatories. For optical observatories, only the DAO had technical staff and budgets that surpassed those of DDO. In 2007, citing increasing light pollution, the University of Toronto announced plans to sell the Observatory property. In June 2008, it was sold to Corsica Development Inc., a subsidiary of Metrus Development Inc. and the Observatory was closed. In 2009 the Observatory buildings and 80% of the site were designated a cultural heritage landscape. Also in 2009 Corsica and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Toronto Centre announced an agreement allowing the RASC to provide public education and outreach programs at the observatory, and to operate the 188 cm telescope.

Function

An auxiliary data storage device used for large quantity and/or long term storage on magnetic tape. This one was used with a measuring engine in an astronomical observatory.

Technical

A data storage device made in the 1980s and used with an astronomical measuring engine, the Perkin-Elmer PDS machine. This was a device for digitally measuring photographs, used to measure both stellar and galactic spectra as well as direct images of the sky taken with the DDOs 74 inch telescope and plates acquired by Sidney Van de Burgh at the 48 inch Mt. Palomar Schmidt telescope.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

Red lettering on grey synthetic plate on front reads ‘UNISYS’/ Label on back reads ‘UNIT 9244-5964 D/L 5 Product or Style 2145-01/ Serial No. 373297050 V 100/120/220/240 VAD/ Hz 50/60 A 6/3A W 300 Wires 2/ Unisys Corporation/ Santa Clara, Ca 95052/ Made in USA’/ label on back reads ‘Series 9600/ U.S. Patent 4,614, 901’ with voltage information/ White lettering on front for control functions

Missing

Appears complete

Finish

Textured light grey painted front casing/ Textured black painted tape mechanism with dark transparent cover/ Black switches/ Green and yellow lights/ Dark transparent indicator window/ Unfinished and black painted casing sides

Decoration

N/A