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Science

erronis

(23,151 posts)

4. Reminds me of those days feeding paper-tape spools into a computer

Reply to usonian (Original post)

Tue Jan 27, 2026, 08:55 AM

Jan 27

Spools came from various manufacturing sites (HD Lee bluejeans) shipped overland to KC. Fed into an IBM 360, then punched onto cards and sorted by hand (my main job). Read back into 360 and written to magnetic tape for another series of processes.

Paper tape is fragile and would frequently break while being read. Splice it back together with scotch tape losing a few bits along the way. The price of business back then.

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lastlib

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Highlight:

How photos are cabled across the Atlantic (1926) [View all] usonian Jan 26 OP

Holy cow. I didn't understand it but what a process. chicoescuela Jan 26 #1

Friggin genius. Beartracks Jan 26 #2

I wonder if any of those original tapes still exist? nt Javaman Jan 27 #3

My first computer programs in college were saved/loaded on paper tape..... lastlib Jan 27 #5

Reminds me of those days feeding paper-tape spools into a computer erronis Jan 27 #4