IBM Electromatic Table Printing Machine
Encyclopedia
The IBM
Electromatic Table Printing Machine was a typesetting-quality printer, consisting of a modified IBM Electromatic Proportional Spacing Typewriter
connected to a modified IBM 016 keypunch. A plugboard
control panel was used for programming and formatting of the printout.
A deck of punched card
s containing the table (calculated and punched by other unit record equipment
) to be printed was put into the IBM 016, which read them and then controlled the typing of the typewriter through a box containing solenoids that depressed the keys.
Printed output could then be photographically reproduced on a printing plate, which would be used in a printing press
to make as many copies as needed.
Astronomy Professor Wallace Eckert was examining the process used by the Navy to produce Air Almanacs. Deciding that the manual computation techniques used were too slow and error prone, he recommending automating the process with existing punched card based unit record equipment. One of the hardest problems was getting a high-quality printout of the tables. Initially IBM 405 accounting machines with special modifications were used, but he wanted something better. In 1941 Eckert developed a specification for a card-driven composing typewriter and asked IBM to design and build it.
The first Electromatic Table Printing Machine was delivered to him in 1945. It produced it first Air Almanac in 1946.
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
Electromatic Table Printing Machine was a typesetting-quality printer, consisting of a modified IBM Electromatic Proportional Spacing Typewriter
IBM Electromatic typewriter
The IBM Electromatic typewriter was the first electric typewriter to enjoy long-term commercial success. Unlike the later IBM Selectric typewriter, this typewriter model used a conventional moving carriage and typebar mechanism....
connected to a modified IBM 016 keypunch. A plugboard
Plugboard
A plugboard, or control panel , is an array of jacks, or hubs, into which patch cords can be inserted to complete an electrical circuit. Control panels were used to direct the operation of some unit record equipment...
control panel was used for programming and formatting of the printout.
A deck of punched card
Punched card
A punched card, punch card, IBM card, or Hollerith card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions...
s containing the table (calculated and punched by other unit record equipment
Unit record equipment
Before the advent of electronic computers, data processing was performed using electromechanical devices called unit record equipment, electric accounting machines or tabulating machines. Unit record machines were as ubiquitous in industry and government in the first half of the twentieth century...
) to be printed was put into the IBM 016, which read them and then controlled the typing of the typewriter through a box containing solenoids that depressed the keys.
Printed output could then be photographically reproduced on a printing plate, which would be used in a printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
to make as many copies as needed.
Development
Columbia UniversityColumbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
Astronomy Professor Wallace Eckert was examining the process used by the Navy to produce Air Almanacs. Deciding that the manual computation techniques used were too slow and error prone, he recommending automating the process with existing punched card based unit record equipment. One of the hardest problems was getting a high-quality printout of the tables. Initially IBM 405 accounting machines with special modifications were used, but he wanted something better. In 1941 Eckert developed a specification for a card-driven composing typewriter and asked IBM to design and build it.
The first Electromatic Table Printing Machine was delivered to him in 1945. It produced it first Air Almanac in 1946.